Forty-Eight of Indonesia’s Extension Workers Trained to Empower Female Farmers

By Anna Snider

As part of ADMI’s ADM Cares-funded Empowering Smallholders in Indonesia through Strengthening Female Led Farmer Organizations, 48 of Indonesia’s frontline extension workers participated in a training on strengthening female-led farmer groups. The training was held via Zoom on July 4  in conjunction with partners at IPB University, Bogor.

The training began with a keynote address from the Secretary of Agricultural Human Resources and Extension at the Ministry of Agriculture on the Urgency of Pluralistic Extension for Strengthening Female-Led Farmer Groups. The 34 female and 24 male attendees then participated in interactive sessions on Pluralistic Extension, Participatory Extension Methods, Integrating Gender into Agricultural Extension, and Facilitating Groups in Writing a Business Plan.

Feedback from the training was overwhelmingly positive, with 72% rating the program “good” and 28% rating the program “excellent.” Participants also commented that, while they received extensive continuing education training from the Ministry, the material presented in this training was new to them and very relevant for their work.

Over the next 6 months, the trained extension workers will use what they learned to strengthen the female-led farmer groups they already work with in their communities. Extension workers will fill out monthly surveys so that the research team (made up of ADMI and IPB researchers) can follow up on their progress. After 6 months of implementation, a stakeholder webinar will share results and success stories. This pilot project was funded by a grant from ADM Cares.