Empowerment in AEBV

During the two years of the project there is such an investment in human capital that the project staff is more and more capable of supervising students towards independent decision-making, enterprising and creativity.

In this goal two values of EduCare and ARM appear: empowerment and constructivism. This can be very well embedded in the way education is given and how an enterprise is managed.
EduCare envisions helping ARM to conduct this, within the African context of course.

The project staff should ideally be market-oriented in their farming or otherwise be helped to do so, in order to be able to teach their students how to accomplish a viable farm. For the teaching it is important that they become able to stimulate their students.

Considerable time will be taken to monitor and evaluate regularly. During two of the planned visits there will be training on educational and on agricultural aspects. The subjects depend on the needs of the staff members, but will contribute to the goal mentioned.

Project staff

A manager is hired for this project to coach the students and he or she is responsible for following the project and business plans. ARM plans to hire a graduate from a BSc course in Agricultural Vocational studies. These students learn how to teach ànd how to run a successful farm. The project is overseen by the head of the ARM department of Agriculture in the role of projectmanager.
ARM has already hired a casual worker to help out practically at the farm and ARM will continue to do that.
ARM also needs a teacher for one day on the farm to help out in this project, especially for the young children goals.
A board with four or five members will be composed. The members will be influent people from the community like a politician who is in agriculture, a manager of Bethany Village, but also parents.

Embedding in the community

The project also should be integrated in and carried by the community. It is difficult for parents to carry the project in financial terms, but asking for some small contribution will raise awareness. ARM also plans to have special demonstration days for parents and other interested people about improving agricultural techniques. It might be possible for the Bethany Village Farm to help other neighboring farmers out with agricultural supplies or good livestock. ARM has experience with good strategies to involve the local population and this will contribute to the quality of the project and the building up of human capital.

Since this is a project with two important goals, an economic goal and an educational goal, it is important to design mechanisms to make sure these are balanced in the implementation of the project. NetOO will help out with advise on how to organize the educational part. The board plays a role in it, but also the monitoring and evaluation tools.