Upcoming Online Development Courses: May 1, 2012

STEP 1. Enroll in the first course of this series: OL 341.
These four courses are taken in sequence prior to enrolling in elective courses.

	341 Community Based Adaptation 1: Gain an insight into contemporary methods of developing community based, sustainable, impact-oriented projects. Gain practical field tools and develop a range of skills: facilitating participatory needs assessments and DRR assessments, designing projects, and evidence-based activities. Develop a real project in real time.
	342 Community Based Adaptation: Planning for Impact. Imbed impact into your adaptation project design with a powerful set of management tools. Log frames, detailed budgets, timelines, compelling fact sheets, M&E plans, outcomes and impact. These tools will communicate to donors and stakeholders exactly what you are trying to accomplish and can be used for effective management of the project once funded.
	343 Community Based Adaptation 3: The Community Focus. What does climate change adaptation mean at the community level? What practical tools are available today for communities to use in adaptation and in DRR? Conduct a baseline survey including climate vulnerability, risk assessment, an adaptation capacity analysis, and gain an understanding of local knowledge of a changing climate and of coping strategies. For practitioners who wish to begin working now at the community level to successfully adapt to the challenges that face us.
	344 Community Based Adaptation 4: Sustainable Implementation. How do you launch and implement a community based adaptation/DRR project? The importance of community engagement and project co-management. Developing skill sets for your community to use in the adaptation process. Learning tools: monitoring & evaluation. Community empowerment during project hand-over. Sustainability, follow-up & mentoring

Elective Courses. Enroll in four of these elective courses.
After successful completion of the four prerequisite courses above, you will be invited to enroll in elective courses. There is a reason why there are prerequisites. Please don't ask for an exemption from the prerequisites.

OL 303. Food Security, Nutrition, and Home Gardens 1
OL 304. Food Security, Nutrition and Home Gardens 2
OL 224. Participatory M&E
OL 345. Community Based Disaster Risk Assessment, Preparedness and Management
OL 346. Small Island Developing States and Climate Change
OL 326. Developing Livelihood Resilience in your CBA project
OL 332. Water Conservation and Management in your CBA project
OL 333. Improved, Integrated Agricultural Practices for your CBA project
OL 334. Incorporating REDD+ and Forest Stewardship into your CBA project
OL 202. Impact Analysis

Find out more about this Online Diploma Course.

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Learn how to develop a community centered, impact oriented project.

One
	The first step is to form an association of community members for the purpose diversifying livelihoods and finding alternative forms of income generation. An association can give direction, consistency, management and a single point of contact for a buyer. These services can be a benefit to association members who are not individually entrepreneurial.

The first step in forming an association is to introduce the concept in a participatory workshop setting. Frequently communities are made up of groups of people pursuing similar activities. For example, there might be groups of weavers, artisans or farmers. Ask your community contacts to approach one of these groups of community members about participating in a consciousness-raising workshop on alternate sources of income. In the workshop you can begin by introducing the rationale and importance of having an income generation association with its own management committee—and what benefits it could offer association members. In the beginning, the association does not need to be a formal, legal entity.

In this introductory workshop, ask if there are members who would be interested in sitting on the association management committee. Discuss the types of skills that will need to be developed by committee members. Suggest appointing an interim committee who over the course of six months could develop the ultimate committee structure, establish committee member responsibilities, ensure gender inclusiveness, set goals, and establish a plan. Have an open discussion with the workshop participants to set a number of people that should serve on the committee—and then ask for volunteers for the interim committee.

Two.
Conduct a survey of businesses in the region that buy products in their type of work on a routine basis. Pick businesses that are purchasing products which are appropriate for your level of production capability. Ask them what products are they most in need of. Ask if they would have interest in forming a market link with the association. Ask if they would be willing to partner in developing a training program so that the association members will be able to produce to their quality expectation.

