martedì 9 ottobre 2012

Don Vincente Most Significant Change (Abstracts)


...Abstracts from Most significant Change interview. Download the entire interview txt

2nd Interviewer: Do you cultivate vegetables? 3rd User: Yes, as you can see we have vegetables here (the other user asks: before Scampi?) no, before Scampi no, this program has helped us a lot in the strengthening of our community because before we had so many weaknesses because some people said that they wanted to quit because it is a hard job, it has helped our vegetables and plants to be more nutritive for all the things we put in them, because they work different in our system comparing them to meat which takes a longer process inside our body so I prefer the vegetables, and for me it would be better to continue cultivating more vegetables and I hope this group continues to do so because sometimes it is hard but we have to keep working to reach a better development as farmers.
 2nd Interviewer: Why didn’t you cultivate them before? 3rd User: Well, we did not cultivate them because we thought that we needed a larger land to cultivate but at the same time we realized that we didn’t need so much space in order to cultivate vegetables we can use small land getting a lot of harvest there is no need of larger acres, for example in this area we harvested 5000 radishes and before we could not imagine that this amount was able to be harvested in this place, we thought that maybe in larger acres but now we see that it is possible here, and also with the tips and help of the engineers and experts which have been helpful we were also able to put a lot of seeds in another part for example the one that we have here as you can see are more, there is the space from the ones we have harvested and now we realized that vegetables do not take a lot of time to harvest it is also fast to get and it is also easier to reach more incomes for example here we have coriander, it was cultivated for business and as you can see it is growing and we have more, and you are not asking me this and I am not doing it just to take more time but for example here in this 2 meters of land we have 25 quetzales in 40 days (someone asks in the back and he replies yes in 40 days) and for us this project has been really helpful and we hope to be able to keep going.
 1st Interviewer: Since the arrival of Scampi what do you think is the most significant change in your family?   3rd User: Well since the program came I believe it has been the nutritional part which has been more balanced because we not only eat vegetables, we also have drinkable water, we have filters to kill the germs in the water, and we are healthier, before we suffered several diseases like flu and diarrhea, well and those have been some of the positive changes we have faced because before for example we ate radish which we used to buy and took the herbs away and now we eat them.
2nd Interviewer: How is the work organized in the group in this farm? (He repeated the question)   3rd User: We are organized in 5 people who know the place, we studied the land because it had a yellow color and did not produce anything but thanks to the effort of the group we prepared the land, fertilized the ground, put manure of cattle, hens and other types, we strained the soil to have different types for example the prepared soil called this way because it has been strained and mixed with cattle manure it also has fish bones and egg shells and ashes all very good mixed and we put them in bags all the manure which we always use, each time the group come to water the land each person brings their own manure and put them little by little in the ground after being strained and we also tell the people to bring bones so we grind them and have better results in the nutrition of the plant because we have better harvest in this case bigger radishes.
2nd Interviewer: Was it difficult to organize the group in the beginning? 3rd User: Yes, it was difficult because we had to face several weaknesses because some people wanted and other did not want to be part because some thought it was too much work, and for that reason communities like ours have many difficulties among the people because they don’t always like to work and for us that is a problem because the ones who want to improve and fight like us against our worse poverty which for me is the mental poverty the one we have to fight because it is hard for us because we are not prepared sometimes it is our own fault for our lack of desire to improve because when opportunities like this come we have to use them and I would like to invite the entire group to keep working hard because it is the best way to have a better life.
1st Interviewer: After Scampis what do you plan to reach in a near future? 3rd User: Well for me if we had the opportunity for now it is only a dream if we could have a better mechanism to use water so we do not have to waste it and use it as much as we could and be able to use it for our harvest because as we can see here the family is washing things and wasting water and I think that there is a way we can use it or even having some kind of watering system more advanced to use and even to commercialize it because right now it is only for consumption and with that system we could have a better result that is a dream a better watering system but who knows if God helps us I believe we can have it if we continue working hard. 
2nd Interviewer: Thank you so much for your time.


giovedì 13 settembre 2012

Untold Stories Seminar: participants thoughts..

This are the participants thought about:
- What I liked about the seminar
- What I learned
- What action I feel I should undertake after this seminar



venerdì 31 agosto 2012

Article on IFAD Social Blog about Untold Stories

Micro Irrigation under Spotlight at Stockholm World Water Week #wwweek

Posted by Beate Stalsett Tuesday, August 28, 2012
By Charles Dhewa

IFAD’s work on Scaling Up Micro Irrigation Systems (SCAMPIS) attracted a full house during the first day of Stockholm World Water Week (26 August 2012). In a session entitled “Micro-Irrigation for Food Security: The Untold Stories of Forgotten Stakeholders”, participants listened to fascinating stories from Guatemala, Madagascar and India where 30 000 people have been moved out of poverty through the SCAMPIS project. The project has shown the benefits of combining investment in Agriculture Water Management with innovation involving the private sector.

