PIP training system
Training is a crucial means used by the PIP programme to build the capacity of managers, technical staff of horticultural companies and small scale producers in ACP countries. Over the last decade, PIP has designed, developed and implemented a training system based on three fundamental principles: the commitment to improve skills at all qualification levels (from the company’s manager to small holders), the adaptation of content and teaching methods to the level of qualification and targeted skills, and the implementation of a network of ACP trainers capable of ensuring the sustainability of the system.
The PIP has produced and regularly adds to a wide range of tools designed to train different ACP beneficiaries of the programme. This section presents the main training tools and teaching material developed by the programme, namely:
- Thematic training manuals designed for experts and managers in charge of training within the company. The different handbooks present the technical knowledge required for each of the themes addressed by the PIP. Training notebooks for each manual that set the training objectives to be achieved upon completion of the corresponding chapter, and the key content to be transmitted to learners.
- Application guides designed to translate into tangible terms, for mid-level managers, the theoretical elements of food safety and of other themes developed in the training handbooks.
- Training handbooks for trainers, experts or company managers, designed to facilitate the organisation of training.
- Brochures that present, in a simplified and brief way, instructions for implementing Good Practices. They are meant those who supervise agricultural workers, and small scale producers.
The PIP training manuals are meant primarily for training experts who intervene as consultants for ACP horticultural firms or who train managers in such firms.
These handbooks contain an accessible and global presentation of the technical knowledge required to cover all the themes addressed by the PIP. They constitute the technical foundation of the PIP training system and consequently serve as references for programme beneficiaries.
They are also the benchmark for courses in the PIP e-learning platform.
Each PIP training notebook sets the training objectives to be achieved by the trainer upon completion of the corresponding training session and presents the key messages to be transmitted to learners. Each notebook is grouped by main training theme and contains two to three leaflets for each chapter of the training manual.
These tools help the trainer make a selection amongst all the information available in the PIP training manuals. The training notebooks are used primarily in the framework of PIP collective training sessions and sometimes for in-company training.
The PIP training handbooks are intended for consultants, training providers or company managers. Their practical design is intended to make it easier to organise training sessions: they present a training plan (organised by key sequences), detail the objectives of each sequence and provide appendices containing a set of documents to be used as training aids at the points suggested in the handbook.
The handbooks establish a link between the sequence and the training tool to help trainers prepare their material at the appropriate time. The timing is shown for information purposes, to help the trainer judge the weighting of the different sequences and the importance of each.
The PIP proposes training brochures to supervisors of agricultural workers and small scale producers of fruit and vegetables in ACP countries. These documents remind the main instructions to follow in terms of Good Practices, bringing together in a simple and summarised format 'key messages' that are generally illustrated by a drawing (or photo). The brochures are translated into local languages. They can be distributed within the context of awareness raising actions or in-company training sessions.
The brochures are also supplementary training aids, helping learners to recall instructions for the use of pesticides, hygiene in production and packaging, or sustainability and responsibility.