An example could be an association of smallholder farmers who through these surveys discovers a buyer who needs more cucumbers for their wholesale markets in the city—and for export. Frequently buyers such as these, since they need additional product, will make an investment in farmer training and a micro-loan of seeds for planting. These agricultural produce buyers frequently have extension agents which provide follow-up to the farmers. They also would prefer to work with a single association contact rather than work with 20 individual farmers.

But don't overlook other potential markets. Perhaps the market in the next big city has vendors which need products every week. Perhaps there are products that are in short supply that your association could sell themselves from a market stall. Before beginning production however, make certain that there is a market. Your NGO might have individual donors with connections or board members with business experience who can help develop a strategy or make introductions.

Search and Rescue Training
Search and rescue team members learn specific techniques that are safe, and are given simple tools such as lifejackets, safe boats, inner tubes, and flashlights which give them the confidence and the capability to look for a missing person or of rescuing a trapped, elderly or disabled person.

Three.
Once you have identified an actual market for a product or service and solidified a relationship, you might need training in delivering that product or service. Solicit assistance from the buyer for the training, your local government, the central government—or perhaps an NGO for delivering the training.

Four.
Before beginning production you should have a clear definition of the product’s value, its seasonality, the quantities that the buyer is intending to purchase, and the costs and time investment for producing the product. It might be a good idea to ask someone with bookkeeping skills to lay this out in a simplified presentation. This way, you can determine how much money association members could make through the sales of this product. You might also find that sales levels limit the number of people that can belong to the association.

Five.
Get training for the association committee. They will need to know basic bookkeeping skills, basic management skills and organizational skills. If they are the contact point for the buyer they will also need to learn basic negotiation skills.

Six.
Try and organize the trainings to coincide with production. In other words, using the theme of the farmers above, if they're going to receive training on field preparation and planting of cucumbers for the buyer, try to organize the training so that they are planting something that they will actually be able to sell to the buyer. Frequently the extension agents of large produce buyers are willing to provide startup and incremental training for producers throughout the course of the season.

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee

Conducting a Participatory Capacity and Vulnerability Analysis.
In chapter 2 you conducted in a participatory capacity and vulnerability analysis as part of developing your community-based adaptation project. Use the same resources that you found in that chapter—yet focus the assessment on hazards and disasters. Examples could be floods or extreme weather events such as hurricanes. One of the exercises is to do a participatory map. It is useful is to transfer the information from the map into a larger format on a public wall where everyone in the community can see it and better understand how disasters can impact their village.

Setting up a Community-Based DRR Committee

In chapter 7 you set up a community-based project management committee. You can use the same technique to set up a community-based DRR committee. This committee will be able to coordinate with your NGO and then create long-term associations with government agencies that can continue to support DRR activities. The committee will be in charge of developing a DRR plan—and of coordinating disaster teams.

Developing a DRR Plan
Developing a DRR plan will include the development of each of the following list of activities and maintaining them in perpetuity. This will involve a plan for consciousness raising among community members about DRR challenges, connecting with an early warning system, the organizing of teams, training them in evacuation and search and rescue, and prioritizing mitigation strategies—and for training community members to implement mitigation activities.

Organization of Teams
Based upon the results of your community’s PVCA, they will have prioritized hazards and disasters. As part of their DRR plan the committee will have prioritized preparedness activities, reduction in risk activities and mitigation activities. If, for example, the type of disaster your community faces necessitates evacuation, an evacuation team should be established that develops a plan to lead the evacuation at the appropriate time. You should do this for each of the major priorities in the plan.

Promotion to Community
Frequently community members don't have a clear picture of how and why disasters happen. They also may not know how to react when the disaster is building or is already in progress. Workshops and simple posters or how-to cards—without words—need to be developed to help them understand these concepts and to learn that there are things that they can do to reduce the risk caused by disasters, and mitigate the severity of the disasters.

