IDCC-ABSADEE













International Certificate and Diploma Course in Asset Base Sustainable Agriculture Development Programming and Extension Education in Community Development
(IDCC-ABSADEE)
Date: 01 September - 13 December 2008

Rationale
In year 2008, Sustainable Agriculture ( SACenter) will offer a Three Months International Certificate and Diploma Course in Asset Base SA Development Programming and Extension Education in (ICDCABSADEE) Community Development as major component of its Phase 5 program entitled “Consolidation and Expansion of Asset Base Sustainable Agriculture in Community Development of Southeast Asia” supported by MISEREOR of Germany. The course is a mutual cooperation of MISEREOR (founded by Catholic Bishops of Germany) and SACenter. In this process, SA Center and MISEREOR formulate the training program and select participants based on the criteria identified by both parties. For MISEREOR, this is a process to mainstream Sustainable Agriculture in MISEREOR supported development program organizations/institutions in agriculture-based communities in Southeast Asia and Asia as a whole. For SA Center, this is a process of sharing the experiential and Asset Base SA in the forefront of development works in agriculture-based communities: that SA is a public affair and people / farmer-centered oriented development agenda to contribute to an effective operationalization of the social teaching of the church and XU/XUCA mission of “Preferential Option for the Poor “.
Goal of the Course
The course is anchored on SACenter’s 15 years experiential learning in the operationalization of farmer-centered SA, over a decade annual month-long certificate course in Southeast Asia Trainer’s Training in SA (SEATTSA) with more than 200 alumni from Asia, Pacific and Africa and the functional integration of the philosophy / principles of Sustainable Agriculture through the 7 Dimension of SA, and the Asset Base Community Development (ABCD) approach as new paradigm shift in community development program. At least 15-25 community / rural development workers and institutions with experiences on SA program implementation will enter into broader applications of the concept/philosophy/principles of Asset Base SA and Extension Education development programming processes in agriculture-based communities through engaging, integrating and converging various partners/stakeholders in informal/formal structures and farmers as major key players of SA in Community Development. The long term goal of the course is the installation of partnership-based formulation and operationalization of community-wide Asset Base SA development in Southeast Asia (SEA) to address poverty reductions, ensure food safety and health securities with ecological/environmental protection and mitigations of climate change and empowered farming communities and citizens.
Course Objectives
The general objective of the course is for participants to acquire in -depth knowledge and understanding for reflective actions on the complexity of Sustainable Agriculture that goes beyond science and technology with symbiotic interplay of nature and ecological assets, social capital and assets of polity, business and culture. The course is anchored on the faith-based human development assets and processes to results on effective and functional local governance of transparency, accountability and competent people/farmers and citizens. The specific objectives of the course are as follows:

1.Increase appreciation and understanding in global/regional/ national/local agricultural development and functional integration of the 7 Dimension on SA and Asset Base Community Development (ABCD) approach;
2.Changing the mindsets from externally-driven agriculture to internally-driven sustainable agriculture development;
3.Deep understanding on the experiential – based stakeholderships approaches and processes in the formulation and operationalization of Asset Base SA and Extension Education in community-wide development ;
4.Learn and acquire skills and experience in practical development processes in Asset Base SA and Extension Education in Community Development program;
5.Acquire skills and capacity in developing an Asset Base SA Development Programming and Extension Education including the development of the Participatory Results Base Monitoring and Evaluation (PRBME) ;
6.Acquire skills and capacity in conducting the Antipoverty Impacts Evaluation of SA program; and
7.Establish functional and interactive linkages with organizations in Southeast Asia / Asia developing and practicing Asset Base SA and Extension Education Development Action Plan (ABSADAP) in Community Development.

