In partnership with Winrock International, a leader in human resource development, SAFE has, over the years, developed expertise in designing, running and monitoring custom-made programme for field agricultural and rural development professionals. SAFE has developed a stepwise process that ensures relevancy of educational programmes. The steps include needs assessment and curriculum revitalization process; establishment of a practical oriented curriculum; development of partnerships; and, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

1. Needs assessment and curriculum revitalization process

To take into account the interests of stakeholders and to initiate partnerships, the SAFE curriculum revitalization process involves six essential steps. These steps provide a flexible conceptual framework for the development of curricula, evaluation and reforms. The framework is not a blueprint, but it is intended as a guide to planning curriculum reform.

Step 1: Informal dialogue among key stakeholders

This first step usually involves informal dialogue among key actors in selected universities and development organizations – especially the ministries of agriculture. This step aims to induce a joint critical reflection on existing agricultural extension and rural development programmes, with a view of identifying the key training needs for mid-career professionals.

Step 2: Clarifying a common vision

In view of the outcomes of the first step, the second step involves clarifying the vision for a more responsive extension and rural development training programme. The vision is based on its relevance as perceived by the stakeholders. The stakeholders then begin to give broad indications of the curriculum focus and strategies for its implementation.

Step 3: Agricultural extension and rural development training needs assessment

To gain an in-depth understanding of possible content for a responsive curriculum, a formal training needs assessment is normally carried out by the host university in collaboration with SAFE. The assessment is intended to identify job-based competence gaps – a process that generates both quantitative and qualitative data from a wide range of stakeholders including employers and extension and rural development staff. Formal surveys and informal discussions are the main methods applied in generating information. The capacity (in terms of staffing, facilities and infrastructure and resource materials) of the host university to implement the programme is also assessed. Consequently strategies for dealing with the emergent challenges are devised.

Step 4: Workshop for building consensus with stakeholders

A workshop involving key representatives of the stakeholders is held to discuss the findings of the needs assessment and to work out strategies for sustaining the programme. The workshop provides a platform for further dialogue among stakeholders to: revisit and come to consensus of the programme vision; generate more stakeholder input into curriculum contents; agree on programme requirements and criteria/conditions for selection of candidates; and develop mechanisms for long-term partnerships. The partnerships are vital for resource mobilization (both human and financial) and continuous re-orientation of the programme to meet the changing needs of the stakeholders.

Step 5: Development of a responsive curriculum

In discussion about curriculum revitalization, the issue of academic rigour always surfaces. Academic rigour here simply means depth of disciplinary subject matter content as perceived by the academic staff and not necessarily the requisite competences of graduates as perceived by stakeholders. University administrators and staff are usually cautious about launching new programmes that are non-traditional or out of the mainstream disciplinary context. As compared to the traditional academic full-time programmes, full-time mid-career programmes usually take shorter. This is achieved by streamlining the curricula so that no time is spent on non-essential courses and activities and by utilizing all vacations as learning periods for fieldwork and practicals. The programme takes into account the fact that candidates come with foundation training in agriculture through their diploma programmes and years of field experience.

Step 6: Establishing a strong network among institutions and agencies

Maintaining and strengthening networks is intended to create an enduring and shared commitment of the partners. These partnerships provide mutual benefits through sharing resources, experiences, talents and opinions. One mechanism for maintaining partnerships is through feedback workshops to the stakeholders. In workshops, the students present their learning experiences to acquaint stakeholders on the progress and focus of the training programmes. Such workshops provide opportunities for the university lecturers, students and other stakeholder to exchange experiences and views on the programme. In addition, representatives from partner institutions and agencies are encouraged to participate in tours to update themselves so as to appropriately cushion the risk-taking that is inherent in innovative and non-traditional ventures such as the revitalization of curricula.

2. Establishment of practical-oriented curriculum

The SAFE in-service degree model emphasizes practicums, hands-on laboratories, problem-focused courses and field-based enterprises. Experiential learning (learning by doing) is at the foundation of the programme as it seeks to buttress the practical experience of agricultural extension professionals to enable them to deal with the challenges of agricultural development. As part of their training, students together with their employers, farmers and researchers, develop action learning projects known as Supervised Enterprise Projects (SEPs) which they implement at their work places for periods ranging from 6-8 months. The SEPs aim to solve real-life problems in the field of extension. The students implement the projects under direct supervision of their employers while academic supervisors visit the projects to provide on-the-spot instruction. The SEPs provide an opportunity for co-learning between the students, their employers and university lecturers in a real-life situation. They provide unique and rare opportunities for academic staff to assess the relevance and effectiveness of their teaching and to identify other opportunities for learning. The projects, also known as Supervised Extension Projects, provide a mechanism for actualizing and strengthening partnerships between the university and employers through their joint effort to assist in solving problems in community.

3. Development of partnerships between universities and employers

As the programme is developed with employers as partners, this partnership is nurtured and maintained throughout implementation with the roles of the partners clarified. Normally a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect is signed between the employer and the university. On one hand, the employers undertake to:

• Identify and send suitable candidates for admission to the programme.

• Grant study leave with full salary to the staff admitted to the programme and guarantee that they will retain their employment after completion of the programme.

• Provide scholarships to their staff who are admitted to the programme.

• Support the students during their implementation of SEPs. The support is in form of co-supervision of the students and providing resources for implementation of the SEPs since this is normally part of the organizational programmes.

• Assign a member of staff to co-ordinate and liaise with the university on matters pertaining to the programme in particular and staff development in general.

• Participate in review meetings/workshops and provide feedback to the university to make the programme more relevant.

On the other hand, the university commits itself to:

• Admit the candidates recommended by the partners and have the required academic qualifications and funding. The university also accepts the responsibility to identify accommodation for the selected candidates at a modest cost.

• Facilitate academic staff field supervision of SEPs.

• Provide annual progress reports of the trainees to the employers and organize review meetings/workshops to share experiences with the stakeholders.

4. Implementation, monitoring and evaluation

During implementation, SAFE provides leadership in teaching key aspects of the programme and in monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the programme remains farmer focussed.