The Nation of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country located in Indian ocean near the southern part of India. With its population considered themselves poor and many are living in the rural areas, a program to alleviate the economic status of its citizen.
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Lifelong Learning for Farmers in Sri Lanka
The country’s main source of income to operate its economy is through agriculture. Since agriculture is not considered anymore as a traditional occupation, the country seeks knowledge to improve in the sector and empower the people to be more productive. L3F seeks to empower the farmers and women to participate in the lifelong learning program using their mobile phones, computers, CD ROMs, and other technologies that would aid their learning. Telco companies also participate to this program to provide them services. Banks provide loans to the farmers for their startups. Universities in the country are tapped to manage farming communities to help with the process of learning and implementing the program.
With lifelong learning programs given to the farming communities, they are expected to self-replicate the programs, innovate in their farming strategies, improve livelihood, and increase their monetary income to improve their standard of living. |
COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers model promotes prosperity by blending social capital and banking services with the innovative use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This model can enable many thousands of poor farmers, men and women, to learn and earn. Credits: Balasubramanian, K. (20211). COL's Lifelong Learning for Farmers Initiative. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/odNvWI5-Ky8
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Challenges and Opportunities
One of the greatest challenge in this program is to motivate the farmers to participate. Another challenge that this program faces is the language of the program. Multimedia packages could be a hard time to farmers to understand unless it is in their own language. Third is, the introduction and/or modification of new programs based on the community demand. With programs being implemented people could think that this could be enough or they are good for it. Modifying programs according to the needs could be a hard time specially if farmers are used to a practice they are doing for a long time. And lastly, maintaining the quality of the program. Proper monitoring and evaluation of the program play a vital role achieving high yields of the program being implemented.
The program is very ideal for the farmers to improve their skills and their livelihood. With all the support they could get from the government or authorities production of crops will increase. Proper management and continuity of the programs will help them achieve the goal. |
Local tea farmers in Sri Lanka. Photo from: Hadynyah. (2007). Tea Picking. Retrieved from: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-tamil-woman-plucking-tea-leaves-ceylon-royalty-free-image/521300440?esource=SEO_GIS_CDN_Redirect
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References:
- Commonwealth of Learning. (n.d.). L3 Farmers. Retrieved from https://wikieducator.org/images/6/6c/PID_108.pdf
- Jakkamal, P. (2009). Open and Distance Learning and Lifelong Leaning: Reaching the Unreached. Retrieved from http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/L3Farmers_MrsPeriaJakkamal.doc
- Balasubramanian, K. (20211). COL's Lifelong Learning for Farmers Initiative. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/odNvWI5-Ky8