by Berhanu Gebremedhin, Dereje Legesse and Birhanu Biazin
Germame Garuma, deputy head of the SNNPR Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the ToT workshop (photo credit: ILRI\Yoseph Mekasha).
Scale out of market-oriented extension (MOE) service and value chain development (VCD) approaches in Ethiopia is increasing as a result of training offered by the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project.
So far, the project has carried out training of trainers (TOT) workshops in four highland regions of Ethiopia. The most recent one took place in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) February 10-15, 2016.
At the closing of the workshop, Germame Garuma, deputy head of the Regional Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said that the training would help transform agricultural production and trade in the region. He said the LIVES training was especially important in efforts to bridge the missing link in the regional extension service.’LIVES is a small project in terms of its financial resources, but its knowledge and capacity contributions to the region are huge,’ he said.
A week after the TOT workshop by LIVES, the regional bureau of agriculture and natural resources organized a four-day TOT workshop (February 22-24) on the subject to scale out the training throughout the region. The workshop was attended by 130 participants (11 female) drawn from the regional office, all zones and districts in the region and was facilitated by staff who participated in the workshop organized by LIVES. Dereje Legesse, LIVES agribusiness expert, gave technical support during the workshop.
The workshop budget was close to half a million Birr and was paid for by the bureau itself.
This case is also evidence that the TOT workshop approach used by LIVES in capacity building is well received by partners and is being adopted and scaled out.
Participants in the ‘second level’ workshop were unequivocal in their determination to scale out the training further and adopt the MOE service and VCD approach in their agricultural extension activities. They also committed to institutionalizing the approaches in their respective bureaus and offices.