Early Warning Systems
Traditionally, community members have not had warning of when they need to evacuate—and frequently they have left it too long. The government meteorological office may have the capability of, for example, in a potential flood situation, evaluating when water has reached a critical height and have the capability of announcing that a flood is imminent. Communities should form partnerships with these offices and purchase dedicated telephones and alarms.

Evacuation Training
If people need to evacuate, they need to know when to evacuate, they need to know where to go where it's safe, they need to know what to do with their valuable possessions and assets, they need to know what to take with them, and they need to know what to do when they get to shelter. Capacity building workshops can train community members in each of these—and most importantly—can lead them in practice drills.

Search and Rescue Training
Search and rescue team members learn specific techniques that are safe, and are given simple tools such as lifejackets, safe boats, inner tubes, and flashlights which give them the confidence and the capability to look for a missing person or of rescuing a trapped, elderly or disabled person.

Capacity Building for Disaster Mitigation Activities
There are many things that can be done to mitigate potential disasters. Some, like plantings along the river banks can reduce erosion during a flood season, or the reforestation a watershed can reduce danger from flash floods and are activities that communities can do over the span of time. Capacity building workshops give community members the skill sets that they need to do these activities. Others like relocating houses to higher ground or building bridges may be outside of their purchasing power, but committee members can be trained to develop advocacy campaigns for approaching governments for support for these more major investments.

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee

Barriers to Water Movement
On sloping farm fields, creating barriers reduces the speed of water movement so that it can be absorbed into the soil rather than simply running off the land. These barriers also catch topsoil that the water carries preventing the loss of this valuable resource and offer the added benefit of creating level planting areas behind the barriers as the soil accumulates. Barriers can be terraces, stone or earth walls called bunds, or living barriers such as hedges and grass strips.

Building terraces and stone retaining walls can be very labor intensive. Less formal constructions such as soil bunds, hedgerows or rows of grass can be less labor-intensive and potentially more attractive to farmers. Construction can be spread out over several years.

One thing that all barriers have in common is that they run horizontally along a level contour across the falling slope of a field. An A-frame leveling device is used to determine the level contour lines which are marked with stakes or with stones.

Here are four techniques for farmers to consider. The technique chosen by each individual farmer will be based upon how steeply a farmer's field slopes, how big their field is, whether they are in a high rainfall or low rainfall region, and how much time they have available for investing in the technique.

Contour Ridges.
Ridges with furrows on the uphill side are formed approximately 1.5m to 2m apart. This 2m area is the catchment area for rainwater. The ridges are only 15 to 20 cm high—simply high enough to contain the run off—which collects in the furrow. Crops with higher water requirements can be planted close to the side of the furrow. Contour ridges represent the least time investment of these four techniques and can be developed, maintained and improved during preparation for each planting season.

Soil Bunds
	Soil bunds are a method for both containing water and reducing erosion using on-site materials. After marking the horizontal contour line on the sloping field, a ditch 60 cm deep and 60 cm wide is dug. The soil is placed on the downhill side of the ditch creating the soil wall. The base of the wall is typically twice as wide as the wall is high. The soil is well compacted by hand.

Soil bunds are placed from between 5m apart on steep land to 20m apart on more gently sloping land. To determine spacing between the bunds, one rule of thumb is that the top of one bund is level with the base of the adjacent uphill bund. However farmer preferences and the size of the farmer’s field are other determinants.

Fodder grasses, trees and crops are planted on the bund to stabilize it. Water collects in the ditch during rainstorms and can slowly percolate into the soil increasing soil moisture. As rainwater erodes soil uphill of the bund, the soil will accumulate above the bund and begin creating an increasingly level planting strip. Soil bunds will need annual maintenance—and will need to be checked after heavy rainfall and breaches repaired immediately.

