Creating
a Vision/Building a Team
Twenty-five
members of the A-Team from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, and
Vietnam took part in a two-week workshop that concluded in Jogjakarta,
Indonesia. The goals of the meeting focused on team building and setting a
programmatic direction for A-team activities as part of the regional
Community IPM Program. The “travelling workshop” began in
Jakarta on the 8th of July 1999 and concluded on the 18th in Jogjakarta.
During this period, participants were able to make field trips to four
sites plus spend seven days in discussions and planning sessions.
The A-Team took advantage of the planning sessions to determine a vision
for Community IPM and outline action plans for the A-Team. The activity
plans fell into five categories of activities: advocacy/policy, health,
gender, ecology/science, and networking/organizing. The goals for
future A-team activities associated with these five categories are as
follows.
 |
Farmers
organize to negotiate with policy makers regarding local, regional,
and national agriculture policies that limit the effectiveness of
Community IPM activities. |
|
Farmers
create networks to share and improve advocacy strategies. |
|
The
members of farming communities are able to articulate the threat of
pesticides to human and environmental health. |
| Farmers
and other community people are able to improve local health
conditions. |
|
Improve
the status of women who are currently working in agriculture. |
| Help
women achieve increased access to local services and agricultural
programs. |
|
A
network is organized among IPM farmers and trainers to empower farmers
|
|
Farmers’
critical thinking and decision making skills are enhanced; |
|
Farmers
creating local solutions for their own farming problems.
|
|
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That
the A-Team has developed a broader vision and plans for the future does
not mean that they will no longer be available for training activities.
The A-Team will continue to be the source that countries in the region can
draw on for training support. At the same time, however, A-Team
members are not only active on international assignments. To make
the above goals a reality, requires A-Team members beginning in their own
countries to develop activities at local levels that will support their
overall vision and goals. Each of the groups from the five
countriest attending the Jogjakarta planning meeting also developed plans
for acting locally in support of their countries’ projects needs.
Examples
of A-Team Activities
1.
Bangladesh: TOT for
Farmer IPM Trainers
Bangladesh
has had an IPM training program for extension workers and farmers since
the early 1990’s. There are in fact good IPM trainers in
Bangladesh. So, why send A-Team trainers to Bangladesh?
Bangladesh wanted to establish a Community IPM program in which Farmer IPM
Trainers would play the lead role. Two A-Team trainers,
Zambani and Guntara, both of whom had extensive experience in training and
supervising Farmer IPM Trainers, were asked to come to Bangladesh and help
in the design and implementation of a series of TOT’s for Farmer IPM
Trainers during May and June of 1999.
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