Participatory Approaches to Agricultural Extension
September 6 to 24, 2004
Course fee: US$2,500

This course is designed to advance rural development through improved agricultural extension approaches. The course discusses how to scale up these approaches and identifies prerequisites at the community and organizational levels. In this course, participants develop new capacities for planning, managing and evaluating participatory extension programs. Among the course topics are: agricultural extension approaches; principles, issues, methods and field applications of participatory extension; and opportunities for farmer-led extension resulting from decentralization. Field extension managers and supervisors, extension trainers and development practitioners from government and non-government organizations will find this course valuable.

Participatory Action Research for Community-based Natural Resources Management (PAR for CBNRM)
A joint undertaking by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR, Philippines), Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC, Thailand), and International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada).
Fixed course date : September 6 - 21, 2004
Fixed course venue: RECOFTC, Bangkok, Thailand
Course fee: US$2,630. This includes accommodation, course materials, airport pick-up and health insurance but excludes meals, costs of visas, transportation costs of getting to and from Bangkok and pocket money (US$ 100 per week is suggested).

This international course is geared specifically for senior decision-makers working on community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). Participants will have the opportunity to reflect upon and share experiences of CBNRM, explore principles of participatory action research (PAR), experiment with a range of tools for examining different perspectives relevant to CBNRM with stakeholders in the field, critically analyze the PAR approach in relation to CBNRM, and document their insights to add to the discourse on PAR for CBNRM. Emphasis will be placed on providing a stimulating learning environment for sharing of ideas among participants, facilitators and other resource people. Proficiency in English is highly recommended.

The course fee of US$2,630 includes course materials, field trip, accommodation, health insurance, and daily allowance which covers expenses for food and other essential items in Thailand.

This course is a joint undertaking by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) www.iirr.org, the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC, Thailand) www.recoftc.org and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada) www.idrc.ca.

RECOFTC and IIRR also provide a customized PAR for CBNRM course in any appropriate requested location. When requesting such a course, a 3-month’s notice to either IIRR or RECOFTC would be appreciated. The costs for the customized course will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

For further information and an application form, please contact RECOFTC at contact@recoftc.org or Education&Training@iirr.org . You can also register for the course online on the RECOFTC website.

Gender Mainstreaming: From Programmatic to Organizational Transformation
(Two-week collaborative course with the Commission on the Advancement of Women, InterAction)
October 4 to 15, 2004
Course fee: US$2,250

Designed for mid and senior-level development professionals, this two-week course will provide them with the tools to influence decision makers within their organization towards systematic gender mainstreaming. The course builds upon a review of previous and current experiences in gender mainstreaming within the participants’ organizations, programs and/or projects. Using a ‘gender audit’ tool, participants deepen their understanding of previous gender mainstreaming efforts within their own organization. The audit will give focus to the following dimensions: political will, technical capacity, accountability and organizational culture. Opportunities will be given to go through real-life exercises in preparation for the planned change process to mainstream gender within their own organization.

Sustainable Approaches to Community Health
18 October – 5 November 2004
Course fee: US$2,500

This three-week course is designed for doctors, nurses, midwives, and other health practitioners and development professionals engaged in the promotion of participatory and integrated programs, approaches and strategies to address community health concerns. It focuses on demonstrated models and strategies that aim to strengthen and sustain efforts in community health. Participants are provided opportunities to examine community-based strategies and models that have worked within the context of resource-poor environments.

Community-based Integrated Watershed Management
November 8 to 26, 2004
Course fee: US$2,700

This course offers a new approach for integrating technologies and participatory strategies within the natural landscape, or “watershed” for resource conservation, production and its sustainable use. This course is intended for planners, field staff, technicians and others working in rural development, with government and non-government organizations who work in the areas of food security, sustainable agriculture, water resources management and natural resources management.

The training is designed to share concepts and strategies for planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating natural resources management projects using watershed approaches in partnership with local communities. The course content includes: concepts and framework of watershed development, elements of community-based integrated watershed management, technology options, participatory approaches and strategies to watershed development.

Participatory Learning and Action Course |
| SPANISH VERSION |
Quito, Ecuador
Offered: November 22-30, 2004
Language: Spanish

Why Participatory Learning & Action?

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) is a powerful tool used by international development and social workers, and refers to a family of approaches, behaviors and methods for enabling people to do their own appraisal, analysis and planning, and to implement, monitor and evaluate their own activities and projects. PRA has increasingly been taken to stand for ‘Participatory Reflection and Action’ while other practitioners describe what they do as ‘PLA’ to stress inclusive methodological pluralism.

This PLA Training gives due recognition to the major role of the community people as development managers. The development workers’ role is to facilitate a social learning process that will enable the local people to build their capacity to carry out their own analysis, draw their own conclusions and design their own development programs. Actual practice of PRA entails not merely the use of participatory methods, tools and techniques, at the very core, it is a matter of attitudes -- a shift in the learning paradigm.

Course Description and Objectives

This 9-day training course takes place in Quito, Ecuador and will include:

• Overview of PLA: a theoretical introduction including concepts, perspectives of PLA and participants sharing of experiences
• Designing PLA for Development Projects: Steps and considerations in designing PLA, Methods and Tools, Implementation and Action, and Analyzing Monitoring and Evaluation results
• Practical work: on the use of PLA tools in the community
• Action Planning: Synthesizing lessons from previous sessions, participants will develop their respective action plans for implementation at work. Course participants and facilitators will critique the plans. Participants are urged to explore with their supervisors/colleagues areas for their action plans.

Organizers

The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction has more than 40 years of experience connecting theory and practice through action research at the community level. IIRR’s participatory and people-centered approach to knowledge creation and training captures practical lessons in what works for poor communities, and improves the impact of development strategies by extending that knowledge through training, publications, and partnerships with development practitioners. Over the years, the Institute has trained more than 12,000 development practitioners from Asia, Africa, and Latin America and has a ten-year history of documenting and disseminating field-based experience through its publications.

Who should attend?

Program or project managers, training and extension workers, monitoring and evaluation officers, community and NGO leaders, and students seeking hands-on development experience.

Course Fees

The training cost is $1,500 US dollars, which includes food, lodging, training materials and local transportation for practicum in the community. The course will be held on the following dates: First course is June 12-21, 2004 and the second course is November 22 - 30, 2004.

How to Apply

For additional information or to register, please contact:
Email: Wilma.Luminquinga@iirr.org or Latin.America@iirr.org
Tele-fax: (593-2) 02 - 254 - 4085

For general information contact IIRR in New York at nyc.office@iirr-us.org or (212) 880 9147

Designing Development Training Systematically
29 November – 10 December 2004
Course fee: US$2,000

Designed for development trainers working with community people, or with development practitioners, this two-week course will enhance the training design skills of even the most experienced trainer. The course is organized to ensure that participants are involved in a number of hands-on training design activities, including conducting a training needs assessment as the basis for more systematically formulating development training designs. The course will for the examination and analysis of performance gaps of sample individuals or groups in the light of the organization and community where the identified roles and functions are performed.