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Rehabilitating agriculture and supporting the development of private farms and agro-business are an enormous task anywhere—more so in Iraq today. That was NEF's ambitious and needed undertaking from October 2005 to April 2006.
With funding provided by the US government, NEF's expert Egyptian agriculturalists and extension workers strengthened capabilities in the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture. They instructing a core group of 17 master trainers, who in turn are teaching others the newest participatory extension methods they learned. Ultimately this group will be responsible for developing agricultural extension services for the ministry's assistance to Iraqi farmers, women, and youth.
Activities included practical workshops followed by in-service training, coaching, and follow-up for ministry staff as they prepared and implemented similar training courses for peers. Trainees at both levels learned how to arrange and conduct meetings with farmers, develop and implement extension strategies, and significantly, recognize the difference between instruction and facilitation in managing learning groups.
(For security reasons, public disclosure of details on this program is limited.)
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