Elske van de Fliert2 Summary

Developing capacity of trainers requires a methodology consistent with the approaches future trainers are expected to apply. For farmer field school (FFS) facilitators, this means that trainers should preferably be trained in an FFS setting. Research projects aimed at developing tailored FFS protocols for a specific crop or constraint area, often plan training of trainers to prepare for large-scale implementation by national programs, but they seldom have the resources to conduct a season-long training. Linking up with existing FFS programs provides access to well trained and experienced cadres of facilitators, but needs and mechanisms will have to be identified to upgrade them on the particulars of a specific curriculum and target group. Experience in Indonesia and Vietnam showed that linkage with and utilization of well trained and experienced cadres of FFS facilitators from the national IPM (integrated pest management) programs provided obvious advantages to institutionalize and implement sweetpotato ICM (integrated crop management) FFS programs. More time and funds, however, should have been allocated to build stronger networks of high quality trainers. By discussing methodologies and experiences of the Indonesian and Vietnamese sweetpotato ICM FFS projects, with regard to capacity building of FFS facilitators, this paper offers some suggestions on ways to anticipate opportunities and constraints when planning specific FFS implementation programs