Deadline: 19 March 2019
The Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) is currently seeking applications for its short term course on “Plant genetic resources and resilient seed systems for sustainable food security”. The course duration is from 21 October 2019 – 8 November 2019 in Nepal.
The challenge is not to maintain the status quo of a particular system, but to make it more amenable to deal with stresses and shocks of different nature. To achieve this a much better understanding is required of the processes that make seed systems operate effectively or not, especially in what concern individual and collective decision-making capacity of farmers. This can be done by increasing the access to useful knowledge and information, creating opportunities to learn about (new) crops and crop varieties that fit local agricultural conditions, building new or expanding existing relationships to exchange seeds and related knowledge, and through participation in community and higher level decision-making processes related to seeds.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of the course, participants will:
- Be familiar with contemporary approaches towards crop conservation and sustainable use of plan and genetic resource for food and agriculture (PGRFA);
- Know the conceptual framework of resilient seed systems, its components and practices;
- Be able to identify opportunities in their local context to integrate resilient seed systems and food security in implementation strategies;
- Learn mechanism and procedure for acquiring (new) planting material;
- Designing a successful intervention for resilient seed systems and food security;
- Linking ex-situ conservation (seed conserved in a genebank) with on-farm management of PGRFA through a community seed bank, seed fairs, diversity blocks);
- Learn about supportive policies and laws boosting seed systems towards resilience.
Eligibility Criteria
- The training is designed for public, civil, research, education and/or development professionals woking in a range of a relevant programmes.
- Applicants should have at least a BSc degree, have three years of professional experience in a relevant field, and be proficiency in English.
How to Apply
Applications can be accessed online through the website. Applicants must first have to create an account on the website and register themselves for the course.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2PuqUlm