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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for GrowInnova
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DTSTART:20160101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20171023T080000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20171110T170000
DTSTAMP:20260504T062645
CREATED:20170917T220733Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20171128T130803Z
UID:654-1508745600-1510333200@growinnova.com
SUMMARY:International Course On Plant Genetic Resources And Resilient Seed Systems For Sustainable Food Security
DESCRIPTION:Training Date: 23 October-10 November 2017\nVenue: Pokhara\, Nepal \n  \nLoss of plant genetic resources from agriculture production system and impact of climate change has resulted in major concerns about global food and nutrition security. Community Biodiversity Management (CBM) emerged as successful participatory strategy to realize on-farm management of plant genetic resources and strengthening the farmers’ seed systems. CBM distinguishes itself from other strategies because of its focus on the process of enabling farming communities to increase the access\, availability and use of genetic resources and quality seed of superior varieties. In addition\, CBM has the potential attributes to enhance the resilience of farming communities in responding to change by enhancing social interdependence\, collaboration\, adaptability and autonomy. \nWhilst this strategy for managing agrobiodiversity and seed systems is becoming increasingly adopted by NGOs\, further mainstreaming within national PGR and seed sector development programme is needed. The objective of the training is to enhance participants’ capabilities to use CBM as integrated strategies for managing genetic resources\, seed systems and promoting community resilience towards change. The training focuses on the following topics: \n\nContemporary approaches in agrobiodiversity management for food and nutrition security;\nStrengthening the seed systems to increase the access\, availability and use of high quality seed of superior varieties  by small-holder farmers;\nScaling successful participatory practices (e.g. community seed bank\,  diversity seed kit\, seed fair\, participatory plant breeding\, participatory variety selection\, community based seed production\, social seed network\, crowd sourcing of superior varieties\, value addition and market linkages of orphans crops);\nCommunity based adaptation to climate change;\nParticipatory learning and action research;\nEnabling PGR and seed policies – CBD-Nagoya Protocol on ABS\, IT-PGRFA (Farmers’ Rights\, Multilateral system\, Benefit sharing); Intellectual Property Rights (UPOV\, WTO-TRIPS)\, and\nPutting policies into practices and programmes- a global outlook on successful mechanisms and initiatives\n\nThis training programme is organized in Pokhara\, Nepal. ‘Pokhara is one of the most beautiful cities of Nepal with majestic view of Himalaya surrounded by rich biodiversity landscapes\, and part of the Ramsar site for wetland conservation’. The training includes field work in LI-BIRD project sites. The course concludes with a design exercise for transforming lessons learnt into strategic action plans\, in which participants integrate CBM and community resilience in practice. \nPlease download a detailed brochure on the course focus\, objectives\, target group and further information. \nPlease make use of this unique training opportunity to interact with peers in your field of expertise and interest from all over the world! \nTraining Date: 23 October-10 November 2017\nVenue: Pokhara\, Nepal
URL:https://growinnova.com/event/international-course-plant-genetic-resources-resilient-seed-systems-sustainable-food-security/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://growinnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/PGR_and_Seed_Course_Cover-inner.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20171011T080000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20171014T170000
DTSTAMP:20260504T062645
CREATED:20170917T221348Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170925T083052Z
UID:661-1507708800-1508000400@growinnova.com
SUMMARY:Short course on Participatory Crop Improvement for food security & climate resilience
DESCRIPTION:  \nDuration: 4 days (11-14 October\, 2017)\nDeadline for application: 4 October\, 2017\nVenue: Pokhara\, Nepal\nCourse fee: USD 600 or NPR 60\,000 \nCourse Background \nIn the context of emerging climate change challenges\, conventional plant breeding has limitations to support farmer’s food security and livelihoods. Participatory Crop Improvement (PCI) approaches integrate most of the major variables needed for producing crop varieties that are adapted to diverse\, complex and risk-prone environments. Engaging farmers and other stakeholders both thoroughly and appropriately in the various stages of breeding process\, variety selection and validation increases the probability of the acceptance of the new varieties thus produced. The PCI approaches build skills of farming communities\, since\, seeds can be produced and provisioned in the grassroots\, it increases rate of uptake of adoption of new varieties and therefore contributes towards improving the overall efficiency of breeding programmes. It also enhances the confidence of the plant breeders since visibility of their impacts accruing from the new varieties is available faster than the conventional approaches. Within this context\, the course intends to share the wealth of scientific knowledge and information\, evidences and experiences of the PCI approach\, developed over two decades through the sustained collaboration between LI-BIRD\, Bangor University\, Wales\, UK and Bioversity International. This short training course will be focused on demonstrating how the PCI approaches allow breeders to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of modern plant breeding without much increasing the financial resources. \nCourse Objectives \nThis course aims to