Coordinating Committee
Expected outputs
Institutional support
Baseline documents
Resource persons
Selection of participants
Development of workshop agenda
Conducting the workshop
Collection of missing information
Checklist for organizing a workshop
It is expected that workshops using the CSAM methodology will be held in third world countries, sponsored by one or more national institutions, with perhaps an international institution providing technical or financial assistance. Participants in the workshops will form an interdisciplinary group, including farmers, marketing intermediaries, and public sector professionals. A coordinating individual or group will be designated to oversee all aspects of the workshop, including planning, implementation and presentation of the results to appropriate authorities.
A Coordinating Committee for the workshop should be formed several weeks or months prior to the expected inauguration of the event. Members of this committee should be drawn from each of the sponsoring and support institutions. The Coordinating Committee should determine the objectives of the workshop, identify the needs in personnel, financial and logistical support to obtain the desired results, identify the type of support to be provided by the sponsoring institutions and take care of the necessary organization and management.
Chairperson: Selected as the head of the Coordinating Committee, the Chairperson is responsible for communication and coordination with other institutions involved in the event, oversees all sub-committees, has the final word on all decisions affecting the workshop, and is responsible for its success or failure.
Secretariat: The Secretariat includes a coordinator, designated by the Chairperson, one or more secretaries, one or more drivers, and a support staff (as needed) to provide drawing, copying and other required services. Provided on a full-time basis by the respective institutions sponsoring the workshop, the Secretariat provides all the necessary secretarial and administrative services to the resource persons and the workshop participants. It prepares all draft documents, insuring that they are properly organized and stored on word processors, and distributes the final workshop report at the closing ceremony of the workshop.
Working Groups: Prior to the execution of the workshop, Working Groups will be formed to generate baseline information in such areas as: pre-production and institutional aspects, production, postharvest, and marketing. Each of these groups will have a coordinator who will form part of the Workshop Coordinating Committee. Prior to the workshop, these coordinators will prepare baseline documents from secondary data in their respective areas and present them to the other participants during the first two days of the workshop. The four heads of working groups will learn the CSAM methodology in order to organize similar workshops for other commodities.
The Coordinating Committee should determine the workshop's objectives and clearly define its expected outputs. For a two-week workshop, some or all of the following results can be obtained:
1. Descriptive and quantitative baseline documents on the commodity of interest, Including institutional, production, postharvest, and marketing aspects.
2. Identification of significant problems affecting the commodity system.
3. Determination of the magnitude and causes of postharvest losses and other problems in the commodity system.
4. Identification of appropriate projects and interventions to alleviate the problems identified.
5. Definition of a strategy or plan of action for developing solutions and implementing actions.
6. Training of national professionals in the application of the CSAM methodology.
7. Training of participants to have a better understanding of a commodity system and all its interrelationships.
The achievement of these results will require a very serious commitment on behalf of the sponsoring institution(s) in terms of material and human resources. It will also require good organization, effective resource persons and dedicated participants.
The impact of the workshop will depend to a great degree on the type of institutional support received. If the participants attend on a part-time basis and material support is weak, they will receive the message that their respective institutions are not considering the workshop as a very serious training event. Consequently, the level of learning and transfer will be low. However, if participants are relieved of their normal duties, allowed to participate on a full-time basis and are notified that they will be expected to apply the methodology in their future activities, a more positive message will be sent.
The type of institutional support required from the sponsoring institution(s) can be summarized as follows:
Participants: All participants will be expected to be involved on a full-time basis for the duration of the workshop. This will also apply to administrative and secretarial support staff.
Equipment: Sponsoring institutions will make available all necessary equipment to assure a successful workshop. This will include transportation for resource personnel, administrative staff and field trips; overhead and slide projectors; access to photographic equipment to document the commodity system; at least one word processor; access to photocopying services; and others as determined necessary.
Materials: Participants and administrative personnel must have access to the materials required to satisfactorily undertake their assignments. These will include such items as pads, pencils, slide film, overhead projection laminates, flip charts, computer diskettes, binders and paper for documents, and others.
Meals: For the duration of the workshop, arrangements should be made for participants to take their lunch as a group. This will facilitate maintaining a rigid schedule - a requirement if the desired outputs are to be achieved. Given the intensive nature of the workshop, morning and afternoon breaks with refreshments may be desirable. These breaks also help build rapport between participants.
Miscellaneous: Depending on the host country and the commodity being studied, there may be unforeseen expenses such as payments to resource persons, purchase of small volumes of produce being studied, and transportation costs. It may be necessary to hire someone from the private sector to prepare tables, graphs, maps, or other visual aids. A small fund should be established to cover these types of miscellaneous expenses.
Workshop participants will include a large number of individuals specialized in specific areas who, more than likely, are unfamiliar with other disciplines. For example, macro-economists are likely to know relatively lime about production and postharvest handling of a particular crop; agronomists and food technologists may well find economic terminology confusing, and marketing specialists may know lime about pest and disease constraints.