Hedgerows.
Hedgerows can also be planted along the contour lines of a hillside—in similar spacing as soil bunds depending on the steepness of the slope of the field. Hedges are usually chosen from nitrogen fixing plants, and from plants that when pruned can be used as fodder for farm animals. Initially, these cuttings can be laid at the base of the hedges on the uphill side to trap eroded topsoil. After two or three years, sufficient topsoil will have accumulated to form a terrace uphill of the hedgerow. Hedgerows represent substantially less time investment than soil bunds—and use less space making more land available for planting.

Vetiver Grass Strips.
An inexpensive alternative, vetiver grass can be planted along the contour line of a sloping field to prevent the loss of topsoil, and to reduce the rate at which water runs downhill enhancing infiltration. Topsoil builds up on the uphill side and over time creates level planting areas. Grass strips represent substantially less time investment than soil bunds—and use less space. Grass strips need to be maintained over time to keep them from encroaching into the cropping areas. Grass trimmings can be used as fodder. Vetiver grass is very popular, but check with farmers for local favorites.

Conclusion.
Upon completion of this workshop discuss with the farmers which technique would be best suited for them. Then plan a second more specialized training workshop for that specific technique.

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee

Getting Started

Consider returning to the village the day before the workshop to tour the farm fields, forests, and water sources with one of the villagers. Take a few minutes to talk to people you meet in order to gain a greater understanding of the scale of the community and to get a better sense of some of the challenges they are facing. The purpose of the workshop is for community members to understand the impact of sun, wind, runoff, crop selection, location of water sources, floods, drought, and variable rains.

Draw the community map on a sheet of newsprint—or several sheets taped together. Begin by drawing a very simple drawing of the spatial relationships between the different parts of the community and how the village relates to the farm fields, hills, very steep hills and sources of water. Mark where transportation routes are—including roads and pathways. One suggestion is to quickly draw a preliminary map, make corrections and adjustments, and then transfer the revised map information to a fresh sheet of paper for further development.

Be sure to include:
-farmlands and their relationship to the village
-sources of household and agricultural water and their relationship to the village/farmlands
-rivers and streams
-the location of steep hillsides or canyons
-the location of main roads and pathways
-the location of what crops are grown where
-community land, forest boundaries, grazing/pasture lands

When everybody at the workshop is satisfied with the basic map, you can begin indicating other useful information on the map. It's a good idea to represent buildings and farmer's plots using piece of colored paper that can be attached to the map with removable tape so they can be moved or adjusted; by removing these bits of paper completely the map can be used again for a different assessment.

When everyone is satisfied that the map is accurate, introduce the idea of hazards that the community suffers. These hazards could include extreme weather events, floods, heavy rainfall, drought and landslides. The information that we want from this part of the exercise is which parts of the community, which people, which personal assets, which environmental resources, and which livelihoods are the most vulnerable to the hazards as identified on the hazard map. Examples could be:
-farmlands vulnerable to drought (or insufficient access to water)
-farmlands vulnerable to flooding, too much wind exposure and other weather related hazards
-areas with too little or too much sun
-areas that suffer from excessive runoff
-farmer perception of the fertility of their soil: good, medium, or poor

Conclusion: To discuss and reinforce what has been learned and to discuss.
1. Discuss and review what has been learned.
2. Reinforce the soil and water challenges farmers face that were identified during the mapping exercise.
3. Discuss whether hazards such as, floods, variable rainfall and drought impact soil and water resources. Introduce the following questions:
-Are the hazards concentrated in one area of the community?
-What negative impacts will the hazards have on community members and their assets?
-What is a prioritization of the community's greatest hazards they face?
-Who in the community is the most at risk from the hazards?
4. Summarize a list of the challenges and hazards farmers face in preparation for next week's visit by extension agent.

Note:
What are the community members’ current coping strategies for dealing with these difficult periods?
Capacity building: Which of the difficult events are they having trouble coping with due to a lack of strategies?

