Contacts
For more information about
the CV and its activities contact: Roslyn Prinsley, RIRDC, phone 02 6271 4033, email roslyn.prinsley@rirdc.gov.au John McKenzie, John McKenzie and
Associates, phone 0402 018 318, email mckenzj@ix.net.au
Website
For information about the
Cooperative Venture and projects go to website www.rirdc.gov.au and click
on the Cooperative Venture page.
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This newsletter is compiled
by Anne Currey, Naturally Resourceful Pty Ltd.
© Copyright Cooperative
Venture for Capacity Building and Innovation in Rural Industries.
Feedback
Pip Brock, from NSW Agriculture,
says that if you are interested in community engagement, planningNSW have
recently provided information about “community engagement in the NSW planning
system” on their website at: www.iplan.nsw.gov.au/engagement/ Seeing one
of our readers asked what research managed by the CV is directed at sustainable
systems, we thought other might be wondering too. According to John McKenzie,
Program Coordinator, the R&D is not specifically directed to “sustainable
production systems” but more towards understanding the factors that might
influence farmers, service providers and researchers develop and implement
those systems. For example a project with the University of Melbourne is
looking at how the use of triple bottom line thinking might change the
way extension works with farmers. For mor information contact John, phone
02 6366 5000, email mckenz@ix.net.au
Helpline
One of our readers is interested
to find out what methods have been found to be best at motivating industry
association members to contributing to general altruistic industry growth
processes? For new industries, enthusiasm at the outset is terrific but
as is usually the case, over the years, the burden is left to a few who
tire and are not replaced, the communication network dwindles and the industry
dies a prolonged death. How do you prevent this from happening? Our reader
has some plans in place but is wondering whether this is the right direction.
What other experiences from
more mature industries are out there? Email your ideas to anne@naturallyresourceful.com.au
and I’ll email them to Ben, our reader and publish them in the next edition
of the newsletter.
Steering Committee Membership
Tony Gleeson, Synapse Consulting
(Chairman) Roslyn Prinsley, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
Steve Coats, Dairy Research and Development Corporation Jan Mahoney, Grains
Research and Development Corporation Tony Clancy, Grape and Wine Research
and Development Corporation Neale Price, Meat & Livestock Australia
Craig Bradley, Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia Alice Roughley,
Land & Water Australia Alison Reid, Murray-Darling Basin Commission
Tracy Henderson, Sugar Research and Development Corporation John McKenzie,
John McKenzie and Associates (Program Manager and Executive Officer)
Murray-Darling Basin Leadership Program
Applications are now being
accepted for Course 2 of the Murray- Darling Basin Leadership Program.
The Program is an initiative
of the MDB Ministerial Council and its Community Advisory Committee, and
has been designed to develop the leadership skills, understanding and knowledge
of those who will help to secure the future of the basin for the benefit
of basin communities.
The Program will be conducted
during 2004 and requires participants to attend for around 20 days over
a six-month period.
Application forms are available
from the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, see website www.rural-leaders.com
or contact Rob Patrick, Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, phone (02)
62810680, or Leith Boully, MDB Leadership Program Coordinator, mobile 0412
678 633. Applications close on 31 July 2003.
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In this issue:
Introducing
the Cooperative Venture
What is it? The Cooperative
Venture was established in 2001 by R&D corporations to enhance capacity
building in rural industries in Australia.
How will it do this?
By investing in R&D that focuses on; enhancing the understanding of
learning, improving organisational arrangements to support rural human
capacity building, and inspiring innovative farming practices.
Who are its partners?
Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry Australia; Grains Research and Development Corporation;
Dairy Research and Development Corporation; Murray-Darling Basin Commission;
Sugar Research and Development Corporation; Grape and Wine Research and
Development Corporation; Land & Water Australia; Meat & Livestock
Australia; and Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
What’s unique about the
CV? The commitment of its partners to combine their resources, experiences
and information to achieve the aim of enhancing capacity building in rural
industries.
What’s the timeframe?
The
CV has funding for 3 years (2001 – 04).
Steering
Committee membership
The Cooperative Venture is
managed by a steering committee comprising representatives from the partners.
