rural training

Lessons in rural training

Training The Majority: Guide lines for the Rural Pacific. By G. N. Bamford. Published 1986 by Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific. No price or ISBN given.

The majority of the popula tion in the Pacific Islands is and will continue to be in the rural areas. It is not surprising, there fore, it is there that non-formal education has proliferated. The thrust has usually been that of income-earning so as to combat the rural to urban drift. There are a multiplicity of agencies involved, many of which are religious bodies.

G. N. Bamford examines ten case studies. Different strategies are used by different groups mobile training (Village Motiva tors Course Evangelical Lutheran Church Papua New Guinea; YMCA Mobile Vocational Training Program me (Fiji); village-based train ing (Village Development Centre, Popondetta, Papua New Guinea) and training at established centres (Marist Training Centre, Tutu, Fiji).

Courses vary from training for increased agricultural produc tion to repair of outboard motors, making of rattan furni ture, handicraft training for women, carpentry, manage ment skills and farm manage ment and planning.

In the past, the goal of training has been to impart technical and agricultural skills.

It is now realised that this alone cannot lead to results. Manage ment skills, financial planning and the adoption of different values are necessary if embar king on income-generating work. G. N. Bamford notes that problems have arisen from so cial pressures associated with a communal way of life. The change from subsistence to “economic” farming is slow and difficult as young trainees need

to break from traditional pat terns. There are also difficulties in obtaining credit and ade quate tenure of land.

Hence, Bamford argues that training alone does not create jobs. It is simply part of a total package which should also in clude: • availability of or access to land • available markets • credit • input supplies, e.g. seed, fertilisers.

Any training program needs certain ingredients if it is to succeed and leave an impact.

Training needs to secure com munity support. It should be linked with productive work and lead to economically viable projects. Staff recruited should be committed; trainees selected should be mature and moti vated. Financial planning is im portant. General organisation should be flexible to accommo date the patterns of the agricultural cycle to the needs of trainees. Effective follow-up and evaluation are mandatory.

Finally, close collaboration with all other agencies in rural deve lopment needs to be main tained.

Management skills and finan cial planning are necessary in whatever training is taken, be it mechanical or agricultural or handicraft. It is disappointing that the trend continues to give women specific training related solely to domestic chores and handicrafts. Women also need access to management training, simple accountancy, informa tion on access to credit and general planning. Otherwise women will continue to be marginalised and left out of the development process.

So there are still many les sons to be learned in rural

training. The one which Barn ford stresses is that of co ordination. There are a multiplicity of agencies often working in isolation. The absence of national policies re sults in unnecessary duplica tion. According to Bamford, there is an urgent need to establish national co-ordinating advisory structures. Their func tions would be to: • assess and evaluate prog rams • facilitate identification of needs and risks • develop programs

• identify community educa tion needs • provide a forum for sharing of ideas and experience.

Government control is a neces sary input in the co-ordination of programs. The other impor tant input is serious evaluation.

As Bamford’s book demons trates, there are no easy answers to solving the rural urban drift. We still have a lot to leam about relevant training programs. But, on the positive side, we have a firm basis of experience related to training in the Pacific on which to build for

the future.

Sandra Rennie.