31 Capacity Building

Because an overall objective of Blue Gold has been to empower water management groups (WMGs) as the driving force for development, many of the capacity building activities are addressed under the four main interventions of Blue Gold, which are reported in sections C, D, E and F. Since the perspective of Section G is project management, this chapter on capacity building aims to present the ‘what, how and why’ of capacity building activities ie to catalogue ‘what’ activities and to explain ‘how’ and ‘why’ our approach evolved over time. 

The chapter starts with an inventory of the capacity building programs aimed at all local stakeholders (in government implementing agencies, local government, WMOs, LCSs, specialist farmers and private sector representatives), and is followed by a listing of the exposure provided to selected government staff through international visits, tours and specific courses. The chapter then continues under the heading 'Refocused Training' to explain the rationale for the move away from large scale training by external training organisations to locally-focused trainers who were familiar with the communities and the stage of organisational development, and the local environment. We then briefly explain why we refocused the homestead Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) from FFS Cycle 10 which started in April 2018 - much more is written about this in chapters 21 and 25. And the final section of the chapter explains the intended rationale for 'Vocational Training', and some background to its discontinuation.

Capacity Building Programs

Table 31.1 summarises the capacity building programs provided through Blue Gold under ten themes, showing that over 94,000 participants (M46% F54%) attended nearly 89,000 training days - which is the equivalent of 240+ training years or an average of 0.9 training days for each of the 800,000 polder residents. This does not include training provided through Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) for field crops (by DAE) or homesteads (by the Community Development Facilitators), which is covered under Section E Chapter 23 'Household outreach of commercialisation interventions'.

Table 31.1 Summary of Capacity Building Programs

				Participants				Training Days		WMOs	LCSs	Specialist Farmers	BWDB	DAE, DLS, DOF	Other GoB	LGIs	Private Sector	TA	Misc	TOTAL
		Number of courses		M	F	Total
A Organisational Development		12		7,272	3,460	10,732		23,966		9,963		2	147			168		452		10,732
B Water Infrastructure		6		9,292	6,072	15,364		16,711		2,112	12315		86	75		518		258		15,364
C Agriculture		13		526	188	714		3,285		107		274	3	200		5		125		714
D Farming-as-a-Business		19		953	837	1,790		5,817		40		1,053	5	85			200	357		1,790
E CAWM		6		945	145	1,090		2,466		34		256	111	450				239		1,090
F Practical Water Management		5		509	72	581		1,904		454			28					99		581
G WMO Partnership Development		5		2,513	573	3,086		3,086		1,517			189	219		1,133		28		3,086
H Women's Empowerment		7		17,608	39,030	56,638		26,852		55,983		263	8	4		200	30	150		56,638
I Cyclone Preparedness		2		86	51	1,37		274		124						13				137
J Monitoring, Reflection and Learning		10		3,128	831	3,959		4,310		3,544			8	5				402		3,959
Total		85		42,832	51,259	94,091		88,671		73,878	12,315	1,848	585	1,038	0	2,037	230	2,110	0	94,091
Ratio				46%	54%					79%	13%	2%	1%	1%		2%	0.2%	2%
Notes
Excluding Farmer Field School (FFS) training Refer here to table with full details of capacity building courses

The table also shows the numbers of participants for each theme by their occupation. The majority (92%) of the capacity building targeted members of Water Management Organisations (79%) and Labour Contracting Societies (13%).

A full listing of all capacity building courses is also provided (see note 2 to Table 31.1) by theme. This listing contains the title of the course, its duration, number of batches, venue, date, lead organisation, and number and occupation of participants. Reports on many of the training courses are available in the File Library and may also be accessed from Table 31.1 by clicking on the specific category of training (eg B Water Infrastructure) in the left hand column of the table.

International Exposure

During the project, a number of opportunities were taken to provide exposure to selected key staff to the broader issues of development in a deltaic region.  A listing of the international training courses is provided in Table 31.2, with the title, location and dates for the course, its duration, and the number of participants and their sponsoring organisation. Reports on the training courses are available in the File Library but are also readily accessed from Table 31.2 by clicking on the name of the training course (eg Study Tour on 'Flood Control and Drainage Systems') in the left hand column of the table.