enhance the participants’ knowledge and skills to adapt and incorporate approaches of participatory crop improvement into conventional breeding to increase food security and climate resilience. \nThe specific objectives of this course are: \n\nReview and compare current conventional and PCI approaches and methods\nBuild the skills and capacity of participants to design and apply PCI methods into their ongoing breeding research programmes\nShare practical lessons on the effectiveness of PCI through farmer engagement during field site visits\n\nCourse Relevance \nPCI is a demand-driven approach to plant breeding\, which promotes the participation of researchers\, farmers and all other pertinent stakeholders in the breeding process. Within this approach\, both the local agro-ecological environment\, farmers’ local knowledge and practices\, and the needs of the market and consumers are fully considered while designing a breeding programme. Using a participatory approach\, realistic breeding goals are established and the most appropriate parents chosen for developing new varieties. Farmers are part of the breeding process by being directly involved in both the testing and the selection of the varieties on their farms\, which leads to the empowerment of the farmers alongside the increased adoption of newer varieties.  Participatory methods can be used within conventional approaches and combined with modern molecular marker-assisted breeding. \nCourse Content \nThe course covers historical perspectives\, concept\, theory\, and practices of the PCI approach. The course facilitates the participants to learn different typologies/methods of PCI and the participants can decide upon the best method for their situation based on the local context\, availability of the resources and need of the clients. Key methods of PCI included in this course are Participatory Variety Selection (PVS)\, Grassroots Breeding (GB) and Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB). A variety of methods will be used including individual assignments\, lectures\, case studies\, group discussions\, teamwork\, field work\, and videos. The course will conclude with the development of action plans which will integrate all course topics that relate to the current participants’ working situations and their project activities. In addition\, engagement with the alumni will be established through continued follow-up services and support for effective implementation of the action plans. \nTarget Participants & Eligibility \nThe four-day PCI training is intended for professionals from different national and international organizations including those working in National Research Programmes\, CGIAR centres\, Private Sector seed companies and Academia in relevant fields. Participants must be at least a graduate in agriculture. Advanced university degree in agronomy\, plant breeding\, and plant pathology are preferred. Fresh graduates are also highly encouraged to apply. \nPractical Information \nDuration: 4 days (11-14 October\, 2017)\nDeadline for application: 4 October\, 2017\nVenue: Pokhara\, Nepal\nCourse fee: USD 600 or NPR 60\,000 (10% discount if you register two or more participants from your team). The fee includes accommodation with full board and lodging\, field excursion\, administration\, lecture materials\, stationeries etc. The fee does not cover travel costs and incidental expenses. The participants will be granted a certificate of participation. \nOnline Application Form \nStudents/fresh graduates from Nepal willing to apply for fellowship should apply with one nomination and/or recommendation letter from their Institution.
URL:https://growinnova.com/event/short-course-participatory-crop-improvement-food-security-climate-resilience/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20171010T080000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20171014T170000
DTSTAMP:20260504T062645
CREATED:20170917T221905Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170921T161952Z
UID:663-1507622400-1508000400@growinnova.com
SUMMARY:Short course on Research Data Analysis and Technical Report Writing
DESCRIPTION:Duration: 5 days (10-14 October 2017)\nVenue: Bharatpur\, Chitwan\nDeadline for application: 2 October 2017\nCourse fee: NRs 30\,000 \n  \nBackground \nAgriculture research has contributed significantly for generating information\, securing food and advancing crop and animal husbandry. Research works can be grouped into three stages\, namely Pre-Experimental Stage\, Experimental Stage and Post-Experimental Stage. Knowledge on all these three stages is necessary for effectively and efficiently handling the agricultural problems. In addition\, researcher and statistician should have regular interaction. In many cases\, researchers do not invest time and effort in pre and post-experimental stages. Major components in agricultural research are setting research questions\, choosing treatments\, field layout and design\, data recording\, analysis and inference drawing. Data analysis and interpretation are the major and difficult part in agricultural research. This training therefore deals with the data analysis\, generating evidences\, interpreting results and technical report writing. \nRationale \nData from the lab and field have been generated daily across the research stations in Nepal to solve the research questions based on the technical problems. Basic concept on statistics and local context are necessary to understand for systematizing the research data set. Many biometrical software and statistical techniques are available to generate the valid information from the research data\, making inferences from imperfect data. The purpose of statistical methods is to help understand data\, to make clear and apparent for all of the important kinds of interesting features that a data set might contain. Care should be given during experiments\, data collection\, analysis and interpretation. Usually the statistical analysis of data in scientific experiment is used to find the treatments effect. Some of these procedures