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee

Community Defined Need and Sustainability

This next step is to facilitate a workshop which will help in exchanging knowledge about the community's vulnerabilities and capacities. You will learn from them about their coping strategies within their livelihoods in the face of a changing climate. In the next step this local knowledge will give us an opening for sharing with them science based strategies that can be supportive of their local strategies. This is important; without the ability to compare scientific knowledge with similar local knowledge, it may be more difficult for community members to trust, accept, understand and adopt new ideas.

Schedule a workshop with the community for six hours. You can also do this workshop in two, three hour sessions.

Activity 1. Seasonal Calendar.
Time required: 1 1/2 hours.
This first activity in the workshop will be drawing a seasonal calendar in the form of a matrix. Draw a matrix on a sheet of newsprint—or several sheets taped together. On this calendar you’re trying to establish relationships between times of the year, seasonal events, and special events that happen in the community.
-the rainy season
-the dry season
-periods of drought
-extreme weather events
-important livelihood activities
-disease
-periods of hunger
-planting and harvesting
-school
-annual festivals or ceremonies

Along the top row of the matrix write the initials for the 12 months of the year. It's helpful to create the matrix the day before the workshop. So that all workshop participants can engage in the activity you can make it very visual by drawing seasonal symbols—such as harvesting corn—so that non-readers will not be excluded.

Along the vertical column on the left you can begin writing down events as community members come up with them. Then, adjacent to the event you can make a mark in the appropriate months that the event occurs. One helpful technique is to have a preliminary piece of paper that you can quickly write down participants’ ideas. This will give participants the freedom to speak openly and quickly. After a good number of ideas have been voiced, take a moment to organize the key events since many will be related to each other or simply phrased in a different manner. When you're satisfied with the organization of the events you can transfer them to the blank calendar.

Once the calendar has been filled in with events and dates, introduce the following questions:
-Are the hazards concentrated in one time period or season?
-Are there time periods in the year which are the most difficult for community members and their assets?

Note:
-What are the community members’ current coping strategies for dealing with these difficult periods?
-Capacity building: Which of the difficult periods are they having trouble coping with due to a lack of strategies?

Activity 2. Hazard mapping.
Time required: 1 1/2 hours.
The second 1 ½ hour activity in the workshop will be drawing a participatory hazard map of the community. This exercise will be drawing a participatory hazard map of the community. Participatory mapping is an inclusive tool because all workshop participants can engage in the activity and it's very visual—non-readers will not be excluded.

Consider returning to the village the day before the workshop to tour the farm fields, forests, and water sources with one of the villagers. Take a few minutes to talk to people you meet in order to gain a greater understanding of the scale of the community and to get a better sense of some of the challenges they are facing.

Focus the exercise on drawing a community map on a sheet of newsprint—or several sheets taped together—in order to understand the spatial relationships between the different parts of the community. On this map you’re trying to establish relationships between major community components. How the village relates to the farm fields, hills, roads and where sources of water are.

When everybody at the workshop is satisfied that the basic map represents the community, farming areas and surrounding environmental resources, you can begin marking things on the map such as where individual's homes are and where their farm fields are. It's a good idea to locate buildings and farmer's plots using piece of colored paper that can be attached to the map with removable tape so they can be moved or adjusted. The paper cutouts are also useful because they can be completely removed if you want to get back to the basic map for a future workshop on a different issue.

When everyone is satisfied that the more detailed map is accurate, introduce the idea of hazards that the community suffers. These hazards could include extreme weather events, floods, heavy rainfall, drought and landslides.

Once the hazards have been indicated on the map introduce the following questions:
-Are the hazards concentrated in one area of the community?
-What negative impacts will the hazards have on community members and their assets and resources?
-Who in the community is the most at risk from the hazards?
-Are there safe places in the neighborhood where community members can shelter from the hazards?


Note:
-What are the community members’ current coping strategies for dealing with these difficult periods?
-Capacity building: Which of the difficult events are they having trouble coping with due to a lack of strategies?

