The vital role of training as part of long-term development cannot be over-emphasized. It is not enough to provide new equipment and to teach the motions of its operation. Beneficial absorption of new technology and non-traditional organizational forms must be accompanied by a change in attitudes and aspirations. The introduction of motors, the acquisition of an ice plant, the despatch of fish to an unknown destination in exchange for a piece of paper - these are innovations which took the “teachers” centuries to achieve and cannot be absorbed by the “taught” in weeks or months. Training should therefore be part of a long-term programme designed to create an awareness of, and the familiarity with the new elements in the trainees' life.
The detailed preparatory plan must take into account the general training needs in the community and in particular the special needs arising from the development of the CFC and its newly planned components. Before they outline the training programme, the planners must assess the training and manpower needs. This can be done in a manner similar to the one given in Figure 16.
People in rural communities usually lack both general and technical education and have little, if any, background or familiarity with modern technologies or business matters. It is not sufficient to install an engine in a fishermen's boat, give him a few weeks' instruction and leave him to it. He must be continuously reminded of his responsibility for his engine's serviceability and “well-being”. A sense of responsibility towards machinery is acquired by growing up with it, so that truly reliable mechanics and operators of the future will be drawn from among members of a new generation growing up with and having a flair for mechanical things. This, however, needs considerable time, sometimes a generation. The same holds true when it comes to introducing new business procedures. The acceptance of strange procedures such as bank accounts and credits or modern marketing, non-cash systems might be viewed with the greatest suspicion and requires patient, long-term advice and training to gain acceptance.
It can be a great mistake, therefore to assume that a relatively short period of training and familiarisation with machinery is enough when the trainee lacks both technical education and the background of an industrial society.
Many training options can be considered by the planners. The following check list may be of assistance:
| Component | Skills required | Skills available | Training needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boatyard | 1 skilled boatbuiler with modern training. 2 traditional boat builders. 4 apprentice boat carpenters. | 2 skilled traditional boat-builders. 2 apprentice boat carpenters. | 1. Modern training for one traditional
boat-builder. 2. Upgrading training for one apprentice. 3. Preliminary carpentry training for three unskilled persons. |
| A diesel-powered fish-carrier vessel. | 1 licensed skipper. 1 licensed motorman. 1 assistant motorman. 4 seamen. | 1 skilled, experienced seaman no licence. 1 non-licensed motorman Any number of seamen. | 1. Examinations training for the skipper. 2. Examinations training for the motorman. 3. preliminary training for the assistant motorman. |
… etc.
Figure 16 Assessment of Training Needs
“On-the-job” - this is the least expensive and most practical and effective general training for both national counterparts or expatriate experts and for the operators of CFC components. The trainers and teachers are the FDU specialists and the more experienced and skilled local craftsmen.
Short courses on specific subjects - organized locally or within the FDU-area of activity, a few days to one week courses can be very useful in passing to the trainees a limited amount of specific skills. Successful courses have been reported in such widely diverse areas as: trouble-shooting and preventive maintenance of outboard engines; assembling a new net type; a new way of fish processing; fish filletting; use of fibreglass (GRP) for wooden boat sheathing, etc. Organization of and teaching on such courses is the responsibility of the FDU.
In-country manufacturer's agency training - when mechanical equipment is acquired for the CFC components, the manufacturer or the local distributor should be required to train the operators in its use and maintenance. This can be done in the village, after the equipment has been delivered or at the distributor's agency site. This training should also be supervised by the FDU.
In-country formal and semi-formal training - where fisheries and other technical schools exist in the country, selected operatives may be sent for longer or shorter periods, according to the schools' curricula. However, before such an element is fitted into the programme, it is strongly advised that the planners check very carefully whether the school's title and official curriculum express the actual type and quality of the training. Experience teaches that some schools are, unfortunately, not what they pretend to be.
Manufacturer's training abroad - sometimes, especially with large and expensive equipment, or with the purchase of large numbers of smaller machines, the manufacturer either offers or can be requested to offer special training for the designated operators of the equipment. People sent for such training should be carefully selected. Generally they would need to have some background training and experience in the operation and maintenance of this sort of equipment and a certain minimum level of literacy. There must also be some degree of assurance that the trainee would return to the community and not simply get a job elsewhere using his newly acquired skills.
Formal training abroad - there are many training opportunities abroad through all sorts of scholarships and fellowships offered by multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, some of them involving training at well established high-level fisheries schools and universities. This sort of training may be suitable for national experts/counterparts and fisheries administrators involved with the programme.
Other opportunities - training by arrangement with other CFCs, companies and enterprises where relevant equipment is used, with merchant marine and naval training schools, private workshops and garages, etc. Small business management, and fishermen's cooperatives and association managements, can be learned in an on-the-job arrangement with well established similar institutions elsewhere, or through participation in shorter or longer courses where such are given in the country or abroad.
Training should begin as early as possible, preferably before new equipment is installed and new methods and procedures introduced. The training programme would have to be, in most cases, a long term one. It may take five years or more before enough people are sufficiently well-trained to take over responsibility for the various operations. But a time-limit in this sense is perhaps not very relevant for even when the originally required stage of mastery has been reached, further training may be necessary to operate additional components or more advanced equipment which, in the meantime, may have been introduced, or to handle new business practices. As long as the CFC develops the training process must go on.
Although teaching technical skills to children is a long-term investment, it is the best assurance of progress and development. The FDU staff can be instrumental in the introduction of fisheries subjects and of teaching various technical skills to the communities’ elementary and secondary schools. The earlier the village children become acquainted with hand and mechanical tools and with the secrets of net-making, electricity, combustion engines and refrigeration, the sooner the community will achieve true self-reliance and prosperity. (See also FAO/IOP paper on the subject by R. Ruppin.)
