InnovATE convened a workshop on Opportunities for an International Teacher Certificate Program in Agricultural TVET in Central America at EARTH University in Costa Rica in April 2017. Forty-two representatives from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the United States participated. They included ATVET teachers and directors, policy makers from the Ministries of Education and Agriculture, industry, as well as support ATVET organizations such as donors, implementer’s, and consultants.
The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the hypothesis that a regional certificate program designed cooperatively by TVET authorities in the region could offer a quality, uniform curriculum that teaches the best in vocational education pedagogy. A main objective for the event was to determine if such a regional certification program is attractive ATVET stakeholders in the region.
Events
Not hosted by InnovATE but we participated
Ask Ag Online Chat: Positive Youth Development
On February 22nd, InnovATE hosted an Ask Ag Chat on Agrilinks entiled: “Ask Ag About…Positive Youth Development.”
Positive Youth Development (PYD) programs provide opportunities for young people to build skills and exercise leadership in their communities. In addition, programs that involve universities, extension services, local organizations, government, schools and the private sector can be tremendous catalysts for change.
InnovATE Contributes to INGENAES Global Symposium and Learning Exchange
The INGENAES Global Symposium and Learning Exchange was held in Lusaka, Zambia January 23-25, 2017. The INGENAES project was designed to assist partners in Feed the Future countries to build more robust, gender-responsive, and nutrition-sensitive institutions, projects and programs capable of assessing and responding to the needs of both men and women farmers. The Learning Exchange was three days of sharing past experiences, human-centered design, and innovations in gender and nutrition issues in extension. InnovATE’s own Ruth Mendum, of Pennsylvania State University attended and presented on InnovATE’s training modules on gender bias called, “Teaching Gender to Secondary and Tertiary Students.” Mendum and her colleague, Patricia Neiner also from Pennsylvania State University, developed the modules. Mendum not only taught others about using this gender tool but also took away some valuable lessons.
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InnovATE at 5th Biennial RUFORUM Conference
The 5th Biennial Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) Conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa from October 17th to 21st. The theme of the conference was “Linking Agricultural Universities with Civil Society, Private Sector, Governments, and other Stakeholders in support of Agricultural Development in Africa.” InnovATE held a side event that brought together presenters from universities and youth development organizations in Ghana,Liberia,Senegal and Tanzania. Participants discussed agricultural outreach programs and curricula, university cooperation in positive youth development programs, and community-focused experiential learning. Continue reading
Tanzania Scoping on Technical and Vocational Education and Training System Strengthening
USAID/Tanzania’s Feed the Future (FTF) program intends to invest in human and institutional capacity development through a new activity that includes the ministerial vocational institutes and universities. The activity will assist select institutions to improve the relevancy of their curricula and the effectiveness of teaching in order to produce graduates with skills that match employment needs and who will contribute to transforming Tanzanian agriculture. Continue reading
From Citizen Security to Food Security
The high prevalence of violence in Central America is a major human and institutional development challenge that our research has identified as affecting agriculture development. Specifically, the Northern Triangle countries – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – are considered three of the most dangerous countries in the world, as evidenced by intentional homicide rates. The level of violence clearly affects development in many areas, particularly in terms of agriculture and youth’s participation in agricultural education.
InnovATE began looking at this issue to investigate why youth, and young men in particular, were dropping out of the agricultural education system at alarming rates in Central America. Continue reading
EARTH University: A regional model for TVET
John Ignosh and Henry Quesada-Pineda, of Virginia Tech, visited EARTH University (Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda) in Costa Rica in February 2016. Their goal while there was to study how EARTH University’s strong agricultural program could be connected to regional TVET programs. Their study centers on the successful replication of EARTH’s TVET programs at the local level to ultimately produce more home-grown entrepreneurs. Continue reading