InnovATE News

Sowing the Seeds: How One Gathering Led to Increased Agricultural Educational Opportunities for Youth in Ghana and Liberia

Posted on by
Professor Elvis Asare Bediako (Dean School of Agriculture, University of Cape Coast), Professor Livingstone Sam Amoah (Provost, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast), Appiah Boateng (Executive Director of 4-H Ghana) and John Romo (Director of Programs in West Africa, AgriCorps) at memorandum of Understanding signing. Photo: AgriCorps.

Professor Elvis Asare Bediako (Dean School of Agriculture, University of Cape Coast), Professor Livingstone Sam Amoah (Provost, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast), Appiah Kwaku Boateng (Executive Director of 4-H Ghana) and John Romo (Director of Programs in West Africa, AgriCorps) at memorandum of understanding signing. Photo: AgriCorps.

Every international development project that works on human and institutional capacity development tries to plant seeds of change. The USAID-funded Feed the Future Innovation for Agricultural Training and Education (InnovATE) project has recently seen one of its seeds grow into increased agricultural educational opportunities for youth in Ghana and Liberia through a found partnership with AgriCorps.

RUFORUM Side Event—The Seed Sown

The proverbial sowing of the seed was a side event at the Biennial Conference of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) in South Africa in October 2016. The event was titled, “Positive Youth Development and Experiential Learning in University Outreach.” InnovATE brought together 4-H and university leaders from Ghana, Liberia, Senegal and Tanzania. The presentations emphasized opportunities for university faculty members to provide agricultural technical guidance and experiential learning programs for community engagement of rural youth by 4-H. Continue reading >

Opportunities for an International Teacher Certificate Program in Agricultural TVET in Central America

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading >

Agrilinks, Ag Educators Corner: “The Power of Student Recognition”

Posted on by

In our ongoing relationship with Agrilinks, InnovATE has developed a new feature, the Ag Educator’s Corner. This series of monthly blog posts provides insight & tips to agricultural educators.

In the most recent installment to our Ag Educators Corner blog series, Melissa Bonifas, a DuPont Agriscience Ambassador and secondary agricultural educator at Blue Hill Community Schools in Blue Hill, Nebraska, shares her experience with recognizing students and highlighting their experience from the past school year.

Bonfias details one event, the Banquet, which is a school and community-wide event that showcases student achievement that allow them to gain real world experience planning the event, and may connect them with future opportunities business or student leaders.

Continue reading >

Agrilinks, Ag Educators Corner: “Preparing for the Future of Agriculture Through Career Exploration”

Posted on by

In our ongoing relationship with Agrilinks, InnovATE has developed a new feature, the Ag Educator’s Corner. This series of monthly blog posts provides insight & tips to agricultural educators.

In the most recent installment to our Ag Educators Corner blog series, Kevin Cross, an agricultural educator at Sullivan High School in Sullivan, IN, shares his experience as an educator how he provides opportunities for students to explore agricultural as a career.

Through the Sullivan Future Farmers of American (FFA) in Sullivan, Cross lets students embark on a three-day journey exploring diverse topics in agriculture. Cross shares that this journey ignites a passion for agricultural leaders that strengthen the field and build communities.

Continue reading >

Agrilinks, Ag Educators Corner: “Happy Campers: Growing Agricultural Leaders in the Community”

Posted on by

In our ongoing relationship with Agrilinks, InnovATE has developed a new feature, the Ag Educator’s Corner. This series of monthly blog posts provides insight & tips to agricultural educators.

In the most recent installment to our Ag Educators Corner blog series, Madison Taylor, a junior at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Dr. Nina Crutchfield, an experienced agricultural educator and local program success specialist with the National FFA Organziation, shares about a program in Uganda intended to ignite a passion for agriculture.

Farm camp, similar to many U. S. 4-H and FFA camps, engages people from diverse areas in agriculture to provide experiential learning opportunities to witness and gain skills, as well as connect and engage with entrepreneurs and industry leaders.

Continue reading >

Agrilinks, Ag Educators Corner: “Agricultural Service Learning Connects Students and Communities”

Posted on by

In our ongoing relationship with Agrilinks, InnovATE has developed a new feature, the Ag Educator’s Corner. This series of monthly blog posts provides insight & tips to agricultural educators.

In the most recent installment to our Ag Educators Corner blog series, Greg Schneider, an Agriculture teacher and Future Farmers of America (FFA) adviser at Greensburg Community Schools in Greensburg, IN, shares about his experience serving in those roles the past 20 years. The key to his unique teaching method is taking his curriculum and combining it with hands-on projects for his students, that also address community needs.

The service-learning projects he has developed cover multiple project areas for students with diverse agricultural interests. Some of the projects cover: landscaping, natural resource management, horticulture, agribusiness, and animal science.

Continue reading >

Agrilinks, Ag Educators Corner: “Using On-Site Agriculture Facilities for Successful Learning Experiences”

Posted on by

In our ongoing relationship with Agrilinks, InnovATE has developed a new feature, the Ag Educator’s Corner. This series of monthly blog posts provides insight & tips to agricultural educators.

In the most recent installment to our Ag Educators Corner blog series, Matthew Eddy, an Agriscience teacher of 20 years at Southeast Polk High School in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, shares about his experiences. Given his 20 years of teaching, Matthew not only knows how engage and interest students, but also how to use hands on, applied learning to keep their sparks of interest lit.

He was trying to engage students who were particularly interested in animal science, but soon realized that there were no opportunities for them to gain hands on experience. That’s why when the opportunity arose to form a partnership with the Iowa State Fair, he jumped on it. The Iowa State Fair was looking for help staffing a new agricultural display. By creating a partnership, his students, by association, get to work with major commodity groups in our state, including beef, pork, egg, turkey and dairy along with producers of sheep and goats.

Continue reading >