are appropriate with some kinds of treatments but may entirely inappropriate with the other. The appropriate statistical analysis may be one that gives a valid test of the null hypothesis developed from the stated objectives and yield maximum information for reporting. \nCourse objectives  \nThe overall aim of this course is to sharpen hands on knowledge and skills of researchers on analyzing various kinds of scientific data through the use of biometrical software and generating evidences for scientific writing. This course is oriented more towards practical exercise and is designed for sharing methods\, procedures and steps to analyze research data and to interpret the results required for technical paper/ reporting. \nThe specific course objectives are: \n\nanalyzing the scientific data generated from research\nenhancing skills on using statistical software and data handling\nbroadening vision on interpretation and presentation of research results\nimproving knowledge base on research design and analysis of experimental data\nstrengthening state-of-the-art thinking on writing a scientific or technical paper\n\nTraining Module (Workflow diagram) \n \n  \nTraining Approach  \nThe course uses ‘interactive learning and sharing’ training methods. We will make use of Power Point presentations\, plenary discussions\, individual or group exercises\, and the application of key statistical software for generating and analyzing scientific research data. Participants will also learn from\, and share experiences with\, renowned experts\, scientists and authors of scientific writing. \nTarget participants  \nThis course is especially designed for the agriculture scientists\, researchers\, academicians\, fresh graduates and or scholars. The course however could be useful to those I/NGO professionals and practitioners working in the field of forestry\, environment and social science. Applicants should have at least a bachelor degree in agriculture\, environmental science\, natural resource management\, forestry and other relevant subjects. \nKey requirements  \n\nEach participant should have computer or laptop and be well familiar with its application\nThey should be graduate in agricultural science or have field experiences\nInternet facility should be available in the training hall along with LCD projector\nThey should have knowledge on agricultural problems\, research design and methodology\n\n  \nStudents or fresh graduates willing to apply for scholarship must apply before 25 September 2017 and provide a recommendation letter from their Institution. The participants will be granted a certificate of participation. \nDuration: 5 days (10-14 October 2017)\nVenue: Bharatpur\, Chitwan\nDeadline for application: 2 October 2017\nCourse fee: NRs 30\,000 (fee includes accommodation in a hotel with full board and lodging\, administration\, stationery\, course materials\, and training related travel expenses.
URL:https://growinnova.com/event/short-course-research-data-analysis-technical-report-writing/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://growinnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Data.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20170911T080000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20170914T170000
DTSTAMP:20260504T062645
CREATED:20170917T222148Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170921T161702Z
UID:666-1505116800-1505408400@growinnova.com
SUMMARY:Short course on Home Garden: A proven approach to improving family nutrition and household resilience
DESCRIPTION:Training date: 11-14 September\, 2017\nVenue: Lakeside\, Pokhara\nApplication deadline: 4 September\, 2017\nCourse Fee: NPR 22\,500 (residential) and 15\,000 (non-residential) \n  \nBackground \nThe United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Hunger Statistics of 2015 shows that nearly one in eight of the total world’s population are suffering from chronic undernourishment\, and almost 98% of these people live in developing countries. Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016 elucidates that 36% of children under the age of five are suffering from chronic under nutrition (stunting) and 41% of women of age 15-49 are anemic in Nepal. The Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan (2013-17) of Nepal emphasized on the role of agricultural development in order to address nutrition problem and the Agriculture Development Strategy (2015-2035) of Nepal also ear marked food and nutrition security as one of the flagship programme. LI BIRD’s extensive research and piloting have proved that within agriculture\, homestead biodiversity management is a prominent factor to improve both family nutrition and household income. \n‘Kitchen Gardens’ in Nepal was a step in the right direction\, however it excluded elements of crop diversification and livestock integration. LI BIRD recognized this gap so developed\, piloted and implemented the concept of a ‘Home Garden’ which includes all necessary components of homestead agriculture. A Home Garden includes fruits\, vegetables\, species\, fodder\, medicinal plants and ornamental plants\, managed together with livestock and other species such as fish\, mushroom and honeybees. The Home Garden was primarily intended for family consumption\, but has also been found to be successful in reducing economic vulnerability of resource poor households through the sales of surplus products and reducing expenditure on vegetables and fruits. Home garden is now a proven approach to improving family nutrition and household resilience to climate change. It is integrated into the regular extension programme of Nepal government and is being implemented in 20 districts of the country with possible expansion. It has also been mainstreamed in the CTEVT course curriculum for Junior Technician level. \nCourse Objective \nThe overall aim of this course is to build participants knowledge and skills on integrated home garden management. Specific objectives of this course are to make the participants able to: \n\nDescribe home garden