4.1. Introduction
4.2. Training Programme
4.3. Education Programme
4.4. Information Programme
4.5. Assessment
ICRAF's Training and Information Division (TID) responds mainly to the third of ICRAF's strategic objectives: to strengthen national capacities. The philosophy of the TID is to design, develop, initiate, and promote new initiatives, while supporting existing ones. It uses a "bottom-up" and decentralized approach in identifying priorities, training of national collaborators, making available equipment, operational funds, databases, and technical advice. As programmes develop, its aim is to hand them over to national and regional systems.
The main trends in the ICRAF dissemination programme since 1989 are (i) creation of the new Training and Information Division; (ii) decentralization of much of the training and information activity to the networks; and (iii) stronger links with research.
The TID has three operating programmes: training, education, and information. Until recently there were separate communication and information/documentation programmes, which were combined into an information programme. It was proposed to combine training and education, but ICRAF made the decision to keep them separate, at least for the time being, partly to give more visibility to education as a critical function and need in the evolution of agroforestry.
The TID has 8 SSYs and about 19% of the 1992 ICRAF core budget assigned to it. About 40% of this budget is going into training.
4.2.1. Evolution and Past Achievements
4.2.2. Current Focus and Future Developments
The training programme is focused on building capacity in land-use diagnosis and design, and in research and building and raising awareness at different levels of agroforestry research issues. The types of training courses undertaken are indicated in Table 4.1.
The Agroforestry Research for Development course is a very comprehensive set of lectures dealing with state-of-the-art agroforestry and also more targeted items like MPTs management and breeding, on-station and on-farm experimentations and economic evaluation. It also includes teaching of D&D.
Table 4.1. Agroforestry Training Items Provided by ICRAF: 1989-1992 Inclusive
|
Item |
Number of Courses |
Venue |
Number of Participants |
||
|
HQ |
Africa |
Latin America and Asia |
|||
|
Agroforestry Research for Development |
14 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
493 |
|
Agroforestry Education and Curricula Development |
8 |
6 |
2 |
|
129 |
|
Agroforestry National Workshops |
3 |
|
3 |
|
65 |
|
MPT Selection and Breeding |
3 |
|
3 |
|
58 |
|
Soil Fertility |
1 |
1 |
|
|
15 |
|
Train the Trainers |
1 |
|
1 |
|
20 |
|
Computer and Statistical Packages |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
27 |
|
Socioeconomic Evaluation |
2 |
2 |
|
|
45 |
|
Agroforestry Field Experimental Methods and Data Collection |
5 |
3 |
2 |
|
107 |
|
Agroforestry Information Management |
2 |
|
2 |
|
29 |
|
Mycorrhiza/Rhizobium in Agroforestry |
1 |
1 |
|
|
25 |
|
TOTAL |
42 |
23 |
19 |
2 |
1003 |
ICRAF's training programme also includes student fellowships, and the attachment of advanced level students to research projects. ICRAF intends to intensify these forms of training in the future, both because it can be productive for the student, and because it can provide support for ICRAF programmes. At the same time, ICRAF is fully aware of the time it takes on the part of senior researchers acting as mentors to the students. Table 4.2. indicates the number of beneficiaries for each type of training.
ICRAF intends to strengthen its collaboration with other groups in the area of training. At present all training programmes are funded as special projects. Initiatives come out of the annual meetings of the AFRENAs, with the exception of the core courses taught at headquarters. There appear to be very few other organizations that are involved with the types of training for research in agroforestry developed and implemented by ICRAF.
ICRAF is well advanced in the area of training. Its efforts have contributed to the development of a worldwide awareness of the potentials of agroforestry. Its human capacity building activities, particularly within the AFRENAs, are impressive. Its annual international course on state-of-the-art agroforestry research is recognized to be the premier course in this area throughout the world. Its training programmes dealing with land use diagnosis and design (the D&D methodology developed by ICRAF) have been enthusiastically taken up in many countries.
