Afijos derivativos

also realized that the need is not only for devel- oping leadership capacity, but also to develop the skills and knowledge of farmers, operators, exten- sionists, public sector officials and the like. Still with a focus on working with multipliers, the Academy developed additional programmes, in- cluding the Organic Foundation Course (OFC).

The OFC

This short, intense 3–4 day course focuses on the fundamental concepts of OA, value chain and certification, policy development and support networks. It is targeted to a diverse audience in public, civil society and private sectors. This course has been conducted with classes as small as 12 in Japan – part of the Asian Local Govern- ments for OA (ALGOA) programme – and a large group of 200 participants at a food and OA- supported training session in Ulaanbaatar, Mon- golia. The OFC satisfies the clear need for a general understanding of organic principles, a grasp on

the complexities and challenges of organic certification and supply chains, as well as an insight into policy and advocacy. The method- ology was inspired by the OLC, but as it is a much shorter programme, content is also adapted accordingly.

The main lesson learnt from such ‘bespoke’ trainings is that training and education, like any other service provided, has to remain relevant, contextual, adaptive and of value to its target audience. The Academy does not pretend to be a technical university or college – it can better be described as an ‘embedded’ insititution, working inside the movement rather than beside it. It does not have a campus – its campus is where its students find themselves – in the field, in their regions, in their context.

Both the OLC and the OFC showed the way towards more tailored and focused trainings, de- veloped to serve very specific needs and circum- stances of institutions, clients and development projects worldwide.

These trainings range from extensive train- ing programmes with two or more residential ses- sions and monthly webinars similar to the OLC (Fig. 4.5), to 1-day topical trainings delivered at

conferences or workshops. These programmes have been conducted with a diversity of partners and training given to an even greater diversity of audiences – this again illustrates how important the Academy approach is of working with the core principles and adapting content and meth- odology to the local context. A training in rural Africa on Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) looks very different to one given to government officials in North Korea!

The ability of the Academy’s trainers to engage in such diverse communities and envir- onments, indicates the success of the approach – while adapting methodology, and tailoring content, the central message of truly sustainable agriculture systems, based on organic values and principles, remains central to the curriculum. One realizes the value of such a principled ap- proach when one sees how that core message rings true in Seoul and Pyong Yang, in Islama- bad and Delhi, in Springbok and Stockholm. I had the unique privilege to have Academy participants from the USA, Iran, North and South Korea in one Leadership Group at the same time – this shows the incredible power of OA to bring people from all political, religious and ideological perspectives together to work on a common goal.

The Academy does not only work in so- called ‘developing’ countries, but has had success in engaging with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries: the Organic Agriculture Academy for Extension Agents (OAAEA) is already a 6-year partnership with the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of South Korea. It consists of two residen- tial trainings every year, developing the capacity of the RDA to advise organic farmers in conver- sion to OA. Here we work with researchers, scien- tists, extension officers – all employed in a very well-developed and centralized government insti- tution, with extensive resources and a history of successful, Green Revolution approaches. The

whole province of Goesan in South Korea, like Sikkim Province in India and the whole country of Bhutan, plans to convert to 100% organic farming.

Within various projects of IFOAM-Organics International, capacity development is a core component. To this effect, the Academy provided training in the Nutrition in Mountain Agro- ecosystems (NMA) project in five mountainous countries on three continents – Nepal, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia and Peru. Here the focus was on nutrition-sensitive agriculture, based on organic and agroecological production solutions.

For the Intercontinental Network of Or- ganic Farmers Organisations (INOFO) project, supported by the International Fund for Agri- cultural Development (IFAD), the focus was on developing the capacity of grass-roots leaders to represent their constituency from local to inter- national level, sitting beside organizations like Via Campesina (Holt-Giménez, 2006) at the IFAD Farmers’ Forum in Rome.

It is still one of my fondest memories of the last 6 years, when young leaders from the Philip- pines, Costa Rica, Peru, India, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, SA and Senegal joined with the French-Austrian pioneer and first conveners of INOFO at a conference in Lagos, Nigeria. We broke many preconceptions that night.

Conclusion

The development of experiential training for farmers and leaders in the organic sector world- wide has allowed for the sharing of many or- ganic innovations. I am proud to be part of this unique movement. I am proud to have had the privilege to bring disparate people together, and I am proud to see that we can use training and capacity development as tools to break barriers, to inspire, enlighten and educate.

References

Aberasturi, P. (2012) Evaluation from Academy Alumna. International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), Dumingag, Mindanao, the Philippines.

De Saint Exupery, A. (1948) Citadelle. Attributed (possibly an abridged quote from an American translation, not referenced in the published originals). Available at: https://tommccallum.com/2018/03/20/writing-i- love-the-little-prince/ (accessed 11 May 2018).

Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Available at: http://commons.princeton.edu/inclusivepedagogy/ wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2016/07/freire_pedagogy_of_the_oppresed_ch2-3.pdf (accessed 11 May 2018). Holt-Giménez, E. (2006) Campesino a Campesino: Voices from Latin America’s Farmers. Food First

Books, New York.

IAASTD (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development) (2009) Agriculture at a Crossroads – Global Report. Island Press, New York.

IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements) (2005) Principles of Organic Agriculture. Available at: https://www.ifoam.bio/sites/default/files/poa_english_web.pdf (accessed 11 May 2018). IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements) (2008) Definition of Organic Agriculture.

Available at: https://www.ifoam.bio/en/organic-landmarks/definition-organic-agriculture (accessed 11 May 2018).

Kolb, D. (2008) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Pearson Scientific, Hoboken, New Jersey.

© CAB International 2020. Organic Food Systems: Meeting the Needs of Southern Africa

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Abstract

The call to adopt a food systems approach has been made increasingly over the past two decades. A systems perspective contends that the only way to understand a problem fully is to understand the elements (parts) in relation to the system (whole). Systems science and research has been pursued in a very wide range of dis- ciplinary fields. Notwithstanding their differences, most system approaches share some common concepts, which are presented to better understand how a system may be described. Food systems serve the basic human needs of food and drink necessary in order to sustain human life, but also serve wider cultural needs. Systems thinking offers a framework for research on food systems or their subsystems, enabling a wider and deeper contextual analysis. The notion of a food system has received significant attention by key international bodies. However, the literature shows various understandings or use of terms. Used in addition to current approaches, the food systems approach may help organic food and farming by making interdependencies more apparent, examining internal congruence, and providing a real ‘living laboratory’ to engage in an innovative process towards sustainable food systems. Such studies can: (i) help contribute to finding transformation pathways towards sustainable food systems; (ii) provide the basis for capacity and institution building needed to ensure successful transformation; and (iii) may help to redesign food systems that better support healthy diets in an equitable way.

Approach