As a means of informing the participants about the state-of-the-art of a particular commodity, baseline documents should be prepared by the respective coordinators of the working groups prior to the workshop. During the first two days of the workshop, the baseline documents will be presented and discussed among the participants. Each baseline document will provide descriptive and quantitative information on the particular crop as indicated below.
Macro-economic baseline document: will include information on the relative importance of the particular commodity to the economy; public sector institutions and their functions and services; national agricultural policies; special projects, programs and plans which may affect the commodity being studied; incentive programs and policies (tax, finance, exemptions); private sector institutions and organizations and their services and functions (farmer organizations, non-profit support organizations); principal problems; and others.
Production baseline document: should contain information on the history of national production of the particular crop being studied; actual and potential land use and area in crop; environmental requirements of crop; agronomical characteristics; actual production constraints; farming systems; planting material; cultural practices; pests and diseases; production costs; principal problems and needs; and others.
Postharvest baseline document: will cover the identification and description of postharvest handling practices; available infrastructure and equipment; agroprocessing potential and characteristics; principal problems and needs; and others.
Marketing baseline document: should consider imports and exports of the commodity being studied; national and external demand; marketing channels; marketing margins; characteristics of demand; consumption patterns; marketing costs; market potential; and others.
Commodity systems specialist: One resource person familiar with the commodity systems assessment methodology should be available for the duration of the workshop. The resource person should be available one week prior to the workshop to assist the Coordinating Committee in organizational arrangements.
The functions of this specialist will include:
a. Coordinating with the Workshop Chairman to assure that all necessary resources have been allocated for the workshop, including qualified participants, materials, transportation, equipment, eating arrangements, field trip arrangements, working and office space, administrative and support staff, copying service, and others;b. Making an introductory presentation at the workshop on the CSAM methodology, the diverse tools presented in this manual and their use;
c. Opening the plenary sessions each day of the workshop with summaries of the previous day's accomplishments, material to be covered and expected outputs for that day;
d. Responding to questions from participants and leaders of the different working groups with regard to methodology and presentation of results;
e. Functioning as a central clearing house for all material produced for and during the workshop and assisting the Coordinating Committee in the preparation of the final workshop report.
f. Others that the Coordinating Committee may determine.
Planners: An introductory presentation to the workshop should be given by some decision maker from the agricultural sector (National Planning Office, Ministry of Agriculture) focusing on national development plans with respect to the commodity being studied.
Farmers: In addition to the farmers selected to participate in the workshop on a full time basis, representative farmers, with different size operations and methods of farming, should be selected as resource persons. Ideally, field trips to their farms could be arranged. These farmers should be asked to discuss such things as their cultural practices, pest and disease constraints, costs of operation, methods of postharvest handling and marketing, their decision-making processes for their farming operations, and their principal problems and needs.
Intermediaries: Depending on the crop to be studied, intermediaries involved in transportation, assembly, wholesaling, retailing, storage, and export should be identified and arrangements should be made for field visits to their sites of operation. These intermediaries should be asked to describe their operations; their interrelationships with farmers, other intermediaries and government; and their principal needs for improvement. Each visit should include a period for questions and answers.
Agroprocessors: For those products which undergo some form of agroprocessing, arrangements should be made to visit agroprocessing facilities and to discuss with management their operations, problems and needs.
While the number of workshop participants should be adjusted to meet local facilities and circumstances, in general, the number should not exceed twenty-five. Groups larger than this become difficult to manage, particularly when making field visits. The participants should include farmers, intermediaries, and specialists from disciplines such as: economics, agricultural economics, agronomy, entomology, food technology, engineering, marketing, sociology/anthropology, resource development and others relevant to the case at hand.
Participants may be drawn from those institution(s) sponsoring the workshop, as well as from other public sector institutions, private sector organizations or businesses and the farming community.
Each workshop agenda will be adapted to the local needs and the available resources of the sponsoring institution(s). While most workshops should be similar in content, the time dedicated to each element will likely vary. The workshop program should include:
· registration of participants and inauguration of workshop;
· presentation of the CSAM methodology;
· presentation of baseline information on commodity being studied;
· identification and collection of missing information;
· field trips to farms, postharvest handling and agro-processing facilities;
· description of the distinct components of the commodity system;
· analysis and prioritization of problems in the commodity system;
· identification of project ideas and required actions; and
· formulation of project profiles.
The actual workshop program will be determined by the Coordinating Committee, assisted by the CSAM specialist, during the week preceding the workshop.
The actual time dedicated to the different subject materials during workshops executed in Malaysia (Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, 1988) and Nepal (McCullough and Haggerty, 1989), are shown in Table 6.1.