Table 4.2. Individual Training at ICRAF Headquarters and its Collaborative Programmes 1
1 The numbers are cumulative and cover the period from 1989-92.
|
Region |
Visiting Scientists |
Ph. D. And M. Sc. Fellowships |
Students Attachments |
Total |
|
ICRAF Headquarters and Research Stations |
4 |
2 |
25 |
31 |
|
East and Central Africa AFRENA |
1 |
6 |
5 |
12 |
|
Southern Africa AFRENA |
1 |
10 |
8 |
19 |
|
SALWA |
- |
4 |
- |
4 |
|
HULWA |
- |
3 |
6 |
9 |
|
Latin America |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Asia |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
TOTAL |
6 |
25 |
44 |
75 |
|
STATUS AS OF DECEMBER 1992 |
5 |
21 |
34 |
60 |
An example of the approach of ICRAF and of a successful training activity was a recent course in Brazil. In October of 1992, a major training workshop on agroforestry research was organized by ICRAF and held in Manaus. Acting as trainers in various capacities were 2 ICRAF staff, 19 Brazilians, 2 staff from CATIE, 4 from CIAT, one from PROCITROPICOS (a sponsor) and one from TSBF. The Brazilians had participated in earlier ICRAF courses at headquarters, during which time the Brazilian course was planned. Participants from this workshop are already developing more specific, regional training activities, and acting as facilitators and trainers. The Panel received positive remarks about the course during its field visit to Brazil.
As individual training programmes evolve, it is intended that the AFRENAs and the NARS take on greater responsibility for training activities. ICRAF looks for focal points in the AFRENA regions for the training and information activities, and then provides support for development at those focal points. The key problem is finding the resources for the organizations at the focal points to handle the decentralized training activities. As basic training activities are devolved to the regions, ICRAF will concentrate more on training of trainers for national agroforestry researchers and development of training materials. ICRAF intends to focus more on specialized courses, increasing female participation in courses, and on increasing individual training with a policy focus. ICRAF also is expanding its training activities to Latin America and Asia.
The MTP includes two major projects:
The Human Resource Development Project will develop training courses and workshops on specialised topics such as MPT improvement, socioeconomic research methods, component interaction studies, experimental design and data handling, agroforestry information management, and curricula development. An evaluation of the impact of ICRAF's training activities in the last ten years will be completed. An assessment of the training needs of national institutions will be completed both in Africa and in Asia, and fellowships will be made available for post graduates, research fellows and students attachment. The responsibility for introductory courses on agroforestry research will be progressively devolved to national institutions.The Training Materials Project will concentrate on identification and transformation of source material into teaching materials, pilot testing of teaching materials, and production and distribution of multimedia packages.
4.3.1. Evolution and Achievements
4.3.2. Current Focus and Future Developments
The Education Programme consists of curricula development, fellowships, teachers training, exchange of teaching staff, teaching materials and support to agroforestry research (see also Tables 4.1. and 4.2.).
ICRAF's Education Programme has reached a number of universities and colleges. For example, participants from some 21 countries have been involved in various workshops and consultative meetings related to curriculum development. Some seven universities now offer agroforestry courses in MSc. or BSc. curricula. A special project, the African Network for Agroforestry Education - ANAFE - was developed and is now funded by SIDA. ICRAF believes that agroforestry should be introduced at both the bachelors and the masters levels, and both in forestry and in agriculture (including agronomy, horticulture, livestock/animal sciences, and range management) programmes. The division has developed four models for introducing agroforestry into educational programmes.
ICRAF provides hands-on educational experiences for many graduate students through internships and other forms of attachment of students to ICRAF scientists and projects. This provides invaluable experience for the students. This activity, however, is handled under the training programme.
The current strategy for ICRAF's activities in education focuses on development of teaching materials, curriculum design, and the building of an agroforestry education network in Africa (ANAFE) at the university and technical college levels. The ANAFE activity is now funded as a project and works in close cooperation with the existing AFRENAs.
In its MTP, ICRAF will continue to develop education activities for the purpose of clarifying concepts and approaches to agroforestry, encouraging multi-disciplinary approaches to land use, building agroforestry research capacity at educational level, and broadening and accelerating the spread of agroforestry technologies. Two main projects will be carried out:
- The ANAFE project will deliver an inventory of education and resource persons teaching agroforestry, organize courses and internships for educators, promote the exchange of staff among the network, sponsor MSc. graduates, introduce agroforestry education in colleges and universities.- The project for Education in Latin America and Asia will conduct the same type of activities as the ANAFE project in Africa.
4.4.1. Evolution and Achievements
4.4.2. Current Focus and Future Developments
Since ICRAF started its life as an information council, the evolution of information, documentation, and communication activities at ICRAF is essentially the evolution of ICRAF from its inception until the mid 1980s when. it formally entered into research.
Information, documentation and communication have always been a major activity of ICRAF; and ICRAF and professionals associated with it have produced the first works on agroforestry and agroforestry research. There is every expectation that ICRAF will continue to be a leader in this field and produce much needed information for agroforestry researchers worldwide.
Information and documentation activities include: database development, the INFO services, the library, journals, training and advice. The Information Programme produces Agroforestry Today, annual reports, various working papers and other series, news releases, and audiovisual presentations. It also copublishes Agroforestry Systems and Agroforestry Abstracts. The current distribution pattern is biased toward Africa (e.g., almost fifty percent of Agroforestry Today copies go to African countries). Agroforestry Today and the annual report are produced both in English and French. Through its own resources and in cooperation with other institutions, ICRAF produces other language versions of its publications including French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese.
Some of the achievements include: ICRAF bibliographic database counts more than 20,000 items; its magazine "Agroforestry Today" reaches some 10,000 recipients; 32 book length publications have been produced by ICRAF, 13 have been copublished in cooperation with CABI, CTA and Kluwer Publications; ICRAF has become the worldwide focal point for agroforestry information and publications.
ICRAF has pioneered the establishment of useful agroforestry databases, and it currently operates three: (i) AFBIB - the bibliographic database of agroforestry information; (ii) the multipurpose trees and shrubs (MPTS) database; and (iii) the Agroforestry system inventory AFSI database, which provides a register of various indigenous agroforestry practices in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These are used widely through a number of information services and products, including database searches, agroforestry updates on special topics, specialized bibliographies, bimonthly accessions list, agroforestry journals, and documentation delivery service. For the improvement of the research activities, ICRAF has developed its "Datachain" software for data input.
The decision was made only recently to consolidate information/documentation and communication programmes under one coordinator, both as a means of rationalizing programmes linkages and as a means to economize on resources. There has been a rapid expansion of requests for information from all over the world. Rationalization of the information services is anticipated, including possibilities for charging for various services.
ICRAF's MTP has grouped the information activities under two main Projects:
The Documentation Project will develop the AFBIB database (by 5000 records per year) and make it available on CD-ROM, increase dissemination of information to meet the high number of requests (up to 500/year), produce two reviews and/or bibliographies each year and provide three national institutions in each ecoregion with computerized agroforestry databases and the skill to run them.
The Publications Project will focus on editing, translation, proof reading, pre-press production and distribution and also copublication.
ICRAF feels the need to improve its communication systems and communication links both within ICRAF and with the outside world, so technologies such as E-mail have been introduced at headquarters and are being expanded to include ICRAF's outreach sites. At the same time, activities to strengthen agroforestry information capacities of national institutions are being encouraged.
Training. The ICRAF Training Programme can be considered highly successful. ICRAF needs to continue to consolidate, to devolve training activities to AFRENAs, and to focus its dissemination activities on agroforestry research. AFRENA training at present is followed up through the annual AFRENA workshops, where past activities are assessed and future activities are planned. This type of review and introspection is highly desirable and should help to keep the AFRENA training programmes on track.
ICRAF's decision to make an assessment of training and education needs in the different partner countries is relevant, particularly as ICRAF moves into Asia and Latin America. At the same time, ICRAF is to be commended on its current sensitivity toward local issues and making sure that local examples and materials are introduced into courses in those local areas.
Current efforts to assess the results and impacts of its training activities are commendable, but ICRAF should develop a more systematic approach to assessing these. In this regard, the Panel suggests that ICRAF call on some of the available international expertise in the qualitative evaluation area.