Participants Criteria
1.Professional background in agriculture or Sustainable Agriculture (SA) and / or Community / Rural Development work;
2.Practical experience as program officer/staff in SA;
3.Speaks and understand English well; and
4.Written endorsement letter from the participant’s organization and its commitment to support the implementation of the ABSADAP
5.Signed Memo of Agreement between SACenter, scholarship-supported partner institution for the formulation and implementation of the community-wide ABSADA

Course Fees
The course fee is USD 3,300.00. This covers the cost for board and lodging, tuition, administration, lecture materials and expenses for field trips and stay in the community during the actual formulation of ABSADAP. Limited number of scholarships will be offered on first come first serve basis. International travel expenses and other related expenses is the responsibility of the participants.
Selection Process: Who can avail the Scholarship

The processing is done in three levels:

1.Application by Organization
Interested participants shall be endorsed by his/her agency/institution. The endorsement letter will be attached to the participant’s application documents
2.The interested organization will submit the participant’s application and its endorsement to the Home Country Coordinators. HCC will screen participants based from the criteria. MISEREOR and SA Center identify 1 to 3 partner organizations in each home country and establish a participatory working coordination mechanism for this purpose. The HCC will forward their endorsement to 3a and/ or 3b.
3.Final Screening and Acceptance
3.aThe Home country Coordinators (HCC) will forward the application to MISEREOR for its own screening process for MISEREOR supported organization. MISEREOR will forward the results to SA Center for formal acceptance.
3.bFor MISEREOR non supported organization, the application will be forwarded to SA Center for screening and acceptance.

Course Structure and Curriculum
The course duration is 104.5 days and divided into 4 parts, At least sixty (60) percent of the whole course is devoted to practicum, workshops and field visits in agriculture-based Communities with SA development program operationalization in the provinces of Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon. Seventy (70) percent of part IV is focused on related practical exercises in Community-wide Asset Base SA and Extension Education Development Action Plan (ABSADAP), Antipoverty impacts evaluation of SA projects in Mindanao especially in selected communities of Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental. The course is designed for each participant to exercise the balance of inner core of human development process involving the mind, conscience, body and spirit. The provisional course curriculum is shown below:
Part I Understanding the Global / Regional / National and Local Agricultural Development (2 days)
1.World Trade Organization (WTO) and Agricultural Development
2.Stages of Agricultural Development
3. Global/Regional National documentary basis of SA and Rural Development

Part II. Framework / Principles / Philosophy of Sustainable Agricultural Development (2 days)
1.Seven Dimension of Sustainable of Agriculture (7DSA)
2.Faith-based Philosophy and Theological Reflection in SA
3.Forms of SA
a.Technology-based
b.Processed-based and Peoples/Farmer-centered

Part III. Changing the Mindsets to Best Practices of Sustainable Agriculture


No. MODULE/TOPIC Days
3.1 Basic Agro-ecological Principles 2
3.2 Soil Health Management 5
3.3 Alternative/Ecological Pest Management 5
3.4 Organic Crop Production and Management 5
3.5 Organic Livestock and Poultry Production Management 5
3.6 Farmer-led Research and Innovations and Extension 3
3.7 Farmer-led Organic Rice and Corn Breeding and Seed Banking 3
3.8 Soil and Water Conservation and Agro Forestry 2
3.9 Alternative Energy Source and Utilization 2
3.10 Organic Standards, Certification and Fair Trading 3
3.11 Health, Nutrition and Organic Food Processing 3
3.12 Community Health and natural Family Planning 3
3.13 Peasant Typology and Agrarian Reform 1
3.14 Diversified Organic Integrated Farming System 2
3.15 Associative Organic and Microfinance 3
3.16 Monitoring and Evaluation of SA at Farm Level and Households Levels 5
3.17 Demonstration Day/ Mini Fair 1
TOTAL 53
Part 1V Shaping a Process in Asset Base People / Farmer-Centered SA Development and Extension Education ( 38.5 days)


