Living in a transition country, Kyrgyz farmers have to adapt to new conditions and learn to assert themselves in the private market economy. Helvetas offers them practice- and market-oriented vocational education enabling them to become entrepreneurial farmers and raise their income.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, specialist farmers were suddenly forced to become private entrepreneurs and generalists. They were charged with the unexpected obligation of supporting themselves and their families from plots of land and working under private market conditions. Agricultural advisory services introduced in the 90’s have been proficient to retrain the farmers. However, they did not succeed in enabling the younger rural generation to become farmer-entrepreneurs. Thus, poverty is especially prevalent in rural areas where almost the entire population is dependent on the management of its natural resources – mainly land, livestock, and water.

Innovative education development approach: In January 2001, Helvetas started the Agricultural Vocational Education Project (AVEP) in the upland Naryn Province. The goal of the project is to develop and test a vocational education system for farmers which provides graduates, both male and female, with the necessary skills to manage their private farms, increase their income, and thus reduce rural poverty. To date, 650 students (half of them women) in seven vocational schools attend the practice- and market-oriented three-year vocational education course. The latter was developed by AVEP in collaboration with the local stakeholders – farmers, school administrators, as well as local and national authorities. Special emphasis was placed on training them so that they are able to actively engage in the participatory curricula development proc-ess. With the participatory approach – completely new to Kyrgyzstan, formal and on-the-job-training of teachers and school heads in learner-centered teaching methodol-ogy was introduced too.

Sustaining the new system: From its outset, AVEP gave priority to involve the authorities in the project and hand over responsibilities step-by-step. The project is integrated into the current vocational education structure of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Labour and Social Pro-tection (MoLSP) and contributes to the reform of the agricultural vocational education system in Kyrgyzstan. A memorandum of understanding with the ministry ensures that the reformed vocational education is taken over by the formal education system of the government. Furthermore, the pro-ject cooperates closely with the national and methodological centers to achieve ap-proved national standardization and serves as a catalyst for development processes.

Intensifying and disseminating the innovations: In 2002, MoLSP and provincial authorities took over the responsibility of financing the ongoing experimental classes. Since 2003, the project has covered the whole of Naryn province – all seven vocational schools with rural vocational education programs. The experiences were also communicated to other schools and to the national policy level. The project installed permanent and institutionalized links with government agencies and international donors, including a donor coordination meeting at national level. They create a sustainable base for expanding the innovations geographically and/or to other vocational education institutions for different professions. A way to disseminate the experience consists in develop-ing new teaching materials in Kyrgyz, elaborated by the country’s best experts in each relevant area and then adjusted to rural conditions.


SELECTED REFERENCE LIST

Where Helvetas is specifically engaged in education and training:

• Afghanistan, in collaboration with the NGO Shuhada, construction of a teacher, rural skills and alphabetization training center; advanced training of primary teachers – Helvetas programs
• Bhutan, infrastructure expansion of teacher training colleges (National Institutes of Educa-tion); improvement of teacher education (STEP); education support to the National Fi-nance Service staff; Rural Development Training (RDT) covering agricultural apprenticeship, training in farm business, and rural development support services – mandated by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Swiss Federal Government; establishment and operation of the Natural Re-sources Training Institute (NRTI) covering edu-cation for extension workers – Helvetas pro-gram
• Kyrgyzstan, Agricultural Vocational Education Project (AVEP); Community-based Tourism Support Project (CBTSP) focusing on basic education and professional qualification in the tourism area – Helvetas programs
• Nepal, support to the local NGO SKILL for conducting rural, mobile, and needs-oriented vocational training courses – Helvetas program; franchising scheme of the SKILL approach – mandated by SDC
• Mali and Tanzania, advanced training pro-jects for teachers with special focus on methodologies/di-dactics and subjects such as wa-ter and sanitation, decentralization, NRM/environment, English – Helvetas programs
• Mozambique, construction and extension of school facilities as well as primary teacher and para-teacher training and networking; literacy project including development of learning contents and materials as well as training of teacher supervisors – Helvetas programs
• Dominican Republic, agricultural vocational education (FORJA) for more than 120 young farmers; PROMESA project conducting training for para-veterinarians and agricultural extensionists; collaboration with the training center POVEDA executing courses in extension and training methods, didactics, curricula development – Helvetas programs
• Haiti, collaboration with the State Department for Alphabetization and NGOs in conducting formal alphabetization courses and integrating the trainees into the development process of their communities – Helvetas program