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Sri Lanka ISH
Afghanistan ISH
Microfarms Project

Proposal From Lanka ISH about an International Workshop on Simplified Hydroponics

Over the past months I have been thinking and reflecting on setting up of the LISH based on the experiences and lessons learned from other countries. The recent Tsunami disaster prompted me to expedite this process and particularly the interest and efforts shown by you and other collegues in helping Sri Lanka also made me thinking more strategically to take these initiatives forward to contribute meaningfully to the cause we are interested in, that is to eradicate hunger and malnutrition and improve the livelihoods of poor in devloping countries.

I also had interviews with some organizations and individuals and conducted some studies. Based on these and findings and reflections, and also the experience gained from pilot studies conducted in Sri lanka on the effective use of simplified hydroponics and popularizing it to help poor and setting up the LISH, a number of critical issues have surfaced on the above subject.

1. Summarizing the above I feel that there is a great need for us who are involved in Simplified Hydroponics work in various countries now to get together and design an international strategy, work plan and a funding mechanism for our work at country level in collaboration with other countries, particularly with IISH as its apex body.

This is because for follwoing reasons.

- Different countries now have different experiences and insights gained from working on simplified hydroponics and unfortunately we are working in isolation without an effective mechanism for interacting with each other.

- Different individuals working on SH have different opinions and suggestions based on their experiences and insights which needs consolidation and validations based on the realties and circumstances of different countries to take appropriate mesures to take the SH work forward,

- There is a great need to gather and consolidate SH work conducted in differnt countries, the ouputs and impacts of those projects on peoples lives and livelihoods in quantitative and qualitative terms and use this knowledge effectively in popularising SH and in fund rasing to support establishment of ISH country offices.

- For Tsunami affected countries there is a need to design a sutaitable strategy for integrating SH technology to improve the lives and livelihoods of affteced people and influence the donors to support this cause. Fo the time being this is being done on ad-hoc basis depend on what we think most appropriate but not based on the real needs of people and without efective strategies to incorporate SH in rebuilding the lives of people and affected communities.

- We also need to think carefully the collaboration and cooperation with other external agencies, individuals and the government since if we are not place ourselves from the position of strength our efforts may be diluted, we might end up in enmeshed in government bureaucracy with the result of ineffective and unproductive programs. The government set-up in our countries are vey different in terms of systems weaknesses, high politisization and many are opportunistic rather than having a desire to work in true partnership. Therefore, we first have to demonstrate the strenghth of SH and our capacities and then strategise the nature and scope of our partnerships. This needs careful brainstorming to assess the pros and cons carefully and decide the timing and nature of collaboration and also the terms and conditions.

My personal expereince is that if we are collaborating with external partners it should be from the position of our stength and not from perspectives only for fund raising. There is a need to clarify those issues, Why we need partnership, what should be the nature of it, how it should happen, how can we monitor the progress, what are the expected benefits, and what are the threats and how can we minimize those threats. Otherwise our effots may be diluted and the may not achieve desired results. However, this is not discourage partnerships and collaborations if we do that carefully and thinking rationally and strategically that will have great impacts upon people as well on our credibility and providing tremendous opportunities for scaling up.

- My feeing is because of the above and other reasons we might have difficulties in raising funds for our work at national and international level. On the other hand if we can get together for at least a week and throw these issues out and prepare a solid strategy and prepare our proposals ( for example an international proposal combining Indonesia, Afganistan, Sri Lanka and IISH etc.,) then we can easily raise funds for our work to help the poor in a more meaningful way.

For donor agencies what is needed is a consolidated and a solid strategy based on international experience showing that we are fully competent on the subject with the capacity to address emereging issues and problems both in terms of technical and social and also institutional. Based on the strategy we can prepare our proposals.

- We should have started this process earlier without waiting for Tsunami to occur. But now is the high time. Otherwise working on ad-hoc basis is not going to wait.

- The importance of such an approach is also vital for the following reason. This is because of the massive aid flow coming to our countries and ever increasing number of ad-hoc NGOs that are emerging. In Sri Lanka it was said ( still unofficial) that there are about 3000-4000 new NGOs are waiting for registration under the social services Ministry and for the time being the process of registration has been stopped since there is no control over the use of funds and monitoring the effectiveness of the projects and programs being implemented. Every one is trying to help. Some are genuine some are just to make use of the opportunity. I think the situtaion is similar in other countries as well.

In the above context there is a dire need for us to place ourselves in a professional and more constructive manner, rather than on ad-hoc basis. We have to make use of our international experience and our projects should be based on this international sternghth. We should make every effort to distinguish ourselves from the mass based on our professionalism, long term strategic approach and international work. Following the bandwagon is not going to work in the long run. Therefore, now the time is for consolidating and work as an international team.

Considering the above my proposal is follows:

1. Organize an International Workshop inviting key people not more than 10-12 who are working on SH technology in different countries. Cesar and you are of course should be the leaders in that. The workshop should last at least a week.Invitees should be practisioners but not external people. Too much particiants should be avoided not to make this a talkshop.

2. The workshop ideally should be located in country where SH is quite successful and gained a momentum. However, this can also be in a central place such as in Singapore. This depend on the money available. Timing is end April this year.

3. I can get the services if needed an international level moderator, who is also one of the Board Directors of LISH, for workshop design, moderation and writing the report, strategy paper and also to write proposals. He has been doing consultancies on workshop design and moderation, project planning, conducting participatory action research for ADB, World Bank, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands etc., He is social sceintist. His fee is about 140 US$/day.( Without air fare and accomodation) I can also provide inputs for strategic planning, workshop design and writing proposals etc.,

4. The specific objectives of the workshop, its expected outcomes, workshop methodology, documentation etc, can be worked out latter if you and Cesar agree on this proposal/concept

5. My feeing is it is very important to invest some money on this first which will have huge returns in the future. However, I do not know how this would cost. May be 25,000 US$ with air fare/ food and accomodation/ stationary and a per diem and consultancy fees.

6. Could you and Cesar please look at this and if aggreeble submit this to a donor. The rationale is without this base it is now difficult to design country strtagies and project/programs proposals constructively. This is my feeling.