When AYAD Dan Skehan went on assignment to the Philippines he knew he had three main tasks to achieve: to develop a sustainable agricultural manual, to train his counterparts and to research alternative marketing systems for sustainable agricultural produce. This work alone would be a challenge to achieve but in living and working in the Philippines he discovered that there was so much to give, to share and to learn and that his work there would include so much more than he originally believed.

Dan has been working as a sustainable agricultural officer for his host organisation PAGBAG-O, a sustainable agriculture NGO based in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. PAGBAG-O’s key focus is providing education and training to farmers through a network of community organisations.

With the increasing costs and with elevated rice prices, farmers are trying to produce more food from their land with less input costs.  Through sustainable agricultural training, it is hoped that they will be able to achieve both food security and higher family income.

Dan’s key tasks have been to develop these trainings and enhance their effectiveness. Achieving this has meant working with both the local farmers receiving the trainings and his counterparts at PAGBAG-O to share his training skills and sustainable agriculture knowledge.

Dan has particularly enjoyed working with the farmers who his host organisation are training to become ‘farmer technicians.’  Running these training workshops with his host organisation has been a great experience. Dan says:

“It is so refreshing to host a training, where the number of participants is greater than expected and where everyone has a genuine thirst for learning. “

Through action planning, these farmers will take home their learnings and use them on the farm. It is hoped that these local farmer technicians will then go out and continue to train other local farmers in the future to ensure the long term sustainability of improved agricultural practices in the area.

But Dan’s training work didn’t end there. Similar to most AYAD assignments, training colleagues is central to Dan’s assignment. By improving the internal practices at PAGBAG-O Dan would be helping to ensure the organisation’s ongoing effectiveness and survival.

Early in his assignment Dan conducted a training needs analysis with his counterparts, to make sure that the trainings he delivered were relevant and needed. The outcomes of this meant that not only has he delivered trainings about sustainable agriculture but also other training such as computer training and Myers Briggs personality testing.  He has even run training programs in training!

Miguel Cabilao, Dan’s counterpart, is now proficient at developing training materials for delivery to farmers in PAGBAG-O’s 17 member people’s organisations ensuring the ongoing sustainability of the training arm of PAGBAG-O’s work.

Given Dan’s background in project management, he has also been able to enhance the monitoring and evaluation methodologies used within his organisation.  This has helped to simplify the monitoring and evaluation process for his counterparts as well as assist them to deliver better impact reporting.  Thus pleasing both his host organisation and external funders.  

Outside of work, Dan has also enjoyed getting into the community of Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.  Negros is a beautiful place known as ‘the city of gentle people’ and there is a lot to see and do. 

Getting to know some of the locals led to a Christmas party for the street kids, which saw about 75 children under 15, have a day at the beach with games, food and even a surprise visit from Santa.  Thanks to some friends, there was even a doctor on hand to give a check up to all of the children, for some of which it was their first time.  The day was a great success and for some was the first time they had the chance to experience the giving that Christmas can be.  

Recently AusAID and the AYAD Program ran a workshop in the Philippines for Host Organisations. The aim of this workshop was to look at ways in which the Program could work with local Host Organisations in the long term through strategic partnerships. PAGBAG-O was a participant at the workshop and is now working with the AYAD Program to develop a long-term relationship through targeted strategic planning.

In response to this workshop PAGABAG-O is looking at its future and how it wants to grow and develop. Dan is now preparing to go back to PAGBAG-O as a capacity development officer to continue to support and improve the other training arms within the organisation and undertake some strategic planning, which will hopefully lead to fiscal self-sustainability.  

One of the underlying questions behind Dan’s AYAD experience was “am I equipped and able to work in development?” After such an enjoyable and fulfilling year, the answer Dan has found is yes.

© Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD)