CATIE and SICA inaugurated diploma course: Capacity building to implement Field Schools with emphasis on food security under climate-smart agriculture principles

• The opening ceremony of this diploma course was held on May 2.

May 16, 2023. On May 2, via Zoom, in the framework of collaboration between CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) and the Program of Information Systems for Resilience in Food and Nutritional Security in the Region (PROGRESAN), of the Central American Integration System (SICA, its Spanish acronym), and the Korea Fund, the opening ceremony was held for the diploma course entitled Capacity building to implement Field Schools with emphasis on Food Security (ECASAN, its Spanish acronym) under the principles of climate-smart agriculture, which consists of a total course load of 287 hours and will end in October of this year.

The objective of this collaboration is, through the diploma course, to strengthen the capacities of the participating technical personnel with knowledge and management of tools and methods required for the organization, design and implementation of Field Schools with emphasis on food security and climate-smart agriculture. Three technical courses and an induction module to the virtual platform were defined for the configuration of the curriculum: Course 1. Principles of Agricultural Field Schools with emphasis on Food and Nutrition Security - ECASAN; Course 2. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). Course 3. The student staff is composed of 26 technical and production personnel, as well as officials of the municipalities where the PROGRESAN-SICA project works, in the Central American Dry Corridor.

The inauguration was attended by Maritza Rivera, coordinator of the diploma course on behalf of CATIE; Álvaro Herdocia, specialist of PROGRESAN-SICA, who represented the Cooperation Framework of the Korea Fund SICA project; and Amílcar Aguilar, field coordinator of the project Scaling up adaptation solutions for resilience and migration reduction in the Central American Dry Corridor, known as ESCALAR, implemented by CATIE with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

During the inauguration, Aguilar shared a message about CATIE's contribution to agriculture and improvements in the methodological approach of the Field Schools to develop learning processes in rural areas.

Jong Gyung Oh, representative of the Korea-SICA Fund, stressed the importance of joining efforts and working in partnership on the issue of food security in the region.

The final ceremony was led by Patricia Palma, Director of PROGRESAN-SICA, who officially opened the diploma course. Palma mentioned the importance of working with CATIE, an institution with which they have always shared objectives in the region, and also pointed out that joining efforts and collaborations in the territory guarantee the sustainability of urgent issues such as food security, emphasizing the importance of the participation of personnel from the municipalities and those who carry out technical work in the Central American Dry Corridor.

It is expected that graduates will be able to analyze and implement practices and strategies that promote food security and climate-smart agriculture, using the Farmer Field School approach as a rural extension tool.