From the
beginning of the workshop the excitement was palpable amongst the participants
of the ARDYIS web 2.0 training and exchange workshop who came from all corners
of the Caribbean to participate in the training held at the Solutions Centre
located at UWI Cave hill in Barbados. Over the five days of the workshop the
participants went through intensive learning sessions and activities
facilitated by Ms. Patricia Atherly and Ms.Tara Wilkinson .They were fantastic
facilitators delivering succinct, practical, interesting and thought provoking sessions
with the group.
During the 5 days of the workshop
sessions the participants learnt about the value of leveraging Social Media
platforms and using online social networkmanagement tools such as Hoot suite
to maximize the impact of online agricultural businesses and campaigns, Marketing
techniques, Blogging and Google mapping amongst many other amazing topics. Everyone
remarked on the high quality of the training session and were very excited to
learn new skills and even more thrilled to be able to share them with other
youth in their own organizations in their home countries.
The two
highlights of the workshop sessions were the practical sessions where
participants were encouraged to create , personalize and publish their own
blogs using blogger and create other linked social networking pages on
Facebook, Twitter, Klout and LinkedIn. We were all able to share our newly
created pages with the facilitators and each other for constructive feedback
and suggestions for improving the look and feel of the blog according to its
purpose.
The second
highlight was a field trip organized by the CTA and CaFAN for the participants
to visit an orchid farm run by Ms. Margaret Lovemore a female farmer in St. Phillip.
She sells cut Dendrobium orchids and many other varieties of orchids to the local
hotels and florists located on the island.
We also
visited the Ministry of Agriculture’s tissue culture lab where participants
were greeted by a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture who led us
into the outer room of the facility where we all donned white coats, hair nets
and booties to become agricultural lab technicians for the rest of the day after much picture taking in our coats we
excitedly embarked on a tour of the facility along with Mr Greene and
learnt about the process of how orchids
and other plant species are grown test tubes and jars in a controlled
environment and then weaned off gradually before they are released into the natural environment.
Each day in
between sessions we all recorded our reflections from discussions with our
peers and suggestions for improvement of the training sessions on the
“Democracy Walls”. This was very enjoyable experience giving us a space to
collect our thoughts .Needless to say everyone wrote multiple posts daily so
much so we ran out of space and needed another wall ! .
The Training
& Exchange Workshop provided a much needed platform for youth dialogue .The
workshop acted as a microcosm of Caribbean youth involved in agriculture that
allowed participants to share their experiences and challenges in farming in
their native territories as well as personal and professional stories related
to agriculture and rural development.
During the
course of the training we learnt of two innovative agricultural startups .The
first is called“Go Goat” created by Shurdel N. Garcia of Trinidad & Tobago
where she makes and markets yoghurt, ice cream and cheese made from goat milk
to her local community and the Second is “Hike Wadadli” by Samuel Brazier of
Antigua who is creating a nature trail connected to his farm encouraging
tourism and agricultural education amongst visitors to the island. I also
intend to use these new skills to help young people and survivors of domestic
violence in Guyana through training workshops in Social Media and ICT to start
up their own agricultural businesses to gain economic independence .These are
some of the examples of how some of the representatives from Antigua,
Trinidad& Tobago and Guyana intend to put the new skills and knowledge they
have learnt into practice after they leave Barbados.
On the final
day everyone broke into groups to consider questions surrounding the reasons
why there is low participation in agriculture by youth in the Caribbean, Why
they should become interested and what role we as individuals, social media and
ICT can play as part of the solution to these questions. At the end of the discussions groups were
asked to formulate a one page proposal to CaFan advising the organization on a
strategy for using social media as the foundation of a campaign to raise
awareness and interest in agriculture amongst Caribbean Youth.
Access to ICT
& Social media training and tools amongst rural populations across the
region came out strongly in all presentations. My group consisting of
representatives from Guyana myself and Kasi Fortune, Shurdel N Garcia from Trinidad,
Lyndon Lewis from St Vincent and Sadhana Debi - Tiwarie representing Suriname suggested a CAFAN Social Media Agriculture
Youth Caucus 2014 which would s call on youth to take action in their
communities and collaborate on projects and interactions across the region ,
provide youth with window to the plethora of sectors they can dive into so that
they can start their own businesses , provide a platform for youth to participate in a progressive movement as
drivers of agriculture in their communities and states.
We also hope
that in the long term the project can ensure food security for the region for
future generations to enjoy acknowledging that there is an aging population of
farmers that need to be replaced over time by young people who require
education & training in agriculture
The Campaign
for leading up to the Youth Caucus will be entitled: Caribbean Youths Rising for Agriculture 2014
This
campaign will be a targeted online youth caucus where youth can participate in dialogue
with each other and expert mentors to become drivers of agriculture in their
states. Each island would have one ambassador from the Training and Exchange
web 2.0 workshop promoting this campaign.
The
ambassadors and their volunteers will use all social media tools to attract
interest and promote agricultural career paths and rural development in the
Caribbean. Thought leaders and young professionals in the field of agriculture
will be brought on board to share their knowledge/best practices and experience
with the youth as special sessions. After which these sessions will be interactively
shared across social media. As Part of the Campaign youth ambassadors for the
ARDYIS Project/CTA will host film festivals, rising for agriculture events,
Targeted agricultural workshops and field trips that other youths can connect
with in person and via social media using live stream and all forms of social
media.
Youth
Ambassadors will lobby experts/celebrities etc. in their countries to develop
viral videos in support of the youth movement similar to Mandela day and 1
Billion Rising Campaigns. There will also be a website/platform where all youth
ambassadors and their followers /public can connect and learn about how they
can support agriculture in their daily lives or start and event themselves.
Some of the limitations identified were Access-Young people in rural communities need to be addressed using
different messages, Lack of ICT /Social Media infrastructure in rural
communities ,Lack of Funding for initiatives and a need to train youth .
As I write
this while packing and relaxing after the Soca Titans - Machel Montano concert here at cave
hill with my colleagues keeping me company before my taxi to the airport I can
truly say I have taken in both the academic and fun side of Barbados .This
experience has been an unforgettable one .We are now all equipped with the
social media tools the magic will be in how we use them to make a difference to
agriculture in our countries. To be continued…