concept and its contribution to family nutrition and household income\nDesign climate resilience home gardens\nApply low cost home garden management principles in their own context\n\nCourse Content  \nThe course will elaborate on the connection between nutrition and agriculture\, and will provide tools for increasing the resilience of smallholder farming families through improved nutrition and income. It will also identify techniques to increase food diversity in smallholder farms through systematic planning and design. Based on the principle of low external input agriculture\, the course will highlight organic agriculture and the vertical and horizontal space utilization for optimum output. \nTraining Approach \nThe course will be facilitated by LI-BIRD which holds more than 12 year’s research and field experiences. It will also invite the participants to share their own experiences to reflect on the current national and global Home Garden practices. The course will be a participatory and hands-on professional training which will offer a stimulating learning experience. A variety of methods will be used to make the learning effective including; pre course assignments\, group exercise\, field excursion\, case studies\, group discussions\, lectures and audio/visual media. \nTarget participants \nThe course assumes participants to have basic knowledge on agriculture as well as contemporary development interventions in Nepal. Graduates and professionals from the agriculture\, health and nutrition and or development sectors are encouraged to apply. \nWe will accommodate all participants in a hotel with full board and lodging for five nights and four days. The course fee covers all course related costs such as stationery\, training materials\, field visit and excursion including accommodation as part of the course fee. Participants however are requested to arrange their own travel to and from Pokhara. \nStudents or fresh graduates willing to apply for scholarship must apply before 1 September\, 2017 and provide a recommendation letter from their Institution. The participants will be granted a certificate of participation. \nPractical Information \nTraining date: 11-14 September\, 2017\nVenue: Lakeside\, Pokhara\nApplication deadline: 4 September\, 2017\nCourse Fee: NPR 22\,500 for residential and NPR 15\,000 for non-residential participants
URL:https://growinnova.com/event/short-course-home-garden-proven-approach-improving-family-nutrition-household-resilience/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://growinnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Home-Garden.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20170729T090000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20170801T170000
DTSTAMP:20260504T062645
CREATED:20171005T114018Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20171006T195151Z
UID:850-1501318800-1501606800@growinnova.com
SUMMARY:Enhancing Entrepreneurship Skills in Agricultural Marketing and Business Plan Development
DESCRIPTION:GrowInnova in association with LI-BIRD organized a Short Course on ‘Enhancing Entrepreneurship Skills in Agricultural Marketing and Business Plan Development’ at Sauraha\, Chitwan from 29 July to 1 August 2017. The four-day training was provided to Marketing/ Sales Officers\, Seed Production Officers\, Senior Field Technicians\, and other professionals of the private sector and development organizations to enhance their knowledge and skills on entrepreneurship and business plan development for agricultural marketing. \nIn the context of Nepal\, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) face a lot of challenges and hurdles in agricultural marketing such as small and scattered scale of productions\, irregularity in supply and variety of items\, and inability to meet demand volume etc. Besides these\, entrepreneurs lack in basic knowledge and skills of business plan development. The problem is further exacerbated by the shortage of productive labor force caused by the prevalent youth out-migration. So\, it is difficult for entrepreneurs to sustain their agri-businesses. Hence\, it is very necessary to assist the entrepreneurs to develop their capacity on all intricacies of a business plan\, help them expand their linkages within the marketing environment and build a trust-based relationship with various actors for promoting their agri-businesses. \nThis course was therefore tailored to make these market-based solutions work better for both the entrepreneurs and institutions that are involved in agri-businesses. The major course modules of this training were: principles and practices of agricultural marketing\, business plan development required for successful agri-business\, choosing right methods and techniques of business promotion\, and intricacies of rural marketing and supply chain management. \n\nTestimonials\n“Though I am working on improving the livelihoods of people through the value chain\, I was completely unaware of the concept of the value chain and how entrepreneurships can be flourished. The training taught me on several aspects of the value chain and agricultural marketing. It was an eye-opener for me to know the value of money for pricing of a product.” \n  \n\n– Uma Kumari Thapa\, Agriculture Technician\nImproving Livelihoods of Marginalized Communities (ILMC) Project\, Salyan \n“I found this training very fruitful because it has a much practical application on agricultural marketing and business plan development. Though I am a Marketing Research Officer\, I had never realized what the value of money would be as time lapses by and how the pricing is fixed. The training further analyzed the problems of marketing and identified market-based solutions which I liked very much.”\n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n\n– Puskar Sharma Rimal\, Marketing Research Officer\n Anmolbiu Pvt. Ltd.\, Bharatpur
URL:https://growinnova.com/event/enhancing-entrepreneurship-skills-agricultural-marketing-business-plan-development/
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