Table 31.2 International Training Courses

	Name of Training Course	Location	Date	No of Days	Participants															Trainee Days	Remarks
					MoWR		BWDB		DAE		BGP		WMG		Others		Total
					M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	Total
1	Amsterdam International Water Week (AIWW)	Netherlands	Nov-14	7	1					1							1	1	2	14
2	International Conference "Deltas in Times of Climate Change ii"	Netherlands	24-26 Sep 2014	3			1				1				1		3		3	9	Others = PD SWAIWRPM
3	Study Tour on “Flood Control and Drainage System”	Indonesia	19-27 Apr 2015	9	1		9				1				1		12		12	108	Others = Deputy Chief, Planning Commission
4	Multilevel Water Governance	Hague Academy Netherlands	26 Oct - 6 Nov 2015	12							1						1		1	12	Because of last minute complications with visas, no GoB nominees were able to join, and only one TA representative joined the course and prepared a report which confirmed its value. The GoB nominees attended the sessions in April 2016 (see Item 6 below).
5	Amsterdam International Water Week (AIWW) and comparison of UK/Netherlands Water Management Policy Approaches	UK Netherlands	1-12 Nov 2015	12	2		2				1				1		6		6	72	Others = PD SWAIWRPM
6	Multilevel Water Governance	Hague Academy Netherlands	4-15 April 2016	12	1	1	6				1				1		9	1	10	120	Others = Assistant Chief, Planning Commission
7	Advance Level Design and Life Cycle Costing of Sustainable Water Management Infrastructure	Netherlands	14-27 Sep 2016	14			8	4									8	4	12	168	Attended by 12 mid-level engineers from BWDB Design Circle Reporting: proposal DWA LCC&D 11mar_16
8	Workshop on towards better integration of R4D for improved food production systems in the Coastal Zone.	IRRI SIIL Bangkok, Thailand	18-19 Oct 2016	2						1	1						1	1	2	4	Workshop was coordinated by USADI/IRRI Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) Attended by R4D: BARC, BRRI, BARI and 12 internationally supported projects working in the coastal zone Reporting: Polder Tidings vol1 nr2, Dec 2016
9	Organizing farmers as partners in agribusiness: optimising the performance of producers' organisations (OPPO)	CDI, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands	17 Sep to 5 Oct 2018	20					1								1		1	20	Reporting: contents of course in WUR leaflet
			Total		5	1	26	4	1	2	6				4		42	7	49	527

Refocused Training

In the first years of the Blue Gold Program, a number of WMG capacity building programs were provided, in particular training in Gender and Leadership Development (GLD), Accounts Keeping and Audit System (AKAS), and Organisational Management (OM). These were out-sourced to external training organisations, and were well-structured, classroom-based courses using interactive participatory methods.

Whilst these courses were all delivered by well-qualified, experienced and professional organisations, they:

1. were framed around a standard set of courses with very little room for customizing the content (and with little local knowledge of the WMG which would help them to do so)
2. fitted around a timetable which suited the training organisation – aiming to complete the target number WMGs set under the contract in the least possible time
3. without an appreciation of local sources of information, knowledge or services – the networked partnerships which are the foundation of self-evolving WMGs.

The refocused approach aims to achieve something different:

“Support to a self-organizing network of WMOs should be built into the field operations from the beginning – encouraging WMOs to take control of their own establishment and the organisation of activities to the largest extent possible using a range of horizontal expansion methods.”

“Continuous partnership building between WMOs and LGIs, service providers, public and private organisations with relevant knowledge and information, as well as other programs and parties operating in the polders should be at the heart of the field operations.”

Figure 31.1 Capacity Building Cycle for WMGs

Unlike outsourced training firms, Blue Gold community development facilitators (CDFs) have a wealth of local knowledge:

• of WMGs: their skills, interests, capacities and priorities;
• of local conditions (markets, crops, water);
• of local service providers in the public and private sectors;
• of local examples of collective actions, CAWM, CII.

These CDFs are well-placed to build self-evolving WMGs by encouraging WMGs to take control of their own activities using an approach which encourages learning-by-doing.   The combined experience of the polder team (as agriculturalists, water management specialists, business developers, and community facilitators) means that the CDFs have a wide range of resources and ideas to build on interests of the WMGs, to guide them to fellow WMGs with successful implementation experience, and at the same time building partnerships with local sources of technical knowledge  – so that in the future WMGs can make decisions in an ever-changing environment based on good quality information (perhaps about market prices) and knowledge (about seed varieties, treatment of diseases etc).

The process of building WMG capacity includes a range of measures: experience sharing, facilitating issue-based discussion and problem solving by WMGs, horizontal learning, collective actions, exchange/exposure visits, and good practice expansion.