ICRAF's intention to get AFRENAs and NARS gradually to take over more of ICRAF's current centrally run training functions is sound and it has made progress in this regard. Given ICRAF's experience in the training area and given the current strong donor support for programmes in this area, it would appear that ICRAF is in a position to make further significant contributions, both on its own and in collaboration with other institutions. This should help to ensure the continued relevance of its training activities and content.
ICRAF seems to be aware of the danger of moving technologies to the farmer before they have been fully proven as has happened in the past. ICRAF needs to keep this point in mind at all times as training and information programs are being planned. Greater emphasis on socioeconomic training in close relation with P1 can help prevent this problem. The Panel emphasizes that ICRAF should not be involved in extension training programmes, although it could be involved at the cutting edge in developing with partners the techniques and approaches for productive transfer of knowledge generated by ICRAF to extensionists and farmers.
Education. There has been considerable debate within ICRAF over the pros and cons of combining the Education Programme with the Training Programme. The Panel accepts ICRAF's current decision to leave Training and Education as separate Programmes in order to give education a strong identity in the overall Programme. It also agrees that there would not be significant cost savings through a consolidation at this time.
However, the Panel believes that ICRAF should consider within the next five years the potential to combine the Education Programme with the Training Programme to emphasize the continuum between training and education, to avoid the development of a split between the two, and to recognize the fact that in many cases, e.g., internships for graduate students, the distinction is difficult to make.
ICRAF should continue to be highly sensitive to developing agroforestry as a higher degree programme, when future employment potentials for graduates are uncertain at best. It must be kept in mind that agroforestry requires a multidisciplinary approach to land use, which does not necessarily need a set of professionals who are only trained in agroforestry. Rather it needs an adequate awareness in a variety of existing professions, whether they are agricultural or forestry professionals. ICRAF currently responds to requests from universities and should continue to encourage the introduction of agroforestry courses into existing agriculture and forestry curricula.
In order to utilize better the MSc. and PhD students and visitors coming to ICRAF for training, the Panel suggests that ICRAF establish a more explicit set of criteria and operating guidelines for selecting candidates and managing the individual training and visiting scientist programmes. This should ensure better quality and more effective contributions, even if might mean a lessening of the number of individuals accommodated. Current policy to encourage senior researchers to join ICRAF as visiting scientists is commendable, as the output could be of significant value to the overall ICRAF research programme and process.
Information. ICRAF's decision to consolidate information and communication programmes under one coordinator is one that shows sensitivity both to the need to increase the efficiency of operations, and to take advantage of complementarities in the two sets of activities. ICRAF has an impressive record in terms of publications and in terms of information on agroforestry. However, very little of its documentation so far deals with its own research.
The Panel suggests that ICRAF should explore the opportunity to establish publication and user charges for information services. However, in considering a programme of charges, the negative factors should be realistically weighed, e.g. (i) the cost of additional clerical work required; (ii) the fact that some of the most important readers cannot afford to pay for publications; and (iii) the fact that a significant number of readers work for the donors who already are supporting ICRAF financially. Other possibilities to reduce the direct publication costs include co-publication with other groups and incorporating costs directly into projects budgets/proposals.
The Panel also suggests that ICRAF should explore whether the Spanish language documentalist position indicated in its plans could be saved by working out a cooperative arrangement with an organization such as CATIE, which already has such a service for the Spanish language agroforestry literature. A similar situation could exist with several French language institutions. There is also the question of translation of documents into various languages (generally from English). ICRAF needs to establish a workable process for determining priorities in order to reduce costs. A demand driven approach to setting such priorities is appropriate.
The publication of ICRAF reference documents is still weak because of time constraints and difficulties in finding an adequate arrangement with the research staff who would work on such publications. The real challenge for ICRAF will be to make the transition from a council to a research centre providing documentation and information related to its own research, and how its research can be used in practice to promote the goals and objectives of the Centre and the CGIAR System. ICRAF needs to focus on documenting and publishing results from its own research, especially in refereed international journals. At present most of its own research is reported in its own documentation series.
The information programme is growing so fast that a strategic reorientation appears necessary. The use of regional networks is the best way to go, but in many cases such networks do not exist or are not doing well. The Panel suggests that ICRAF should strengthen its support to the existing ones and work to create new ones. The example of the SALWA AFRENA is commendable.
