Section III: Training approaches
1FAO/REU working paper, prepared by the author in September 1992, based on her training approach during her employment in the FAO Regional Office for Europe (1990-1993)
A. Gannon
20 Glenbrook Park. Rathfarnham, Dublin 4. Ireland
Training in a Global Management Approach to the Economic and Social Development of a Rural Area introduces an innovative integrated Rural Development approach which has been tested and has resulted in successful levels of development in relation to economic and social change for rural communities.
It is based on the use of a Global Management Approach (GMA) which is a tool for channelling community energy into a progressive self help process thereby enabling people to analyse their own situations, generate solutions to their problems, plan their own developments and evaluate the results.
It places responsibility for Community Economic Development where it belongs, that is within the community itself. The main key to its success is people, working on the principle that it is sometimes necessary to change people in order to change things.
The techniques and 'know how' used ensure commitment and ownership by the community for project development.
The programme is based on the premise that the Overall Objective for the Development of a Rural area is: "The improvement of both the social and economic situations of rural families and rural communities through the development of
· people; and
· self reliant communities and through the use of human and physical resources to:
- create wealth;
- create employment opportunities;
- improve community welfare; and
- revitalise rural areas."
The programme as outlined for the economic development of a rural area encompasses three major elements i.e.:
· Training
· Initiating and implementation of project action at a local level.
· Structure development and institutions.
The three are interlinked and are developed in an integrated way in this twelve phase training and implementation programme.
The success of the project depends on the interest, ability and capacity of people to bring about desired change. Very often, in order to change things it is first necessary to change people. Therefore the programme sets out to enable the desired change in the selected regions through the training of key people in personal development; in management skills (i.e. decision making, problem analysis and problem solving); in leadership skills; in group and community development; in entrepreneurship and small business enterprises; in rural tourism development; in project management and in institution building. The training ensures peoples' participation. It is proposed that the trained people will act as the leaders/facilitators/trainers and managers in the development of the rural communities and in the development of the project areas.
The programme is based on 'interval' training which is set out in twelve training phases or modules. These run concurrently with the initiation and the implementation of action on the ground. The programme should be tailored to the needs of the people and of the area to be developed, using the appropriate phases or parts of the phases as required. The duration of each phase should also relate to the needs.
The Development Process used in the programme is the GMA which ensures: learning by doing; peoples' participation and ownership by participants for action and development.
The development process includes:
· Training process.
· Implementation process.
· Evaluation process.
Training process
The training Workshop methodology of the GMA uses:
· Individual exercises and role playing.
· Group exercises for problem solving and decision making.
· Focus questions.
· Brain maps.
· Problem trees.
· Information market.
· Case studies.
· Lecture inputs.
· Plenary discussions.
· Information papers.
Croup workshops process
Central to development for participants is the 'learning by doing' process.
This involves the GMA group problem solving process using as far as possible the GMA joint decision making method for:
· Idea generation.
· Problem identification.
· Problem analysis.
· Problem solving.
· Project development.
The following is critical to the group work process:
· the use of 'focus' or 'key' questions;
· guidance on the use of key questions to be provided by the 'resource' person in the group;
· workshop groups to have seven to ten persons per group;
· each group to have a leader and a resource person;
· each group to be given a specific topic/aspect to develop; each group to appoint a reporter to report the deliberations of the group at a plenary session (using transparencies, flip charts or information market); and
· a summary of each workshop report to be submitted to the workshop leaders.
Project implementation process
The implementation methodology involves systematic and systemic plans of action. The steps to be developed are:
· Defining a catchment area.
· Bringing interested people together.
· Assessing needs and aspirations of the people.
· Planning for training needs. Identifying facilitator and defining responsibility.
· Developing an appropriate training programme.
· Assessing potential and possibilities for area - resource audit.
· Establishing an enterprise group with appropriate statute.
· Determination of appropriate enterprises.
· Development of support structures and appropriate institutes.
· Development of
(a) strategic plan with clear objectives.
(b) functional plan with specific objectives.
· Implementation of a Plan of Action.
· Monitoring and evaluation on the enterprise.
Evaluation process
To cope with the continuously changing conditions and environment, evaluation must be constant. There must be a constant search for new ideas, new possibilities and new opportunities and new markets. People's problems can provide a possibility for creativity through the servicing, of needs; therefore market research and idea excavation and needs' assessment must be an on-going activity to ensure flexibility and diversity.
Evaluation to take into account:
· Objectives set.
· Progress made relative to the 'start event' and the 'end event'.
· Impact of the change.
· Resources available.
· Future focus.
The outline content of a twelve phase Programme for Economic Rural Development is:
Phase 1 - Understanding rural development.
Phase 2 - Management skills and a global management approach to development.
Phase 3 - Development of individuals and groups and community building.
Phase 4 - Rural development and village renewal.
Phase 5 - Entrepreneurial development.
Phase 6 - Development of agriculture.
Phase 7 - Product development.
Phase 8 - Promotion and marketing of products.
Phase 9 - Project management? project development.
Phase 10 - How to train the local community to participate.
Phase 11 - Structure development and institutions.
Phase 12 - Developing of an evaluation and monitoring instrument.
T. Petrin
FAO, Regional Office for Europe, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy
The entrepreneurial development process, as presented here, is one of the training approaches to entrepreneurship development in rural areas that has been used in different training programmes carried out by the FAO Regional Office for Europe, either at FAO/REU International Summer Schools or National Workshops on Rural Development from 1990 on1. It aims to develop an understanding of the total process involved in the development of rural entrepreneurship so that an environment conducive to sustainable development of rural areas, based on rural entrepreneurship, will be achieved. The role of trainers/facilitators in the entrepreneurial development process is also defined and viewed as an inherent part of this approach.