CDFs – working with individual WMGs - play a key role: they work with the WMG to diagnose the situation and to then define and implement an appropriate intervention to build WMG capacity (see Figure 29.1).

During 2017/18, courses run by training firms were brought to an end, and the responsibility for capacity building was transferred to polder teams. Many of the 2017/18 training/capacity building courses have therefore aimed at developing facilitation skills in BWDB/DAE/TA staff.

This change resulted in training courses being organised locally using locally available resources such as staff of DAE/DoF/DLS, CDFs, private sector input dealers and farmers with specialist knowledge (eg farmer trainers, catchment facilitators). Curricula were revised to include greater use of interactive methods such as hands-on practice (LCS training), visualisation (gender and leadership sessions) and applied planning (catchment planning training). This resulted in a training portfolio that was more practical, relevant and therefore more inspiring for the participants. Yet, the envisioned responsiveness of capacity building activities to specific needs of WMOs was not fully successful, with the the planning and content of training not being fully driven by staff in direct contact with the WMOs (ie TA polder teams); and with training programs continuing to be rolled-out for blanket coverage. Thus Blue Gold's attempt to refocus capacity building by decentralising responsibilities to polder teams has gained traction gradually, but still requires further empowerment of polder teams to fully realise the ambition.  

Refocused TA FFS

Figure 31.2 Economic and livelihood strategies

Blue Gold aims to reduce poverty by facilitating polder economic development, through increasing income and employment opportunities. (For further details, refer to Chapters 21 and 25). Economic development depends on rural transformation that can be observed in changes in broader agricultural and livelihood strategies of polder dwellers. We embraced a conceptual framework, used by the Dutch IOB and DFID, offering three major types of livelihood strategies relevant to the polders’ farming population.

Stepping up

These are farmers who depend on agriculture as main source of income, who have ownership and access to land or water bodies. Their economic situation can be improved by motivating them into commercial agriculture and agribusiness. Blue Gold investments in sluices, embankments and canals, in FFSs for field crops (by DAE), and other practical guidance in water management and farming-as-a-business are aimed to increase cropping intensity and profitability. Improved market linkages are essential to support this development and to make it sustainable.

Hanging in

The less privileged section of the households has limited access to crop production, limited access to finance, and lack skill and knowledge in modern agricultural practices. The transformation process supports them by investing in agriculture to survive, to secure the necessary food and required nutrition – which is the focus of the TA FFS programme. During the first five years, Blue Gold has implemented 10 cycles of FFS on either homestead production-poultry-nutrition module or fish-cattle rearing-nutrition module. Following the last ARM recommendations BGP reviewed the basics of the TA FFS program.

Stepping out

This group of polder dwellers use their skills primarily in non-farm activities, by providing labour in manufacturing and service sectors. They are often migratory in nature and move outside the polder whenever they find an opportunity to earn more. Skills development is the appropriate support strategy but is outside the scope of BGP.

During January 2018, a workshop reviewed Blue Gold’s experience with farmer field schools (FFSs) and FAO’s core FFS principles with the aim of refreshing and realigning TA FFS Cycle 10 (April to October 2018) with 2017 ARM recommendations and its call “not to lose the poverty focus”, in order to:

• Reach more households
• Target those neediest households with sufficient assets to participate
• Deliver more demand driven content
• Enhance women empowerment
• Use DAE/TA farmer trainers (FTs) to lead FFSs
• Facilitate market orientation and market systems development.

The ensuing modification included:

• Instead of combining several modules into a single FFS (i.e. beef fattening, aquaculture, home gardening and poultry); several FFSs were organized according to one topic each, for better HH targeting and meaningful participation.
• WMG executive committees, made aware of the TA FFS target group and objectives, choose specific FFS modules for their area based upon local needs.
• Farmer Trainers (FTs), trained in 2017, were engaged to run FFS supported by CDFs experienced in facilitating FFS and by the broader polder teams.
• By using FTs as facilitators, the number of TA FFS per cycle could be increased. BGP implemented 166 TA FFS in cycle 10 (an increase from 67 FFS in Cycle 10). Accordingly, the number of participants also increased, from 1,675 HH to 4,150 HH per cycle.
• Properly integrating relevant market orientation aspects, including attention to basic financial literacy and decision making, and enhancing market access by mobile phone, collective action and networking. Most of this is of particular relevance to women empowerment.
• Instead of being treated as stand-alone groups, the FFS groups were linked to other actors e.g. CAHW, vaccinators, resource farmers (RFs), extension agencies and other goods and service providers to explain their business model and develop linkages.
• Booklets containing key messages from FFS sessions were prepared and distributed among participating farmers so that they in turn could pass messages to their neighbours and other interested visitors.
• Resource Farmers (group leaders), mainly women, were trained on market orientation issues, such as how to organise collective actions, and were taken on market visits introducing them to different input suppliers and buyers. Thus, RFs could communicate with actors and engaged in face to face discussion with market actors to strengthen linkages.
• Linking local resources such as RFs and FTs into the network of WMOs.