The session generated thoughtful and useful comments from the participants.  Some of the emerging issues and questions include:

  • Return on investment in Micro Irrigation Systems;
  • The need for scaling up Micro Irrigation Systems to consider the depletion of blue water (water in rivers, dams, streams and other reservoirs) which is used by irrigation;
  • Need to look at self adoption by people outside the projects who learn by observing and implementing the technology in their own contexts;
  • Men should also work in the field rather than leaving the bulk of the work to women and children;
  • It is important to explore and expand markets for crops because this determines investment. Scaling up depends on market demand;
  • While micro credit should be considered, it is not suitable for the majority of smallholders due to high interest rates, among other factors such as expectation for obtaining subsidies;
  • While most technologies tend to exclude the poorest of the poor, Micro Irrigation Systems are suitable for these vulnerable groups; and, it is also important to explore alternative energy systems for pumping water.

The main conclusion was that the main focus is not to scale up technology but to reduce poverty and improve the lives of rural poor people.

lunedì 27 agosto 2012

Micro-irrigation for food security: untold stories of forgotten stakeholders

Scampis seminar at World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden. 


Watch the single stories on the Untold Stories Youtube Playlist

giovedì 23 agosto 2012

Mis-Geography: the role play game for strategies and negoziation simulations!

What is MIS-Geography???

It is a simulation of real life experiences, tuff negotiations and incredible problems (always, constantly happending during a project-programme development) can or cannot be solved thanks to the effort of brave and smart coordinators and policy makers.

What is the objective of the game is to develop strategies for scaling up micro-irrigation systems (MIS) in a time-span of 6 years.....or obstacle and slow down the dissemination of MIS! 
Who will win?

The game will let you discuss, argue, negotiate and finally find solutions and more than something else will let you have fun, learning!!!!!


(The game has been ideated by Cecilia Ruberto, more info: ceciliaruberto@gmail.com)

lunedì 13 agosto 2012

Micro-irrigation Stories on FaceBook

Scampis is finally on Facebook
Join our group and share your experiences, learn about our experiences!
Join the page: Micro Irrigation Stories on Facebook!

domenica 1 luglio 2012

Tell a Story!!

In this section we are uploading useful web-links that help us in understanding the importance of listening and telling stories. 

Why a story is so powerful? 
           How can we include the stories in our monitoring evaluation and learning systems?
                               How to be a good story-teller?

Links:

1. Pacific Resources for Education and Learning,  By Word of Mouth: A Storytelling Guide for the Classroom by Jeff Gere, Beth-Ann Kozlovich, Daniel A. Kelin II www.prel.org

2. Aaron Shepard’s Storytelling Page : Telling a Story, Stories to Tell

3. Muscles of Immagination A synthesis for story-telling by Cecilia Ruberto

Storytelling




View more presentations from ceci1982lia

giovedì 17 maggio 2012

The Most significant Change Strategy

Implemented for the SCAMPIS Project (micro-irrigation and natural fertilization for vulnerable small-holders), to improve the M&E strategy and the International Learning/Sharing Platform (Learning Path).
Involved organizations:
IFAD (Water and Infrastructure desk)
Guatemala: Funcafé;
India: IDEI, OTELP, IFAD ICO)

Started in:
Guatemala - Oriental Region (April 2012)
India - Orissa Region (May 2012)

The Scampis MSC steps are

1 - Stories Collection by young reporters
A small group of young reportes (trained by Scampis staff, age between 12 - 16) interview farmers of their own community. Modaily interviewr, video recording and photos makers.

2 - Field level analysis
The project local staff analyse the videos collected on the field and discuss about i)Most Significant Change perceived by the interviewed ii) Most Significant Difficoulties iii) Innovations and Hidden aspects of the project. Among the almost 30 videos 10 are selected to continue the analysis process.

3 - National Level analysis
Project supervisor and National staff analyse the videos (same criteria mentioned above) and select 6 videos.

4 - International Level analysis
The partner counties and IFAD will do the analysis on the 6 videos selected

5 - Linking MSC to M&E data collection
The qualitative and quantitative information will be linked together in order to provide a overall comprhensive understanding of the project, the achievements and the strategies implemented. This will provide a useful tool for the future to design and implement effective strategies for scaling up micro-irrigation.

The variation  from the ufficial MSC process

The Scampis MSC has been introduced during the last stage of the project due to a concrete need to improve the understanding of the project, numbers and data collected were not enough to understand the real changes and their dimensions. Due to this late start the stories collection has not been a continuous and incremental process (as it should be in order to capture the real change - daily change and challenges). The strong interest in the implementing organization in developing and practicing the method to discover/understand  the project brought to the formulation of the Scampis MSC. In this strategy the collection of the stories is limited in the time and the analysis of the stories is extremely articulated and developed in order to be sure to internalize the knowledge and transform it in learning (learning for change). The cross countries analysis is a fundamental step for the process. The analysis developed at each stage is a way to let the staff recognize the impact of their activities and understand how to improve them.
The Scampis MSC strategy (India, MSC training, May 2012)


What is the Most Significant Change Technique?

Our reporters for the MSC!

 The Scampis MSC reporters in Guatemala!!
April 2012
Moyuta, Conguaco, Olopa, San Pedro Pinula, Camotàn.