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Regional Courses
The International Institute for Rural Reconstruction is glad to announce its regional courses for the year 2003. Every year, IIRR’s Regional Center for Africa offers training courses that focus on field experiences and participatory approaches. These courses are designed for managers and leaders of development organizations. In the past, participants have been drawn from indigenous and international NGOs, community-based organizations, bi-lateral and multilateral programs. These courses target development practitioners from mainly Eastern Africa, but have attracted participants from as far as Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Cameroon. Since 1995, close to 2000 people have attended the courses. YEAR 2004 SCHEDULE OF REGULAR COURSES LOCAL
CBO/NGO ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING COURSE The last two decades witnessed the mushrooming of local NGO/CBO community in most of the developing countries. This unprecedented growth of local NGO and CBO community has changed the role of many national and international development organizations and religious organizations from being direct implementers of projects to capacity support organizations of newly created NGOs/CBOs, religious groups and associations. These organizations however, experience a wide range of problems that relate mainly to their capacity to deliver effective services. It is in response to the above needs that this course has been launched covering such issues as the concepts and principles of OD and capacity building, the use of capacity assessment tools, mentoring, training, grant making, staff secondment and OD consultants as interventions methods. The course will also handle specific issues such as governance, leadership, financial accountability and sustainability issues and networking. Lastly, the role and needs of the capacity building agencies will be looked at. Extensive field visits, debates and panel discussions will be used to provide opportunities for collective discovery and reflection. PARTICIPATORY
MONITORING AND EVALUATION In a competitive donor environment, the ability to demonstrate impact and proven change is increasingly important. In addition, participatory approaches are challenging our traditional M&E approaches. Many are left with the question on how to design simple and manageable M&E systems that leave room for active involvement of the beneficiaries. This course covers types and elements of M&E, setting up of M&E systems, development of indicators, data collection and analysis. Participants will share ideas, experiences and acquire skills in the use of various tools for monitoring and evaluation with a particular focus on the active involvement of beneficiaries in setting up and applying M&E systems. FARMER
LED EXTENSION COURSE Agricultural extension services constitute a major strategy to support agricultural innovation, development and production within Africa. In recent years, the use of participatory extension approaches as an alternative to conventional approaches has led to positive outcomes in agricultural and natural resources development. This course therefore aims at contributing towards the institutionalization of farmer led extension approaches in Africa through creating awareness, understanding and appreciation of the farmer as a partner by rural development and extension professionals and building the capacities of these professionals to design, implement, monitor and evaluate participatory extension programs to achieve the goals of food security. This course will cover; An overview of agricultural extension approaches; Principles and methods of farmer led extension; Critical analysis of individual work programs; Application of farmer led extension approaches; Issues and challenges in participatory extension; Participatory research; Participatory M&E within Farmer led Extension: and The development of action plans to integrate Farmer led extension approaches. Extensive fieldwork and analysis of cases will be the main methodologies for course delivery. This course will be organized in collaboration with FAO.
In addition to the regular IIRR courses, short five-day courses are offered on demand (where there are more than 10 people interested) or as customized courses. These course include: PROJECT DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT This course aims at increasing impact of development projects and poverty alleviation programmes through sound project design and management. This course is meant for project managers, project officers and those involved in project identification and design. The course covers selected tools and techniques for participatory needs assessment (including PRA tools), stakeholder analysis, problem identification and analysis, the logical framework, development of participatory monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and sustainability analysis and strategy. PUBLIC AWARENESS Increasingly donors and the public are demanding that development organizations show the impact of their work to justify continued funding or technical support. This course aims at strengthening the capacities and skills of leaders of government agencies, NGOs and community-based organizations involved in agricultural research and extension to undertake public awareness. Topics to be covered include introduction to public awareness; stakeholder analysis and identification of target audiences for public awareness activities; public awareness techniques, tools and products; identification of appropriate communication approaches, skills and resources for public awareness and development of an institutional public awareness strategy. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION As a result of the dwindling financial support from International donors, NGOs and CBOs are increasingly called upon to develop capacities for local resource mobilization. This course, therefore, aims at developing capacities of staff of development organizations to mobilize local resources for development activities. Topics to be covered include: Image building, development of an organizational fundraising strategy, development of concept papers and project proposals, building of institutional capacity for local resource mobilization and partnership. LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE FOR NGOS AND CBOS This course aims at facilitating LNGOs and CBOs to have credible leadership and governance systems and structures with the aim of enabling them to become more effective, efficient and accountable. The course content include:
GENERAL INFORMATION ON REGULAR COURSES Duration, field trips and agency visits Each course takes two weeks and includes one agency and one field trip. During the agency visits, participants learn how leading development agencies are managed. Specific emphasis is placed on the course theme. During the day-long field visits, participants interact with other development practitioners at work in communities. Course fee The courses cost $1,100 for residents of the host country and $1,300 for other nationalities. It covers tuition, full-board accommodation and course materials. Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to the training venue, medical and insurance coverage. Participants are also expected to cover out of pocket expenses. A 10% fellowship will be given to female candidates. The fees for Farmer Led Extension Course is US$1500 NB: All these courses could also be tailor/tailor made to suit the requirements of an organization. For further information or application forms, please contact: The
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