One of the International Analog Forestry Network’s key programs is capacity building activities relating to the practice of analog forestry. For this to expand internationally, it is important to have a solid network of trainers around the world who share their expertise and work with local communities in their regions.

Alongside our network partners, IAFN has been actively accrediting and supporting trainers who can train farmers, NGO staff, policy-makers and other forestry or agroecology practitioners in the analog forestry methodology, providing them with the tools to apply and replicate AF in their work and communities.

One key priority that was identified in 2013 was a series of Training of Trainer events to be held in various countries in order to strengthen this base of expertise. Working with our partners around the world, we supported events in three locations: Sri Lanka, with the Belipola Training Centre, Costa Rica, with the Analog Forest Training Centre, and Ecuador, with Reserva Pambiliño.

Ecuador Training of Trainers
Participants at the training of trainers activity in Ecuador. Photo: Kitty Garden

The three training of trainers events were held over the course of late 2014 and early 2015, with the Sri Lanka event taking place from August 18th to 23rd with 11 new trainers certified from Sri Lanka and Cameroon. The Costa Rican training of trainers took place on November 17th-21st, and brought together participants from the Mesoamerican and Caribbean regions, with 9 new trainers certified. Finally, the Ecuadorian event took place from March 15th-19th and resulted in 12 new trainers, primarily from the South American region.

These training of trainer events focused primarily on the ability of candidates to develop, analyze, and evaluate analog forestry designs, as well as general teaching skills and analog forestry theory. All of the sites that held training of trainers were analog forestry sites in their own right, from Belipola Training Centre, the first ever demonstration site to apply the analog forestry concept, the Analog Forest Training Centre in Costa Rica, the preeminent site in Latin America, and the relatively newer Pambiliño sites, which you can read about in this bulletin article. Participants took full advantage of their surroundings with field activities that tested their knowledge and gave them ideas about how to run their own trainings in the field.

The ultimate goal of these events is to spread analog forestry knowledge and practice through a kind of multiplier effect: by bringing these highly qualified and motivated people together, information was shared not only in the classroom, but throughout the event among participants. By building a community of practice and encouraging connections between this new network and the communities in which they work, we hope to take analog forestry practice to the next level.

Please visit our Trainer’s Network page to learn more about our group of analog forestry trainers around the world. For more information, please contact the IAFN Secretariat at info@analogforestry.org.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
*