Introduction:

Jarshing ‘Pauwa’, located approximately 25 kilometers from Kathmandu, is one of the most scenic spots near Kathmandu and is renowned for its spectacular view of the Himalayas and famous tea garden.

I was excited about this trip as it was was going to be my first one to Jarshing, Pauwa. The workshops took place in one of the local people’s homes.

The workshop offered guidance and instruction in the growing of unseasonal vegetables. There were three instructors: Ms. Mina Kumari Thapa from Sankhu Agriculture Service Center together with Mr. Rishi Ram Neupane and Mr. Sharad Kumar Shrestha from Nepal Agricultural Research Council. There were 35 female participants in the workshop from the Tamang Community in Jarshing, Pauwa.

Activities carried out on 4^th Day 

When we arrived, the workshop was already underway. Instruction was being given for the construction of a low tunnel (polytunnel) in which to protect seedlings and also to show participants a way to create a nursery bed and the growing of seed.

The instructor was from the Government Office of Agriculture. I found him to be very knowledgeable, with a very genuine interest in teaching the participants in a friendly atmosphere.

Low tunnels are easy to accommodate in any garden; you simply make them as large as you require.  You can fit tunnels over entire garden beds, or just over specific parts of your garden. Over the supports, sheets of thick plastic are secured by weighing the ends down with bricks or sandbags. It’s easy to assemble and can be taken apart and stored when you no longer need it.

Second Session: Sharing session

What had been learnt and feedback about instruction. was shared in this session and the following are a few points that I noted when participants were asked to share what they learned from the workshop.

Participants were from the Tamang Community, they lacked knowledge and experience about farming and showed interest in acquiring new knowledge about farming techniques.

 Personal Observations:

I feel privileged to visit this type of workshop organized by WCS that , the target recipients being local women who can benefit after participating in the workshops offered.

I found all the participants were very keen in acquiring new knowledge and that the instructors were happy to share their own knowledge with participants.   It was interesting to learn WCS used the technique pre-test and post-test, which was implemented on the first day (prior to the workshop’s commencement) and on the last day (on completion of the workshop).

The purpose was to ascertain the knowledge of participants regarding vegetable farming and how much new knowledge they acquired on completion of the workshop.

Most of the children were on vacation at that time, so some of them accompanied their mothers during the workshop.

The workshop has given participants the opportunity to gain first hand experience with planting, propagation, learning the latest techniques regarding the use of fertilizer and pesticides, as well as becoming acquainted with a few of the latest farming technologies.

I was thinking that if we can conduct more training like this, then we can definitely play a vital role in raising the living standard of the unprivileged groups, something which is very important.

I personally spoke with a couple of participants regarding the workshop and most of them were happy to have participated resulting in their having learnt valuable new insights into farming and they were keen  to have these types of workshop sessions more frequently. They are very pleased  to receive such training workshops where they could broaden their knowledge base, accompanied by welcome snacks!!

Negative impressions was seeing that a predominant number of villagers were addicted to the use alcohol during the daytime, which in turn sadly resulted in their neglecting their work obligations and responsibilities.

The funding for the skills training comes from one of our partners – C.H.A.N.C.E. for Nepal (UK)

Shenpen and C.H.A.N.C.E. for Nepal (UK) has been helping with skill development training through the Women’s Cooperative Society (WCS) since 2009.