H. Ibrahim
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
E-mail: h.ibrahim@cgiar.org
The purpose of training is capacity building that addresses the knowledge and skill requirements of national agricultural research systems (NARS) scientific and management staff and assists in the development of adequate NARS capacity in agricultural research and analysis. Many of these activities will depend upon partnerships with international agricultural research centres (IARCs), advanced research and teaching institutes and especially with NARS. Whilst the total number of agricultural researchers in Africa has increased significantly, the number for livestock remains a major concern (Wilson et al. 1995) and there are areas, such as biometry, where the need for trained staff is still high.
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) produces training materials to facilitate learning through group or individual training. These materials focus on the areas within ILRI's research mandate. ILRI recently repackaged its training materials for placement on the World Wide Web in its home page. Users can download free of charge the material and use it for learning. This includes text as well as visual material accompanied with audio. Research staff in NARS and university teachers are important audiences for training materials. Teachers need resources that they can use to create locally suitable materials.
This paper describes the concept of training resources and its application in capacity building in biometrics.
Many institutions conduct training courses and individual training in biometrics in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In this paper I provide brief information on biometrics training conducted by IARCs in SSA, in particular ILRI and the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF). IARCs in SSA have offered many biometrics and statistics courses. The following is a sample list extracted from the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Resaerch) Training Database showing the diversity and different titles used between 1990 and 1995:
Figure 1 shows a declining trend in the number of trainees in biometrics courses offered by the IARCs in SSA. This situation shows that the effort is not parallel to the demand and warrants immediate remedial action.
From its interaction with NARS, ILRI realised that capacity building in biometrics within the NARS is essential. The subjects of experimental design, statistical analysis, interpretation and presentation of results are recognised to be among the top priorities for training by NARS scientists participating in collaborative networks. As an example, ILRI has collaborated in Kenya with University of Nairobi (UON). As part of this collaboration, two university members of staff from the Department of Mathematics have been attached to ILRI two days a week since May 1998 (see Odhiambo, this proceedings) and one statistical member of staff from the Department of Crop Science has likewise been attached since October 1998 (see Akundabweni, this proceedings). The aim of this collaboration is to develop the skills in applied biometrics for the staff from UON. The overall objective is that these attached individuals form the nucleus of a future resource group of applied biometricians who are able to offer training to scientists and other statisticians (biometricians) in national universities and national agricultural research institutes (NARIs) in Kenya, much as described by Stern and Allan (this proceedings) in West Africa.
Figure 1.Number of trainees in biometrics courses by international agricultural research centeres in sub-Saharan Africa.
ICRAF has over the years run many training courses in biometrics. These fall under the headings of research design, data management and data analysis. In each category there have been general courses and some more specialised courses aimed at particular clients (e.g. design of participatory experiments and design of agroforestry experiments). ICRAF aims to make all training material freely available to anyone who can use it. Currently this is by down loading from websites. However, ICRAF aims to produce a CD-ROM early in 2000 with a large amount of training material incorporated. This will focus on analysis of experiments, and incorporate, not only material developed and tested on recent courses (see Stern and Allan, these proceedings), but also additional documents from collaborators (particularly University of Reading). It will also include guidelines for trainers, extensive sample data sets etc.
ILRI provides animal science training to livestock researchers in NARS at various stages of their career development. One entry point is to facilitate the learning environment at universities while the researcher is training for higher degrees (MSc or PhD). In most cases knowledge and information on animal science available to university teachers that supervise the graduate students are outdated. One of the factors leading to this is the lack of financial resources available to libraries in developing countries. Training resources available commercially are developed to suit developed country situations and it may be misleading to use them to educate students in developing countries. ILRI's approach leads to sustainable learning environments by ensuring that universities periodically receive products with the most up to date knowledge.
The term `training resources' has different meanings for different users. In general it is used in the Internet to mean lists of courses and/or materials. For example the Teaching Resources Center in Indiana University (http//: www.indiana.edu/~teaching/) considers its mission is to support teachers by keeping them up to date in the fields of higher learning and good teaching methods. They accomplish their mission by providing lists of web-based training resources. In this paper we adopt a more specific definition of the term training resources, namely: interactive electronic knowledge and information products that provide, in an integrated manner, resources to teachers and trainers.
Each training resource focuses on a specialised theme and has the following features:
Training resources are packaged in electronic format. The advent of multi-media and net-based technologies make it easy to produce and use training resources. Training resources are designed to be highly interactive. This is done in the following ways:
ILRI plans in the future to develop and distribute training resources on animal science topics such as crop-livestock system approach, animal genetic resources, small ruminants, livestock nutrition, animal health, biometrics, policy etc. A team of technical experts, namely training materials specialists, graphic specialists, computer programmers and designers, is required to develop a training resource. A resource is developed in CD-ROM format and the Internet will be an additional medium when the bandwidth expands to accommodate the multi-media components of training resources. ILRI and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) started a training resource project in 1999 on animal genetic resources for universities and NARS in East and southern Africa. Staff from NARS, ILRI and SLU will meet in a workshop in January 2000 to finalise the components of the training resource. This product will include resources on core modules, case studies, bibliographies, photographs, video clips, glossary and statistics. A demonstration CD-ROM is used as a basis for discussion during the present workshop.
Biometrics is present in the curricula of many universities. Even though the generic concepts in biometrics apply to all areas of research, each area has its peculiar requirements. Thus, experiments in livestock research differ in some respects from those in crop or forestry research. Training resources are a good means to aid teachers to draw on the most up to date biometrics information.
Even though all the features of training resources described above suit biometry, biometrics has unique concepts and activities which require adding special resources. Peculiar features for biometrics teaching can be listed as follows:
This resource will provide the teachers with an array of problems that can be used in their courses. These problems are designed to engage. While students are solving a problem, the structure should either provide the student with options for comparing their solutions with those of an expert, return to the core resource to review the steps needed to solve the problem or use a tutorial that explains the solution. Teachers can modify the problems.
This resource will provide public domain software, e.g. Livestock Information Management System (LIMS) for which ILRI has copyright or possibly Instat+ being developed by the University of Reading (Allan and Stern, this proceedings). It may also be possible in future to obtain a licence to incorporate teaching of, say, Genstat.
This provides e-mail addresses of ILRI biometricians and other biometricians working in livestock research for direct contact. This will promote collaboration.
ILRI proposes a collaborative approach in developing training resources in biometrics on livestock research with universities in East and southern Africa and universities in developed countries as partners. This paper is presented so that the participants in this workshop can discuss this concept of training resources in biometrics and give their feedback on whether it suits their needs.
Wilson, T.R., Ehui, S., Mack, S. 1995. Livestock development strategies for low income countries. proceedings of the joint FAO/ILRI roundtable on livestock development strategies for low income countries. International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27 February-02 March 1995.