Vocational Training

The EKN Program Document (Section 5.2.6) set out a rationale for enhancing access to vocational training for families of the poorest members of WMGs. The aim was to provide disadvantaged youth - often primary school drop-outs - with training and subsequent employment by private sector enterprises. The Program Document recommended that priority was given to services provided by organisations, such as the Underprivileged Children's Education Programs (UCEP) which was already supported by EKN.

Whilst UCEP has educational establishments in Barisal and Khulna divisions, discussions indicated that their strength was in urban areas where there are good opportunities for private sector employment, and that - although UCEP had planned to increase coverage of rural areas - they were focused on strengthening their urban program.

A needs assessment on vocational training opportunities was prepared in August 2016, which collected and summarised the needs, opportunities and challenges regarding vocational training in the polder areas. Stakeholders consulted for this assessment included representatives from WMGs, unemployed persons and drop-out youths (14-20 years of age) and service providers. A total of 148 participants from the community attended the focus group discussions (FGDs) and four service providers were visited.

Key findings from the discussions indicated that:

• There is a need for a further study on local job market, looking into the demand and supply of trade-based technical skills. This will inform decision making on suitable trades more with concrete evidence.
• More technological advancement happened in the area of agriculture and communication over the past five years. But the technical services are only sufficiently available in the market areas and are often of low quality and high cost.
• Most of the technicians providing trade-specific technical services in the market are trained through informal on the job training. Dissatisfaction was expressed about the quality of learning and skills development from such informal training.
• Clear preference expressed towards short courses (max. 1 year) and venues close to their area (preferably within 5 km radius). Some also requested for a tool box for the students so that they can use it easily to provide services in their locality.
• Trades directly relevant to BGP must be given priority while selecting trade courses. However, specific needs of women, for those who have higher educational background and those training that will improve the overall quality of life (such as – paramedics/nursing) also needs to be considered while selecting the courses. Trainings that are already being provided by BGP must not be included under this vocational training initiative.
• Two models of implementation (ustad model and conventional classroom model) can be tested simultaneously. In that case, selection of trades for both the models will be important. ‘Ustad’, is a reverential title in Bangla for an accomplished master in a specific trade.
• Options for and access to economic activities for women are very limited. BGP can support in designing a focused intervention to encourage, engage and sustain girls in a wide range of technical training (both traditional and non-traditional) and eventually in the job market.  An advocacy campaign to raise awareness about how families can benefit from girls’ technical education can be very effective to bring more girls under this initiative.
• WMGs can play a vital role in ensuring that the services are also available within the community and not in the market alone.

As a result of the needs assessment, recommendations were made for a pilot phase to test out different models of providing vocational training. This included adapting the ‘ustad model’, as developed by  the EKN-funded Profitable Opportunities for Food Security (PROOFS) to provide guided vocational training out of small workshops in the repair and maintenance of agricultural equipment. In this model village-level technocrat entrepreneurs who run small workshops would act as ustad and take on and train apprentices for a fee. In January 2017, however, despite recommendations for continuation by the 2016 Annual Review Mission, EKN resolved to discontinue the vocational training (VT) program, and implementation was halted.