The committee is as follows:
-
Tony Gleeson, Synapse Consulting
(Chairman)
-
Roslyn Prinsley, Rural Industries
Research and Development Corporation
-
Steve Coats, Dairy Research
and Development Corporation
-
Victor Dobos, Grains Research
and Development Corporation
-
Tony Clancy, Grape and Wine
Research and Development Corporation
-
Neale Price, Meat & Livestock
Australia
-
Craig Bradley, Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry Australia
-
Alice Roughley, Land & Water
Australia
-
Alison Reid, Murray-Darling
Basin Commission
-
Robert Troedson, Sugar Research
and Development Corporation
-
John McKenzie, John McKenzie
and Associates (Program Manager and Executive Officer)
Core
projects
The National Extension/
Education Evaluation core project is evaluating the following:
-
extension and education programs
being implemented around Australia, looking at best practice as a means
of sharing and learning how new guidelines,
-
principles and tools will generate
effective information and learning.
Already some significant principles
are emerging from the project reviews completed to date. Extension and
education programs are falling under three distinct models:
-
The Programmed Learning Model,
where courses/workshops have been developed and are being run to improve
specific skills and understanding.
-
The Group Empowerment/Facilitation
Model, where groups are provided with assistance to prioritise and
seek their own learning and information needs.
-
The Technological Development
Model, where a combination of methods are used (including farm visits)
to help landholders to improve specific management practices and technologies
(for example irrigation efficiency).
Projects falling within each
of these models are being analysed to see ‘what worked and why’ and what
would project leaders have done differently next time around. By looking
at the commonalities emerging across projects, guidelines are being proposed
to help funding agencies and project staff to best address extension and
education needs in their industry or region.
For a project summary go
to: www.rirdc.gov.au/capacitybuilding/project1summary.pdf
For information about the
project, or if you know of a project that could be included in the review,
you can contact project managers:
Jeff Coutts, email couttsjr@bigpond.net.au
Kate Roberts, email kroberts@robertsevaluation.com.au
The Fostering Involvement
core project is studying factors that inhibit farmer participation
in learning activities so we can develop new processes to encourage participation,
extension and learning.
For a project summary go
to: www.rirdc.gov.au/capacitybuilding/project2summary.pdf
For information about the
project you can contact project manager Jenny Andrew, email jenny@repol.net.au
The Institutional Arrangements
core project is developing specific strategies to anticipate social,
economic and technological changes that will influence the learning environment
over the next 20 years. These changes have important implications for interest
groups, industry and government.
As well, the current and
possible institutions and organisations involved in learning and change
are being mapped, enabling us to identify new options for inter organisational
agricultural services.
For a project summary go
to: www.rirdc.gov.au/capacitybuilding/project3summary.pdf
For information about the
project you can contact project manager Neil Inall, email inall@planet.net.au
Capacity
Building – a rose by any other name?
You might have heard the
term capacity building referred to a lot around the traps lately. A small
survey by the Cooperative Venture late last year asked respondents what
their understanding of the term was, and the answers were many and varied.
This raises the question of whether the people using the term have a common
understanding of what it is.
The Cooperative Venture has
a shorthand definition of capacity building as being
"about increasing
the abilities and resources of individuals, organisations and communities
to manage change."
A more extensive definition
related to capacity building in natural resources management was given
in the National NRM Capacity Building Framework, as follows:
"Capacity building
relates to a range of activities by which individuals, groups and organisations
improve their capacity to achieve sustainable NRM. Capacity in this context
includes awareness, skills, knowledge, motivation, commitment and confidence.
While regional bodies are the target audience for capacity building, it
is equally an issue for diverse players such as landcare groups, indigenous
communities, industry sectors, local government and State/Territory and
Commonwealth Government agencies.
Capacity building for
NRM goes beyond the traditional top down approach of enhancing skills and
knowledge through training and the provision of technical advice. It focuses
on enhancing genuine community engagement in all aspects of NRM from planning
to onground actions. Therefore, in addition to the transfer of technology
and technical capability, capacity building should foster social cohesion
within communities, and build both human and social capital."
In the framework both human
and social capital were described.
-
Human capital refers
to the capability of individuals
-
Social capital refers
to the level to which social networks, relationships and processes within
a community support individuals to exercise their capabilities.
If we take out the specific
references to NRM we probably have a pretty good definition.
We’d be interested in your
thoughts. Is this what you understand capacity building to be? |
