Last Mile Climate Services reaching farmers through Schools
The SAMIS project and the World Food Programme are collaborating to distribute the LaCSA bulletins in innovative way to Schools. In this pilot, the data is presented in the comprehensible format of bulletin boards that were placed at target schools. Trained teachers put magnets on the board to symbolize the crops in their cycle, different risks from bugs and climatic conditions. Students then look at the boards and eventually disseminate the information to their parents, who integrate it in their agricultural practice.
The main objective of the pilot project is to test the flow of information from children to their families thereby increasing farmer access to information for decision making. This improved decision-making potential would enhance the resilience of local farmers through the inclusion of comprehensible climate and agrometeorological data into their farming plans.
The pilot project started in January 2020 and will continue for one year. The beneficiaries of the project include the 2,200 community members, the 20 teachers and Government officials who received training as well as the 400 students in the five schools in LaoNgarm District, Saravane Province. On 17 January 2020, two teachers from each of the five schools were trained at the local district Education and Sports Bureau on how to access the climate and agrometeorological information via the LaCSA website and Facebook. They subsequently learned how to interpret the information and display it on the signboards and communicate the messages to the children. After the training, the teachers would put up the boards in front of the school gardens for students to see and learn and take information home. The boards will be updated on a weekly basis and WFP monitors the activity through weekly phone calls and periodic visits
The first joint World Food Programme and SAMIS monitoring mission have been undertaken on the 10th and 11th of March. After visiting the schools, Mr. Oloth, Senior SAMIS Agronomist, said: “teachers seem to quickly perceive how to update poster, and they understood how to update it”.