Activity 3. Historical Timeline
Time required: 1 1/2 hours.
The Historical Timeline is one that is a very simple matrix with years in the left column and important events in the right column. You will be looking for insights into past hazards and events, and how they may have changed or intensified over time.

These could include hurricanes, droughts, epidemics, famines or floods. Hopefully, there will be village elders in the workshop that will allow us to get a long-term perspective from 20 or 25 years ago so that you and the villagers can see if these events are occurring more frequently. Other examples could include storms, erratic rainfall, a change in the timing of the growing seasons and water availability.

Next, when the group has completed the timeline, introduce the subject of climate change. Have they seen a change over time with climate change challenges? When did they start noticing the changes? Some examples:
-beginning 20 years ago rainfall began decreasing; by how much?
-beginning 20 years ago, the growing season changed; its shorter now—or it starts later.
-beginning 20 years ago, storms have increased; there is flooding now when there didn’t used to be flooding.
-beginning 20 years ago, we've had to walk progressively further to get water.

Please note the changes which they've seen. Briefly describe how they've changed and over what time frame. Does the community realize this is linked to climate change and realize that this may be ongoing?

Note:
-What are the community members’ current coping strategies for dealing with these difficult periods?
-Capacity building: Which of the difficult events are they having trouble coping with due to a lack of strategies?

Activity 4. Climate Hazard Impacts on Livelihoods
Time required: 1 1/2 hours.
This matrix is another very simple matrix with important livelihood resources and assets in the left column and important hazards in the top row. It's a good idea to prepare the blank matrix on newsprint in advance. Also, take a few minutes alone to list both the hazards and the livelihood assets and resources from the first three exercises. These can be used to start a discussion in order to begin filling in the matrix. Doing a quick preliminary matrix on a blank sheet of newsprint during this discussion is also a good idea—you can then just transfer the assets and hazards onto a clean, blank matrix.

Once the matrix has been filled in with what the community feels are the greatest hazards along the top row and the most important livelihood assets and resources along the left column, ask them to rank in terms of importance which hazards are having the greatest impact on which resources. There are two ways that you can do this. Much like with the Chapter 1 vote, you could give each participant 15 counting stones, lay the matrix on the floor and let them vote. Or, you can simply hold a discussion and let them rank the importance of hazard impact on resources and mark it on the matrix.
3 = greatest impact on the resource
2 = median impact on the resource
1 = low impact of the resource
0 = impact of the resource

Please note what hazards they are facing and prioritize them by which are the most challenging for them.
Please note which areas they feel the most vulnerable in and prioritize them.

At the end of this exercise you will have a matrix that prioritizes which hazards are causing the greatest risk and are making which livelihood assets and resources the most vulnerable. Discuss this prioritization with the participants for verification—and make sure no one has been left out who has a question.

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee

Getting Started
	Working with your community contacts, set up a 4 hour meeting with 8 or 10 community members one week or more in advance. Communities are diverse and you need to be sure that you are working with community members that represent the ultimate beneficiaries (mothers, fathers, families, farmers, weavers—whoever best describes the community you are working with).

Avoid basing your assessment on a meeting with people in higher positions: mayors or city council members for example. It is important that women and marginalized members have a voice in the process.

Each subgroup will have their own set of needs; some members may even be self-serving. Ensure that everyone in the workshop is given an equal chance to voice the challenges that they see in the community. If there are cultural norms which may prevent some participants from speaking out, you may elect to form two groups out of one community—for example one of women separate from one of men—so that women can feel comfortable participating in the discussion.

Review the lesson plan with your team and adapt the activities so they are specific to your community context. You may choose to produce an illustrated handout or poster for the workshop—especially if some participants can’t read. Role-play the activities with your colleagues so that you are better prepared when you present the workshop, and so you can discover if there are any cultural or linguistic problems. In the workshop you need to play the role simply of a facilitator and not color the needs assessment with your own preferences.