1The author presented this training programme at the FAO/REU training workshop on rural development for the first time during the Fourth FAO/REU International Rural Development Summer School "Rural Development Through Entrepreneurship and Village Renewal" held in Mikkeli Finland on 16-20 September 1991.
In view of the above objective, the approach presented here differs from those that concentrate predominantly on training inputs aimed at understanding the development of a business plan.
While a business plan is an important prerequisite for starting a new venture successfully, it is only one element of the total process involved in the development of rural entrepreneurship. It should be kept in mind that in most rural areas the first generation of entrepreneurs are usually developed in economically/socially depressed environments. Therefore, the first step necessary is the development of an entrepreneurial culture. Without entrepreneurship, rural areas will remain cut off from the benefits of the structural adjustment, which has been going on already for some time in urban and industrially developed regions. This would cause the regional disparities to increase even further and thus make the solutions to the problems of rural areas more and more difficult.
Developing entrepreneurial culture entails the development of a positive attitude towards new and unforeseen circumstances. However, shifting the attitude towards change does not suffice for rural entrepreneurship to thrive. What is important is seeing and seizing entrepreneurial opportunity. Too often, potential entrepreneurs are hindered by the lack of motivation to take risks, the non-availability of information on what is a good business opportunity and the lack of skills/knowledge on how to set up a new enterprise. Even if these constraints were alleviated, it is still not certain that rural areas would embark on the sustainable path of development due to what is involved in new firm creation. Many new firms may collapse, simply because the community was not able to create an environment enabling startups to grow into viable market entities and stimulate a continuous entry of new firms. What is needed is the development of institutions supporting entrepreneurial restructuring in rural areas.
In order to embrace the complete entrepreneurial development process, the training programme2 on entrepreneurship development in rural areas, targeted at training of trainers and community leaders, is designed to give training inputs on the following inter-related processes:
2This training package was developed by the author based on her own experience in promoting and supporting the development of entrepreneurship in urban/rural areas in her country and internationally. It combines experience gained by studying and implementing entrepreneurship development approaches in the U.S.A., Great Britain (Scotland) Northern Italy, Denmark, Germany and India.
· development of entrepreneurial culture;
· encouraging start-ups (new venture creation);
· setting up a new venture;
· business development and growth; institution building; and
· the role of trainers/facilitators in the entrepreneurial development process.
Development of entrepreneurial culture:
Training inputs include themes to enhance participants' understanding of:
· what is entrepreneurship?
· who are entrepreneurs'? and
· mechanisms crucial for the development of positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship on national, regional and local levels.
Encouraging start-ups
Training inputs are geared at helping potential entrepreneurs to overcome the constraints that prevent them from taking action, such as the lack of self-confidence due to the lack of entrepreneurial critical mass in the rural environment and the inability to evaluate whether a business idea is also a business opportunity.. It also helps individuals who would like to be entrepreneurs but who lack the necessary skills to recognise this before they go into business. These include:
· identification of constraints and the design of training inputs to overcome these constraints;
· process of identification of business ideas, where to look and how to develop business ideas;
· business ideas vs. business opportunities; and
· estimating entrepreneurial potential of would be entrepreneurs, self-determination, understanding of who are the customers, where are the markets and how to reach them.
Setting up the new venture
Potential entrepreneurs need a comprehensive plan to transform their business ideas into a working operation. A business plan is an instrument for screening the profitability of business alternatives, identifying constraints and opportunities and one's weaknesses and strengths. Therefore, a business plan lowers the risk of going into business. Since the development of a comprehensive business plan is a demanding task, it is advisable to first prepare the feasibility study, which is a less comprehensive version of a complete business plan.
Training inputs concentrate on the techniques for evaluating the feasibility of a business idea and the development of a comprehensive business plan and its evaluation:
· the feasibility study;
· the business plan; and
· guidelines for evaluating the persuasiveness of the business plan.
Development of a new venture and growth
The operating and managing of a business demand certain skills in finance, organization, production, marketing and distribution of products. The entrepreneurs should acquire these skills and should continuously up-date them in order to ensure/maintain their competitive position based on a well-defined long-term business strategy. Too often small firms suffer from managing their businesses on a day to day basis and not realising their potential for growth. Training inputs therefore concentrate on all aspects of managing the business and on the strategies for future growth:
· managerial skills;
· recording, measuring and controlling business performance; and
· strategies for future growth.
Institution building
For entrepreneurship to flourish, a supportive environment is needed. Therefore, those who are involved in fostering rural entrepreneurship should not only influence national/regional development policies, but also facilitate the development of national and regional supporting institutions. Training inputs focus on:
· the role of national and local governments and non-governmental institutions in promoting entrepreneurial restructuring of rural areas;
· financial institutions: commercial banks, special funds (Consortia) and venture capital companies;
· networking: understanding the concept, goal, purpose, benefits of networking and developing a strategy to set up the network; and
· economic development alliances between potential entrepreneurs, new firm formation, community/regional infrastructure and the existing private sector.
The role of trainers/facilitators in the entrepreneurial development process
The above-mentioned five inter-related training inputs embrace the total process whereby the entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities of would be entrepreneurs and an environment conducive to entrepreneurship, are developed. Trainers facilitating the implementation of the training programme on entrepreneurship development as outlined here should therefore possess certain behavioural and managerial skills in order to initiate, organize and monitor this process effectively.
Training thus focuses on:
· the role of the trainer/facilitator;
· qualifications of the trainer/facilitator;
· skills of the trainer/facilitator; and
· training of the trainer/facilitator.
The best training results are achieved when participants first gain an understanding of the total process involved in entrepreneurship development and afterwards receive in-depth training on each of the five inter-related processes outlined above.