Table 6.1: Allocation of time to workshop topics executed in Malaysia (1988) and Nepal (1989)
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WORKSHOP TOPICS |
MALAYSIA WORKSHOP (hours) |
NEPAL WORKSHOP (hours) |
|
Registration |
1.0 |
informal |
|
Inauguration |
1.0 |
0.5 |
|
Overview of commodity systems methodology |
2.0 |
2.0 |
|
Presentation of baseline documents |
4.0 |
2.0 |
|
Analysis of additional information needs |
2.0 |
1.5 |
|
Collection of missing information |
20.0 |
6.0 |
|
Description of specific commodity system |
14.0 |
16.0 |
|
Problem analysis |
15.0 |
4.0 |
|
Identification of alternative solutions |
16.0 |
4.0 |
|
Project formulation |
8.0 |
4.0 |
|
Logical framework analysis |
4.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total |
88.0 |
40.0 |
As a general rule, most of the workshop time will be dedicated to the collection of missing information, description of commodity systems, problem analysis and the identification and formulation of solutions. The more information included in the baseline documents (prepared prior to the workshop), the less time required for information collection during the workshop. The more time available towards the end of the workshop, the greater the likelihood of developing detailed project profiles.
The workshop should be conducted in an informal atmosphere and should be dynamic and flexible enough to adjust to needs as they develop. Each workshop should have a moderator or facilitator who is specialized in communication and group dynamics. This person may be either a natural leader or formally trained in these areas. This facilitator should be a key person in integrating workshop participants so that they play active roles in the discussion of problems and solutions. S/he may also assist the Chairperson in overcoming logistical and other problems as they arise.
After the opening ceremony has concluded, the CSAM resource person will present an overview of the methodology to be used during the workshop, showing how a systematic step-by-step analysis can result in a rapid assessment of a specific commodity system. Immediately thereafter the coordinators from each of the working groups will summarize the information contained in the baseline documents. The need for additional information will then be evaluated, and subsequent activities will include the design of questionnaires, interviews and field visits to collect missing information.
Due to the difficulty of working in large groups, the plenary body should be divided into interdisciplinary sub-groups of from five to eight persons. Each sub-group should include farmers, people with postharvest and marketing experience and professionals from as many disciplines as possible. Whenever group work is required, i.e., for the collection of missing information, for problem analysis, for the identification of project ideas and other solutions, and for the formulation of project profiles, these sub-groups should be convened. Each sub-group should select its own coordinator and rapporteur for reporting back to the plenary session.
Plenary sessions are required each time new information, methodologies or working instruments are introduced. Longer plenary sessions are required to present and discuss the results of the working groups and to carry out activities of mutual interest, such as brainstorming.
The workshop facilitator and Coordinating Committee should periodically evaluate the progress of the workshop. When certain sessions seem to become tedious or boring, a field trip can be planned or new subject material introduced to stimulate the group. The order of presentation of subject material can be modified to fit the specific needs of the participants.
The typical workshop will span a two-week period, but can be longer or shorter based on detail desired, resources available, and the complexity of the systems being studied.
Chapter 3 describes in considerable detail the type of information which should be obtained on each of the relevant components of a given commodity system. A comparison of Chapter 3 guidelines with the baseline documents presented by the working groups will give an indication of the missing information which needs to be collected. Some of the missing information may be obtained from secondary documents. Some may also be collected during field visits to farmers, intermediaries, exporters or other participants in the commodity system. In those cases where questionnaires are required, the guidelines in Annex 1 may prove useful.
Each working group will determine its particular requirements for information and will develop methods to generate it during the time allocated for this activity. In some instances the necessary information may be impossible to collect in the short time period available. In these cases, recommendations should be made for developing longer-term research activities to be carried out after the workshop.
To facilitate the organization of the workshop and to insure that all members of the Coordinating Committee and institutional decision makers are kept informed of the headway being made, a checklist of workshop activities should be maintained. The Chairman of the Coordinating Committee, and each member, should keep their own copy of the checklist. A model of a workshop checklist is presented in Form 6.1
Form 6.1: Checklist for organizing a workshop
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WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES |
DATE ACTION TAKEN |
PERSON RESPONSIBLE | |
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1. Formalization of workshop request |
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2. Identification of Institutional support |
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3. Selection of workshop commodity |
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4. Selection of geographical crop area to study |
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5. Selection of participants |
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6. Formation of coordinating committee |
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7. Preparation of baseline documents: |
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- macro-economics |
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- production |
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- postharvest |
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- marketing |
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8. Identification of missing Information: |
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- macro-economics |
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- production |
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- postharvest |
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- marketing |
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9. Arrival d commodity system resource person |
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10. Selection d national resource persons: |
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- policy |
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- production |
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- postharvest |
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- marketing |
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11. Preparation d workshop program |
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12. Selection of secretariat |
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13. Materials and equipment: |
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- paper etc. |
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- projectors/camera |
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- transportation |
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- computer/word processor |
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- copying facilities |
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- other |
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14. Food arrangements |
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15. Transportation arrangements |
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16. Execution of workshop program |
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