Make sure that you have all of the materials that you may need such as pieces of paper, large sheets of newsprint and markers for drawings. Since this is a four hour workshop you may also need to plan snacks and drinks. Have two to three colleagues accompany you to help. This will be especially useful if you decide to break the participants down into sub-groups. If you are considering providing snacks put someone in charge so that you aren’t distracted with the details and are free to focus completely on facilitating the workshop.

How it works. After initial rapport building with the group, explain that the purpose of the activities is to understand and learn about their community from their perspective. Ask the group to imagine and discuss the problems and needs that are faced by the community as a whole.

As each need is identified by a community member, begin making simple illustrations that represent the challenges they describe on notebook sized sheets of paper (you can bring a selection of typical drawings to reduce time spent drawing). An example could be that if there is a housing shortage, draw a little house. After the group has come up with a good set of needs/problems, arrange the different illustrations into a rectangle side-by-side on the ground or on a table.

Have everyone leave the workshop area. Give each one of the participants voting tokens—10 or 15 slips of paper, or beans, or grains of corn. For privacy during voting, only one person should go into the workshop area at a time to vote. They should select the needs which they feel as an individual are the most important. It is their decision if they want to put all 10 tokens on one drawing or if they want to distribute them around several different challenges.

When the participants have finished voting, count the total tokens on each drawing and write up a prioritized list ordered by the number of votes each problem received—with the need that received the most votes at the top. This would be a good time for the participants to take a break so that you can take a few minutes alone with the list and to draw a two column matrix on a sheet of newsprint that everyone can see. In the left column write down the individual needs in their prioritized order (or draw little pictures again) and in the right column write the number of votes each one received.

This is a good time for the participants to have an open discussion about the results of the vote. Plus, if there are any unrelated needs competing for the highest position it would be a good idea to let the participants do a second prioritization. For example there might be two health-related challenges near the top and two microenterprise challenges near the top as well. You can ask community which would be the first project they would like to start with if you would like to keep your project simple and not be faced managing two dissimilar programs at once.

It's very likely that the list will be a disorganized mixture of needs, challenges, underlying causes and grievances. Work with the group to connect needs and challenges to their underlying causes on the matrix so that they can see the relationship. If the matrix doesn't have any underlying causes this would be a good time to ask the participants what they might feel the causes of the top priority challenges are. This will get them thinking in these terms, but also it's likely that they might have more background information about a problem than you do—so this can be quite helpful for you.

Conclude the meeting by summarizing the two or three challenges that the community places their highest priority and their relationship with underlying causes. Ask for feedback of your summary in for verification from the participants. Use your best facilitation skills to make sure that no one has any questions.

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee

Adding Organic Material to Your Soil
	There are simple, low-cost/no-cost activities that subsistence farmers can adopt that can increase harvest production by restoring soil, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers, buffering the effects of variable rainfall, and protect valuable topsoil from erosion—increasing family nutrition and agricultural income.

What Is Soil?
Soil is a living, breathing organism of sand, clay, organic matter, earthworms, microbes, beneficial flora and fauna, nutrients, minerals, water and plant roots. It can suffer from being too wet, too dry and too sandy, too clayey, too exposed and too steep.

Soil Moisture.
Moisture in the soil is a chief determinant in crop growth and in agricultural production both by providing water for the soil, improve soil chemical processes in the soil and also acts as a transport mechanism for getting nutrients to the plants. The presence of organic material greatly improves soil's ability to retain moisture. Moisture stored in the soil provides a buffer during dry periods or during periods of unpredictable rain. Sufficient organic material in the soil and mulch is on the surface of the soil can help rainwater percolate into the soil in order to build up soil moisture.

Organic Material.
Organic material decomposes in the soil and releases vital nutrients for the plants—reducing the need to purchase expensive fertilizer. Increased organic material in the soil also helps to retain soil moisture for longer periods of time—buffering against unpredictable rain or an early end to the rainy season. Organic material in the soil is a benefit for root penetration, drainage, aeration, nutrients nutrient availability, soil structure—and can neutralize pH imbalances.

