Training & Outreach

FORRU-CMU provide comprehensive education and extension services that will improve the capacity of all of the stakeholders to contribute together to forest restoration initiatives. Such an outreach programme might include training courses, workshops and extension visits, supported by publications and other educational materials, each tailored to meet the different needs of each of the various stakeholder groups (e.g. government officials, NGOs, local communities, teachers, school children and so on).

 

Education team

As the project becomes more widely known, however, you should expect a rapid increase in demand for education and training services, which will begin to overwhelm the research staff, distracting them from vital research activities. It is better to recruit a team of education officers, with specialised experience of environmental education techniques, who are dedicated to providing stakeholders with the knowledge and technical support they need to implement restoration projects.

Education programme

Once the educators are familiar with the FORRU’s knowledgebase, they must design curricula to meet the very different needs of the various stakeholders involved in forest restoration. An education programme can include the following activities:

• workshops to introduce the general concepts of forest restoration and to present techniques and results;
• more detailed training in forest restoration best practices for practitioners who are responsible for running nurseries and implementing planting programmes;
• extension visits to forest restoration projects that aim to provide on-site technical support directly to the people involved in implementing projects;
• hosting interested visitors to the unit such as scientists, donors, journalists and so on;
• helping with the supervision of college student thesis projects;
• presenting research results at conferences.

Special events for school children and a train-the-teachers programme (½ day to several days, for camps and teacher training) could also be undertaken as children have the most to gain from forest restoration.

Education materials

Publications are important educational outputs of a FORRU. Producing them can include a participatory component, involving consultations with and inputs from workshop participants. This ensures that the information provided by the FORRU is of maximum benefit for local people, and also that it makes best use of indigenous knowledge. Examples of publications are:

• Pamphlets and handouts: Useful for the unit’s staff and visitors (particularly existing and potential funders) and should be both informative and help to publicise the unit. As the research programme develops, more technical literature should be produced, such as species data sheets and production schedules.
• Practical manuals: The manual serves as a text book for training both stakeholders during workshops and extension events and newly recruited staff or visiting workers that should contain i) the basic principles and techniques of forest restoration, ii) descriptions of target forest types, and iii) descriptions and propagation methods for those tree species deemed suitable for restoration projects
• Research papers and an international audience: To share research results with other people working in a similar field and also promote correspondence, discussion and exchange visits. They assist other researchers in developing their own research programmes.