A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

REFLECTIONS ON A LIFELONG LEARNING FOR FARMERS STUDY TOUR IN INDIA

By Lydia Meister

My colleague, COL Education Specialist, Dr. K. Balasubramanian (Bala), conducted a study tour in December 2009 of the Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3 Farmers) initiative in Tamil Nadu, South India. The districts of Theni, Madurai and Dindigul gave birth to L3 Farmers; it is now being implemented by COL’s partners, the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and Maharashtra Animal & Fishery Sciences University (MAFSU) in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra respectively. As both CEE and MAFSU are recent entrants to L3 Farmers, Bala wanted to share with them the L3 Farmers experience in Tamil Nadu so they could broaden their understanding of the programme.

For the last couple of years, I have wanted to visit some of COL’s field sites to gain a better understanding of what we do. As I planned to be on vacation in India, my boss, Professor Asha Kanwar, suggested I join the study tour as part of my professional development. And what an amazing experience it was! The first two days were spent visiting village communities involved in L3 Farmers; the third day was a workshop of L3 Farmers stakeholders to build partnerships and discuss the sharing of resources.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the tour was being welcomed by the incredibly warm and kind people I met in the villages. They are the heart and soul of L3 Farmers. The villagers told stories of their struggles and success that revealed their ingenuity, tenacity, resilience and desire to improve their lives for them and their children. I sensed their pride when they told me their son or daughter was going to school; I suspect that for many of them this was their greatest measure of success. Listening to their stories reminded me of how similar people are the world over. Often when we travel we expect people to be different; yet my experiences tell me that places and cultural norms may be different, but the wants and desires of people are very much the same.

One thing that surprised me was how much arable land I saw and the richness of the produce available in the market. I had this notion that because of India’s large population, there would be very little arable farmland, yet I discovered the exact opposite to be true. The region around Theni is beautiful with its rice paddies, sugar cane, corn and coconut fields to name a few. I loved wandering through the market in Theni trying to figure out what fruit or vegetable I was looking at!

I discovered that some of the farmers are more high tech than I am. One of the villages we visited had established a goat rearing enterprise. The goat herders, who were largely illiterate, were able to use their mobile phones as a learning tool. I found this to be remarkable, particularly as I am a Luddite and do not own or use a mobile phone! I was astounded by the quality of the learning materials developed by the various village groups. The materials were available in both print-based and CD-ROM format, and were designed to respond to the needs of the farmers in their region. It reminded me that learning and development is a reciprocal relationship.

Much of my work consists of supervising the flow of information. Participating in the L3 Farmers study tour reminded me that behind the reports, the logframes, the meetings and the reporting mechanisms COL has in place to monitor its work are people. COL exists to serve people, whether these people belong to a government ministry, an institution, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) or a self-help group. The nature of my work will not change, but my experience put faces to the words, which in itself is more rewarding. I feel honoured and humbled to have had this experience, and will cherish it for a long time to come.

Ms. Lydia Meister has worked for COL in several roles since 2002. She currently assists the Vice President in administering the programme-related matters of her portfolio and the Education Specialist, Higher Education in overseeing COL’s involvement with the Commonwealth Executive MBA and MPA (CEMBA/CEMPA) programmes.

Sir John Daniel with Open University of Malaysia Chancellor, YABhg Tun Jeanne Abdullah at the November 2009 convocation