Looking at organic material samples collected from around the village.
In the first year, farmers may not have organic material. Let them know that they can begin by spreading whatever chopped-up organic material (OM) they can find on top of their field. This can be leaves, manure, chopped-up corn stalks, vegetable-based kitchen scraps. Explain how many freely available types of OM are available around their village; have participants discuss other materials that they might be able to use.

Incorporating Organic Material into Your Soil during Soil Preparation.
Farmers can spread organic material on top of their field as they prepare their fields prior to telling. The organic material will mix in with their soil at different depths. After planting farmers can lay another layer of finely chopped material on top of the freshly planted field.

Mulching for Increased Organic Material, and Reduced Erosion and Evaporation.
The addition of mulch to the top of the soil can reduce the soil temperature, keep weeds down, improve drainage, attract earthworms, reduce both wind and water erosion, and can be an excellent method of adding organic material to the soil as the mulch decomposes during the course of the growing season. It is excellent for water conservation—it reduces moisture evaporation: it can help protect garden plants by retaining soil moisture when water is scarce.

Adding mulch to your field is very simple. Use the same materials that you used for making compost: leaves, dry grass, rice stalks, straw, and other agricultural residues. Simply place a thin layer on the soil after planting seeds. As the plants begin to grow add another layer until you have 5 to 10 cm.

Mulching will conserve restored soil by reducing moisture loss through evaporation, will contribute organic material and nutrients to the soil, and will prevent the loss of valuable topsoil by protecting the soil from wind and water erosion.

A consciousness raising workshop for the communities demonstrating how mulching can reduce evaporation.
1. Till and lightly moistened a small area of soil exposed to direct sunlight.
2. Mark off four small plots no more than half a meter square each.
3. Cover the first plot with a pane of glass raised about 10 cm above the soil surface.
4. Carefully and completely cover the second plot with chopped vegetation (straw, leaves, grass).
5. Loosely cover the third plot with chopped vegetation.
6. Leave the fourth plot uncovered.

Return to the test plots after one hour. Moisture should have begun to collect on the underside of the glass pane. Have the participants discuss where the moisture came from. This would be a good place to talk about soil evaporation and its effect on soils—and plants. Remove the glass and have the participants feel the soil beneath—it should still be moist.

Then have participants remove the mulch from test plots two and three. The soil should still be moist and plot two but less moist in plot three. Plot four, which was left uncovered should be even less moist and perhaps completely dry.

Making Compost
Compost is the earthy, dark crumbly material that results from the geek opposition of plant residue. It is rich in nutrients and organic matter and can be used as a plant fertilizer. To make compost you need the right mix of organisms, air, water and plant wastes such as grass clippings, food scraps, manures, leaf litter and straw.

Compost can be made in a bin or simply as a pile approximately a meter square and meter high. Find a location for the compost pile that is well-drained and sunny. Unless you're lucky enough to have the materials that you need to make an instant compost pile, begin adding materials as you collect them to the top of the pile. It's good to alternate layers of dry things like leaves and straw with layers of green grass clippings and kitchen waste. A compost pile should be turned every week or two to allow more air into the compost pile. Show the participants examples of matured compost so they know what it should look like.

Compost can be added to the field's surface before preparation for planting—in this way it will mix in with the field’s soil during killing and be accessible to the plant's roots. It can also be added to the surface of the field after planting and before the application of mulch. Its nutrients can then percolate into the soil with rainwater.

Conclusion.
Even highly depleted soils can over the course of a year or several years be restored to a vital condition. The addition of organic material and compost will increase the soil's ability to retain moisture, increase nutrients stored in the soil, increase beneficial microbes and soil flora and fauna and will improve the structure of heavily compacted soil.

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee