Participatory Innovation Development (PID): A Training of Facilitators Course

Last 26 June to 12 July 2006, an international course on Participatory Innovation Development: A Training of Facilitators (PID-ToF) was conducted in Kampala, Uganda, sponsored by the Prolinnova Global Partnership Programme (http://www.prolinnova.net) of which IIRR is a key partner.

The 17-day course primarily focused on key competencies to support local innovation in agriculture and natural resource management. The course offered the 21 participants from 14 countries with an understanding of socio-organizational arrangements needed to regulate the use of natural resources, tap into the social capital within communities and discover new ways of stakeholder interactions that will encourage local innovation development. It also focused on the competencies needed for building capacities of staff in PID/PTD, to prepare for and implement effective training and learning programs in this field.

Through experience sharing, participants became aware of the challenges faced by development professionals and scientists in moving local innovations further towards joint experimentation with farmers and local people.

‘BRING BACK PID TO ME’

It was the closing ceremony of the International Course on Participatory Innovation Development (PID) Training of Facilitators’ Course held from 26 June to 12 July 2006.   Twenty-one people, three women and eighteen men, stood up and sang a song composed by one of them.  The tune was familiar but the lyrics were inspired by their shared experience of mutual learning on a common development agenda quite close to their heart. It was a song expressing a natural longing for an indomitable spirit of service to the people and a renewed commitment.

PID goes over the mountain,
PID goes over the sea.
PID goes over the ocean,
Bring back PID to me.
Bring back, bring back, bring back PID to me.

We join hands to make a commitment.
To help others in times of need.
PID is for me and all,
Just bring back PID to me.
Bring back PID to me. Bring back, bring back, bring back PID to me.

There were actually twenty-two of them who participated in this course. But one of them from Cambodia, with mixed feelings of excitement in anticipation of their first baby due to be born and a little hesitation due to unfinished journeying together with the whole group,  had to leave earlier before the end of the course to be with his wife. These development practitioners of diverse work involvement included a trainer,  community facilitator, project facilitator, project officers, project manager, team leaders, country desk coordinator, regional research associate, research scientist, water and irrigation engineer, district agriculture officer, coordinators, and editor.   They came from fourteen countries of the world: Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Iran, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Syria, Bolivia, The Netherlands.  Fourteen of them were from Non-government Organizations (NGOs), four from Government Organizations (GOs), two from the multilateral organizations, and two from the academe. Most of them are members of a network called PROLINNOVA (Promoting Local Innovation).  It is an initiative that aims to build a global learning network to promote local innovation in ecologically oriented agriculture and natural resource management (http://www.prolinnova.net). It recognizes the need for researchers and extension officers to be more capable of supporting innovations by farmers; documenting and disseminating their innovations more widely, conducting joint experimentations with them, and building-on farmer innovation in their work. This course is designed to train facilitators in Participatory Innovation. As joint undertaking by PROLINNOVA and IIRR in cooperation with Environmental Alert of Uganda, a core team of facilitators/resource persons came both organizations. Some of the participants also performed as resource persons/facilitators in select sessions.

Besides a song, how else did they express their experience in this course?

“Pay attention that the mutual learning is the only way to great accomplishments. Impossible to applause in one hand. Dreams become true if we share the same directions.” Al-Ahmad Mohamed Kasem, Community Facilitator, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Syria

“A forum in which you learn so many things and share numerous experiences in a short time.  Establishing international relations with ‘experts’ over the world enable further consultation in future issues.’” Mohamed Yousif MabraukTeam Leader of AIM 1/Prolinnova CP Coordinator Practical Action-Sudan “It was an interesting experience to learn not only from the facilitators and guests but also from the participants.  The PID process and experience in Africa and Asia have inspired our future work in farmers innovations centered approach in Latin-America.” Elizabeth Vargas Solá MSc in Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

“The course was a great experience of sharing and learning process.  It was also in an atmosphere of friendliness and cordiality that made participants to learn more and remember things they have learned before.” James M. Kombiok Research Scientist, CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Ghana

“The course was very enriching with a lot of insights and lessons learnt from the facilitators, participants and farmers. It reminded me of a saying from my tribe  ‘Knowledge is like fire which some one may get free from her/his neighborhood.’ In our African context, one can get fire from neighbor freely.  Participants and Facilitators all offered their skills, experiences and knowledge freely and with openness.”  Yakobo Kasuri Tibamanya, Country Desk Coordinator, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM)-Tanzania

“When I was coming to this PID Course workshop, I thought that I knew most of the things that we were going to be trained about.  So my thinking was that I was attending a kind of refresher course to get more understanding of what I already knew.  Today this perception is different.  I have learnt a lot of new things, knowledge, methodologies, practices, and skills especially in facilitating trainings and field activities.  From experience sharing, I learnt a lot from the participants that collective action and sharing of roles is key in meeting given objectives.  I have gained confidence in initiating the journey towards institutionalization of scope of activities.” Kankwatsa Peace Regional Research Associate, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Uganda

“It is an interactive learning process. It demands a lot of energy and fresh mind everyday. Each session is designed to solve a WHY question and thus the course forces you to  speak out your mind. The course also helps you to monitor progress in your organization.”  Ernest Modibe Letsoalo CRCE Coordinator, University of Limpopo, Centre for Rural Community Empowerment, South Africa

“I can be able to look for and evaluate my self where, what and how I was working up to now. And this training shows me the ladder to climb.”  Getachew Fakadu Demoz Water and Irrigation Engineer, Adigrat Diocesan Catholic Secretariat (ADCS), Ethiopia

 “With other organizations will help me in solving problems in communities. Teamwork among development agents is key to change. Put the farmer first is the slogan for PID”. Ruth Ayiaikai Tagoe District Agriculture Officer, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana

 “It was more than I expected. This training programme provided the perfect learning environment in relation to PID concepts and practices. Participants from other countries helped to enrich/ enhance my understanding and knowledge, and also to generate new ideas from different perspectives (both personal and professional)  This was truly what we call  ‘mutual and experiential learning experience’ for me. Some   experiences can be felt but not expressed.” Sharad  Rai Project Officer, Practical Action Nepal, Nepal

“It was a nicely planned course in terms of time and contents. It could be more efficient if all the presentations to be prepared before, using power points and to be given to the participants as handouts prior to starting of the sessions. This could save the time of the program to be used in more practical parts. Therefore the participants would not need to spend more time on taking many notes and have enough chance to concentrate on the talks given by the facilitators.” Yaghoub Norouzi Banis Scientific Staff, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute (SCWMRI), Ministry of Agriculture, Islamic Republic of Iran

“A good balance of relevant PID theoretical concepts and practical sharing through the course modules and sessions plus interaction with the course facilitators.  I would recommend this course to any AR&D practitioner.  Ronald Samuel Lutalo Prolinnova Coordinator, Environmental Alert, Uganda

“Have developed crystal clear concept on PTD vs. PID. Field Practicum helped a lot to know about effective and purposeful use of different tools. Has provided confidence to be PID facilitator back to my country. Gained lots of experience sharing from different participants from various countries across the globe about iImportance of participation of farmers in agriculture development fields.”  Suman Shekhar Manandhar Project Coordinator, Promoting Local Innovation (PROLINNOVA) Nepal Programme, Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, research and Development (LI-BIRD), Nepal

“Rigorous and interview experiential learning. Participatory and iterative to use each and every steps to ensure that principles and of PID are met. Interesting and urge us to look for more things to try out. Change attitude, behaviors, thinking, “think out of the box.“  Vincent Tebogo Serapelwane Sustainable Rural Livelihood Coordinator, Agricultural Research Council, South Africa

“The course to me has been very useful in terms of acquiring knowledge and skills with the assistance of the facilitators and sharing experiences with fellow participants. The Sudan (especially the southern Sudan) is recovering from the brunt of long war and such skills will be utilized effectively and fully. This course has been like the coming of Jesus as viewed by me since I am working with farmers who have had no access to other production technologies other than what they themselves practice.  Was able to identify mine and my organization’s weaknesses and strengths in the application of PID in implementation of the programme.  In conclusion the course was appropriate and designed for the right participants. (trainees)”   Bullen Augustine Taban Coordinator, Food and Income Security Episcopal Church of Sudan, Development and Relief Department, Action Africa Help International-South Sudan

“As PID practitioner, I have learnt a lot of things that will enable me achieve PROLINNOVA objectives. Although I was dealing with PID activities, it was in terms of process and design of TNA. The exposure to various practical activities will help me improve my way of service delivery especially training other PID practitioners about the right way to identify things to try out and conduct joint experimentation. The important thing is to know that M&E and record keeping is key for PID success. “   Laurent Nduwimana Kaburire, Prolinnova & Biosafety Project Officer, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM)-Tanzania

Posted on: October 19, 2006