The workshop was held at Egerton University with seven participants drawn from the partnering universities in attendance.The workshop was held from 19th to 23rd May, 2014 and was facilitated mainly by Dr. M. K. Ambula and Dr. J. Langat. During the workshop, four presentations were made. The first presentation titled “Competency Based Training in the Dairy Sector”addressed the needs for competence based learning (CBL). It was apparent that CBL was necessary due to the increasing demand for quality graduates by employers. It was observed that CBL adds value to the graduates over and above the certificate, diploma or degree. CBL ismore student centered and task oriented compared to the traditional system and produces graduates that are all round and hands on. It was suggested that the structure of the dairy chain be illustrated to students to enable them understand the chain and actors involved, as well as being able to identify job prospects or opportunities of self-employment within the chain.

The second presentation focused on “Curriculum Design”with emphasis on how an ideal curriculum should look like. According to her presentation, Dr. Ambula infered that an ideal curriculum design should be competency based in order to allow students to internalise concepts, be observant in the real situation and be applicative. Proposed competency based curricula lay-outs for certificate, diploma and bachelors in Animal Science and Dairy Science and Technology were reviewed and discussed.

A presentation on “Labour Needs Assesment” was presented by Dr. Langat based on a study carried out by the Netherlands Development Organisation( SNV) to asses the demand and supply of skills and competences for the dairy sector. The recommendations put forward included incooperation of practical training to complement the theoretical training to enable graduates to be hands on; stimulate linkages between dairy educational institutions at various levels in the dairy sector; develop a curricula that focuses on communication, management and entrepreneurial skills and that dairy training should shift focus from training for government jobs to training for the dairy industry.

Dairy chain finally produced the first Master of Science graduate in Agricultural and Applied Economics. Walter Moturi graduated on 5th of December 2014 with a specialization in dairy supply and value chain management. His thesis was titled Determining Smallholder Milk Marketing Channel Choices for Enhanced Competitiveness in the Dairy Supply Chain; A case of Nyandarua County Kenya.

The study determined factors that influence dairy farmers’ choices of milk marketing outlets and their link to dairy supply and value chains. From the study, the graduate has produced one paper and two manuscripts as listed below:

i. Moturi, W.O., Obare, G.A. and Kahi, A.K. (2014). Establishing the Dominant Milk Marketing Channel in Nyandarua Milk Shed. A cumulative Density Approach. Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science7(4):38-43.

ii. Moturi, W.O., Obare, G.A. and Kahi, A.K. Effect of Milk Marketing Channel Choice Factors on Gross Dairy Income and Technology in Nyandarua County, Kenya. Journal of Food Security(Manuscript under review).

iii. Moturi, W.O., Obare, G.A. and Kahi, A.K. Milk Marketing Channel Choices for Enhanced Competitiveness in The Kenya Dairy Supply Chain: A multinomial logit approach. The 2015 Milan International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) (Manuscript Under review).

DAIRYCHAIN held its first Summer School from 27th July to 2nd August, 2014 at Egerton University. It is through summer schools that the project will be able to strengthen capacity of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Eastern and Western Africa to enhance efficiency in the Dairy Value Chain (DVC). A total of three summer schools in each of the partner institutions are envisaged. In the first summer school, a .total of twenty three participants drawn from all the partnering universities attended.

Six presentations were made. The first presentation was on “Value Chain Theory and Methodology”aimed at enabling the participants define the concept of value chain and understand the “new” framework for chain empowerment.

The presentation covered an overview of the value chain system from suppliers to consumers, the flow of products, benefits and information in a value chain, creation of added value, calculation of value chain marketing sytem, characteristics of value chains, layers of value chain, value chain framework and the human value chain role play.The second presentation focused on “Dairy Value Chain Management”. It entailed two modules namely value chain mapping and the chain map analysis.

“Competence Based Learning (CBL) in Higher Education” was the third presentation.Several observations were made during this presentation which included; the need to adapt the CBL to fit our own scenarios, the student-lecturer ratio, the demand of the sector (economy) of graduates and farmers were seen as being partners of the CBL.

The fourth presentation focused on “Labour Market Needs Assessment and Sets of Competencies”. It was observed that the curriculum provides in all cases lots of theory with lack of or minimal practical training to complement the theory. It was also observed that hardly any attention is provided towards the informal part of the dairy sector. Dr. Ambula presented sets of competences required and the reasons for the need to shift from traditional to competency based learning.

The forum was held in Ghana at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Mampong campus on 22nd September 2014. The forum aimed at briefing stakeholders on the achievements of the EDULINK II project after one year of inception, challenges encountered and map the way forward in the second year.

Sixty six participants attended the workshop. In attendance was Prof. H.K. Dapaah, the Principal of the College of Agriculture Education, UEW who chaired the forum. Three topical presentations were made.

The first was on project activities. The second presentation made by Prof. S.Y. Annorfocused on the achievements of the project in the past year. This included the construction of zero-grazing unit at the Animal Science Farm thatis nowproviding practical training for both students and prospective zero-grazing dairy cattle farmers, establishment of two dairy cattle zero-grazing unit by two farms at Agona in the Ashanti Region which have been stocked with dairy cattle obtained from Amrahia Dairy Cattle Farm under the MoFA.

It was observed that the success of zero-grazing depends on the readily availability of feed and hence the need for pasture establishment. As a result, farmers have since been trained on pasture cultivation and the two farmers with zero-grazing unit have commenced pasture development at their respective farms.

Its was noted that curriculum to be used to teach Dairy Cattle Production has been developed with particular attention to competency based learning and participatory approaches which seek to build competency of students in the Dairy Value Chain (DVC), based on Labour Market Needs Assessment (LNA).

In line with this, lecturers of Animal Science Department had been trained in competency based learning and participatory approaches in a Summer School held at Egerton University, Kenya (see separate story). In addition, some prominent dairy cattle farmers have been made to serve as student mentors to facilitate the training of students who will be ready for the labour market.

The way forward constituted the third presentation in which reference was made to the project activities as stipulated in the project document.

Stakeholders present during the forum lauded the project’s achievents in the past year and hoped that the momentum would be sustained. However, issues’ relating to the role of Fulani’s under the zero-grazing, the tedious nature of work, the use of Jersey dairy cattle other than the Friesian and milk marketing were raised and discussed thoroughly. In conclusion, Prof. Annor promised continued support to stakeholders particularly dairy farmers and indicated that the momentum of the EDULINK II project would be sustained to ensuring the realization of the overall set objectives.