No. MODULE/TOPIC Days
4.1 Framework/Principles of Asset Base SA Development Program 3
4.1.1 ABCD Framework / Principle / Strategies and Application by Examples 2
4.1.2 Functional Integration of 7 Dimensions of SA and ABCD for Asset Based SA Development Program 1
4.2 Participatory Discovery of Experiential-Based Assets and Mapping 3
4.2.1 Participants Asset Mapping 1
4.2.2 Linking Participants Assets to Asset Base SA in Community Development 2
4.3 Experiential and Asset Based SA Development Action Plan Processes and Impacts 12.5
4.3.1 10 Year Community Base SA-Strategic Agriculture and Fishery Development Zone – Comprehensive Land Use Plan in Tongantongan, Valencia City 0.5
4.3.2 Asset Base Sustainable Land Use and Management in Marginal Upland Areas 0.5
4.3.3 Engaging, Integrating and converging for SA in Community Development 0.5
4.3.4 Field visits to Asset Base SA in Community Development 5
4.3.5 Case Analysis of Asset Base SA Development Processes and Impacts 3
4.3.5.1 Case 1: Local program 1
4.3.5.2 Case 2: National program 1
4.3.5.3 Case 3: International/Asia program 1
4.4 Asset Base SA and Extension Education Development Processes and Formulation of Development Action Plan (ABSADAP) 12
4.4.1 Framework of ABSADEE development processes
4.4.2 Community Data Collection and Asset Mapping 5
4.4.3 Asset Base SWOT Analysis and Prioritization 2
4.4.4 Formulation of Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives and Program of Action 5
4.5 Development of Asset Base SA Monitoring and Evaluation Tool 5
4.5.1 Experiential-based Functional and Interactive Result Base Monitoring and Evaluation Processes 2
4.5.2 Development of Participatory Results Base Monitoring and Evaluations 3
4.6 Anti poverty Impacts Evaluation of SA programs 5
4.7 Development of Participatory Results Base Monitoring and Evaluations of Asset Base SA and Extension Education Development Action Plan (ABSADAP) in Asia 2
4.8 Presentation of Asset Base SA and Extension Education Development Action Plan (ABSADAP) 3
  Total No. of Days 45.5

Dates and Venue
The course is residential and to be held at South East Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute (SEARSOLIN)/SA Center, Xavier University College of Agriculture in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines. Course dates will be offered for 3 months and 12days on 01 September to 12 December 2008.

Participant’s Certificate/Diploma
Participants will undergo two phases of receiving the certificate and diploma, respectively:

Phase 1 is a residential course at SEARSOLIN/SA Center, Xavier University College of Agriculture covering 104 days or 3.4 months. At graduation, the participants will be given an International Certificate Course in Asset Base SA Development Programming and Extension Education in Community Development (IC-ABSADEE). It would be specified in this certificate that a Certificate of Completion would be given if participants meet the Phase 2 criteria;

Phase 2 would be the validation and operationalization of Asset Based SA and Extension Education Development Action Plan (ABSADAP) in participant’s home country. In the absence of complete ABSADAP, the participants shall make a Program of Action in the formulation of ABSADAP upon returning to his organization/country. The SACenter will extend its technical support to partner institutions/organizations in the process of formulating and implementation of the ABSADAP upon request. A formal Memo of Understanding and Agreement (MOUA) between SACenter and the partner organizations will be generated for this purpose.

A Certificate of Completion of International Diploma in Asset Base SA Development Programming and Extension Education in Community Development (IDC-ABSADEE) will be given only after passing the evaluation once the participants meet the criteria of completion which is basically based from ABSADAP. The minimum criteria of completion will be developed together with the participants during the course. A process of formal application by participants for the Certificate of Completion or Diploma will be required. The completion should not exceed 3 years. At the minimum, a narrative report will be required as the basis of preparatory evaluation. It is on this context that SA Center and or MISEREOR has to decide whether to visit the participants in order to validate the narrative report and the ABSADAP as a whole

For more information, please contact:

The Admission Officer
Director
Sustainable Agriculture Center
Sustainable Agriculture Center
Xavier University College of Agriculture
Cagayan de Oro City
Philippines
Telefax: +63-08822-727464
Web: www.xu.edu.ph/sacenter
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Vic I. Tagupa
Associate Professor and Director
Sustainable Agriculture Center
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You can download this form through this link: ICDC-ABSADEE.