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Background:
The Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) is a national Cambodian not-for-profit NGO specializing in the field of ecological agriculture and rural development. The centre was created in August 1997 with initial support from the French NGO, GRET. In 2008, CEDAC has been developed into 3 Core Programs including the CEDAC Institute for Local Development (CILD). CILD was officially launched in August 2008 and aims to contribute to the development of a qualified human resource in the field of sustainable agriculture and rural development.
Mission:
- The mission of CILD is to:
- - Provide training services in ecological agriculture, community development and socially responsible enterprises.
- - Explore and develop appropriate innovations and technologies to support the development of local communities
- - Facilitate a network to share and exchange knowledge and experiences in sustainable local development.
- People, both youth and professionals who received training from CILD will specialize and qualify as:
- - Agri-entrepreneurs
- - Farmer Organization Leaders
- - Community business cooperative leaders
- - Rural development professionals
- - Local Development Planners and Local Policy Maker
Major Activities of CILD
1. Training programme
1.1- Vocational/Professional Training in Agriculture and Rural Development
We have worked to build the capacity of different youth groups, especially children of poor farmers, for the purpose of helping them to prepare themselves for their future career in the field of ecological agriculture and rural development. The youth groups supported by CILD include:
1.1.1- Young rural development professionals (YDP)
At the end of this program they will become professionals in sustainable agriculture and rural development. It is noted that since 1998, we have supported 16 groups of 165 trainees who successfully completed this apprenticeship course, and about 70% of them were recruited as CEDAC staff and the rest are working with other NGOs and Governmental Institutions..
Main principles of the course:
- Eligible applicants are college and university graduates
- 6-month course with theoretical and practical learning
- 2 courses a year; the 1st course commences in January until June and the 2nd course commences in June until December.
- CILD support is USD70 per month per trainee (total around USD420 per trainee) to cover their transportation and part of their living costs, but the trainee has to pay back USD720 for the training tuition to CILD within 2 years after completing the course and getting a job
- Providing opportunities for employment through CEDAC's development project and service during the study.
- CILD will issue a certificate to each trainee after successfully completed the course
1.1.2- Young Agri-Entrepreneurs (YAE) Development and Management:
Main principles of the course:
- 1 year course with theoretical and practical learning
- Eligible applicants are rural youth (children of poor farmers are encouraged) aged between 16-30 years with at least 9 years of school education
-Scholarships of USD1000 per trainee to cover their training tuition, transportation and other living costs. The trainee is required to reimburse USD300 to CILD within 3 years after completing this course
- The trainees will be able to get loans of up to USD1000 from CILD to start up their own enterprise but they have to pay such loans back to CILD within 3 years.
- CILD will issue a Diploma in Agri-Enterprise Development and Management to each trainee after successfully completing the course
With partial funding assistance from donors, this program has supported 135 YAE in 2008 and plans to have 400 YAE by 2011. Successful trainees of this course will become socially responsible entrepreneurs, community/local leaders, resource persons for their community and trainers for new trainee groups.
- 1.1.3- Young Community Leaders (YCL):
- Main principles of the program:
- - 1 year course with theoretical and practical learning
- - Eligible applicants are rural youth age between 17-25 years old with at least 12 years of school education
- - A scholarship of USD1300 per trainees to cover training their tuition, transportation and other living costs, but the trainee has to pay back USD1000 to CILD within 5 years after completing the course
- - CILD will issue a certificate to each trainee after successfully completing the course
Since 2006, we have supported around 270 YCLs. More than 30 successful trainees are currently employed in development projects of CEDAC and other NGOs. After the course, the trainees will become the future generation rural development professionals and community leaders.
- 1.1.4- Farmer Organization Leaders
This program aims to further strengthen the capacity of Farmer Leaders in Leadership, Financial Management, and Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation skill. Farmers who are already in management committee positions of the Farmer Association or the farmer cooperative (supported by CEDAC's projects) are identified as farmer leaders.
- 1.1.5- Farmer Experts
Similarly to farmer leaders, the training aims at providing increased capacity building of Farmer Experts in New Innovation/Technology Experimentation and farmer to farmer extension skills. CEDAC's project has supported farmers who have concrete experiences in agriculture related techniques. They are identified as farmer experts. In partnership with CILD, these farmer experts play a main role in hosting exchange visits and in providing training to other farmers and development workers.
- 1.2-Short course training program
We provide short course training services in ecological agriculture, community development and socially responsible enterprises to farmers, small entrepreneurs and development professionals. The training courses include:
Ecological agriculture technologies:
- - Integrated Home Gardening
- - System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
- - Multipurpose Farms
- - Ecological Soil Management
- - System of Ecological Chicken Raising
- - Fish Raising in Ponds
- - Fish Raising in Plastic-laid Holes
- - Wild Fish Trapping
- - Fish Seed Production
Community development:
- - How to work with the poor
- - How to build the self-confidence and motivation of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA)
- - Community leadership
- - Local administration
- - How to develop young community leaders
Social enterprise:
- - Saving for Self-Reliance groups
- - Agri-business and Marketing Management
- - Agri-entrepreneur
- - Farmer cooperatives
Other courses:
- - Improved cook stove selection and dissemination
* More about the short course training program is available in a separated sheet of CILD training service
2- Participatory Action Research and Innovation Development
Participatory Action Research with farmers is conducted by CILD staff to update and explore innovations related to Ecological Agriculture and Sustainable Local Development practice. For 2008-2010, our focused action research is to update our current agriculture technologies as the priority thematic including: Crop production (Vegetable home gardening, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), Animal production and aquaculture (Pig, Chicken, Fish, Eel raising). The findings from this research are used as the training reference.
3- Network Facilitation
CILD is currently facilitating 3 networks at the national level. These networks are: (1) Promoting Local Innovation (PROLINNOVA); (2) Wood Energy Network of Cambodia (WENetCam); and (3) SRI Working Group. These networks serve as a forum for exchanging and disseminating knowledge, information and experiences in sustainable agriculture and rural development. Through this exchange we can share our best practices and experiences with other development partners. And on the other hand, we can also learn from them to make our services effectively applicable.
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