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Blue Gold Wiki

Executive summary: A Call for Action Section A: Background and context Section B: Development Outcomes Section C: Water Infrastructure Summary Chapter 01: Overview, Purpose and Structure of Report Chapter 02: Institutional Setting Chapter 03: Social, Physical and Environmental Context Chapter 04: Policy framework, history of interventions and project definition Summary and Introduction Chapter 05: Outcomes and Impact from Participatory Water Management Chapter 06: Outcomes and Impact from Agricultural Development Chapter 07: Inclusive Development Approach: Outcomes and Impacts from Homestead Based Production Chapter 08: The Outcomes and Impact on the Livelihoods of Women Chapter 09: The Overall Outcomes and Impacts on the Livelihoods of Coastal Communities in Blue Gold Polders Summary Chapter 10: Coastal Infrastructure Chapter 11: Investments for Polder Safety and Water Management Chapter 12: Survey, Design and Procurement Chapter 13: Construction: Progress, Modalities and Lessons Learnt Section D: BGP Interventions: Participatory Water Management Section E: Agricultural Development Section F: Responsible Development: Inclusion and Sustainability Summary Chapter 14: Consultation and participation in planning Chapter 15: WMO capacity building Chapter 16: Women's participation in Water Management Chapter 17: In-polder water management Chapter 18: Water Management Partnership Chapter 19: Operationalisation of the PWM concept Chapter 20: Way Forward Summary Chapter 21: The Evolving Approach to the Commercialization of Agriculture Chapter 22: Lessons for Agricultural Extension in the Coastal Zone Chapter 23: Outreach and Outcomes of Commercialisation Interventions Summary Chapter 24: Gender equality and women's empowerment Chapter 25: Poverty Focus: development of homestead production Chapter 26: Poverty focus: Labour Contracting Societies Chapter 27: Sustainability Section G: Project Management Section H: Innovation Fund Files and others Summary Chapter 28: Project Management Arrangements Chapter 29: Technical Assistance: Context, Scope, Contractual Arrangements and External Service Contracts Chapter 30: Evolution of TA Organisational Arrangements Chapter 31: Capacity Building Chapter 32: Agricultural Extension Methods and Communication Chapter 33: Horizontal Learning Chapter 34: Monitoring and evaluation Chapter 35: Management Information System Chapter 36: Environmental Due Diligence Summary Chapter 37: Purpose, fund evolution and management Chapter 38: Overview of BGIF Projects Chapter 39: BGIF Lessons Learnt File Library Glossary and acronyms Frequently Asked Questions

Water Management Group - The basic organizational unit in Blue Gold representing local stakeholders from a hydrological or social unit (para/village). Through Blue Gold, 511 WMGs have been formed and registered. The average WMG covers an area of around 230 ha has 365 households or a population of just over 1,500.

A defined set of temporary activities through which facilitators seek to effect change

Water Management Organizations - The common name of organizations of the local stakeholders of a water resource project/sub-project/scheme. The concept WMO typically refers to WMGs and WMAs (and/or WMFs) together

Farmer Field School - A group-based learning process through which farmers carry out experiential learning activities that help them to understand the ecology of their fields, based on simple experiments, regular field observations and group analysis. The knowledge gained from these activities enables participants to make their own locally specific decisions about crop management practices. This approach represents a radical departure from earlier agricultural extension programmes, in which farmers were expected to adopt generalized recommendations that are formulated by specialists from outside the community.

Farmer Field School - A group-based learning process through which farmers carry out experiential learning activities that help them to understand the ecology of their fields, based on simple experiments, regular field observations and group analysis. The knowledge gained from these activities enables participants to make their own locally specific decisions about crop management practices. This approach represents a radical departure from earlier agricultural extension programmes, in which farmers were expected to adopt generalized recommendations that are formulated by specialists from outside the community.

Farmer Field School - A group-based learning process through which farmers carry out experiential learning activities that help them to understand the ecology of their fields, based on simple experiments, regular field observations and group analysis. The knowledge gained from these activities enables participants to make their own locally specific decisions about crop management practices. This approach represents a radical departure from earlier agricultural extension programmes, in which farmers were expected to adopt generalized recommendations that are formulated by specialists from outside the community.

An area of low-lying land surrounded by an earthen embankment to prevent flooding by river or seawater, with associated structures which are provided to either drain excess rainwater within the polder or to admit freshwater to be stored in a khal for subsequent use for irrigation.

Department of Agricultural Extension, a department of the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for disseminating scientific research and new knowledge on agricultural practices through communication and learning activities for farmers in agriculture, agricultural marketing, nutrition and business studies.

Bangladesh Water Development Board, government agency which is responsible for surface water and groundwater management in Bangladesh, and lead implementing agency for the Blue Gold Program

Department of Livestock Services, a government department under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock responsible for the livestock industry in Bangladesh

Government of Bangladesh; a donor to the Blue Gold Program

Local Government Institutions - Union Parishad, Upazila Parishad etc

Technical Assistance

Farmer Field School - A group-based learning process through which farmers carry out experiential learning activities that help them to understand the ecology of their fields, based on simple experiments, regular field observations and group analysis. The knowledge gained from these activities enables participants to make their own locally specific decisions about crop management practices. This approach represents a radical departure from earlier agricultural extension programmes, in which farmers were expected to adopt generalized recommendations that are formulated by specialists from outside the community.

Labour Contracting Societies - Groups of usually landless people who are contracted by an agency to carry out a certain type and volume of earthwork within a given time period. For BWDB, the rules for engagement of an LCS are set down in PWMR 2014 Chapter 6

Ministry of Water Resources

Blue Gold Program

Water Management Group - The basic organizational unit in Blue Gold representing local stakeholders from a hydrological or social unit (para/village). Through Blue Gold, 511 WMGs have been formed and registered. The average WMG covers an area of around 230 ha has 365 households or a population of just over 1,500.

Project Director

International Rice Research Institute

Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute

Wageningen University and Research Centre

Gender and Leadership Development (training)

Community Development Facilitator - a member of the Blue Gold technical assistance team who lived and worked in a specific polder, and provided the main point of contact between the project and the polder communities

Collective action - by a producer group is one way to partially overcome constraints such as in weak markets, where inputs and services essential to production innovations, are generally scarce, costly to access and/or to obtain. Collective action is working in group instead of individually in order to gain economic or social benefit. Through collective action, farmers can address constraints in their market linkages, organise their activities jointly and use their collective bargaining power to reduce input costs through bulk purchase, or to obtain services from buyers such as farm-level collection of produce

Community-led Agricultural Water Management - with DAE, Blue Gold established a network of schemes for demonstration purposes where locally-applicable annual cropping patterns are introduced along with water level control facilitated by small-scale water infrastructure, and the development of value chain skills in farmers

Cropping Intensity Initiative: Year-long demonstrations with farmers on increasing cropping intensity related to improved water management, also involving market actors, and by organising demand driven sessions and workshops

Department of Fisheries, a government department under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock responsible for regulating the fisheries industry in Bangladesh

Labour Contracting Societies - Groups of usually landless people who are contracted by an agency to carry out a certain type and volume of earthwork within a given time period. For BWDB, the rules for engagement of an LCS are set down in PWMR 2014 Chapter 6

Groups of usually landless people who are contracted by an agency to carry out a certain type and volume of earthwork within a given time period. For BWDB, the rules for engagement of an LCS are set down in PWMR 2014 Chapter 6

Identification and planning of both interventions and operations & maintenance within the catchment, resulting in an action plan for the catchment.

empowerment is a process, enabling people to make choices and convert these into desired actions and results. In doing so, people take control of their own lives, improve their own position, set their own agenda, gain skills, develop self-confidence, solve problems, and develop self-sufficiency. Empowerment leads to genuine participation of all actors as it is a process of gaining self-confidence for individual development as well as to contribute towards development of others.

The strategies that people employ in order to utilize and transfer assets to produce income today and deal with problems tomorrow. These strategies change and adapt in response to various shocks, external influences, institutional norms and rules, and other factors.

A process of change in rural areas strengthening the local economies

The Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) is the independent evaluation service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands which researches and prepares reports on the outcomes of Dutch foreign policy for reasons of accountability and so that the findings can be used in adjusting future policymaking

Department for International Development (UK government's development department); since September 2020, known as Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office - FCDO - after a merger with Foreign and Commonwealth Office - FCO

agricultural production aimed at meeting market-demands. It is based on establishing a profitable farming unit and involves a multitude of business relations with other actors in the market system. Used in contrast to subsistence farming which focuses mostly on home consumption.

Cropping intensity - The number of crop harvest per unit land per year. The average cropping intensity (CI) is calculated as the total area of all crops per year divided by the area of cultivable land. In its CI calculations BGP treats fish ghers as another crop; the DAE method excludes fish ghers in its CI calculations. Hence the CI calculated by BGP is higher than as calculated by DAE.

Also known as 'business linkages'. Linkages refer to the trading relationships between and among producers, input providers and traders, and other enterprises in a supply chain or value chain. We refer to Backward linkages on the input side and Forward linkages on the output side of the producer.

Annual Review Mission, the broad objective of which was to secure and where possible further enhance the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of the project. ARM members were individuals who were appointed by, and reported directly to, EKN and BWDB/DAE

Food and Agriculture Organization

Farmer Trainer - Well-performing and capable farmers, previously trained in Farmer Field Schools, who became FFS facilitator themselves after ToT training

Within BGP this refers to enhancing insights of especially FFS participants in how markets work, how to collect market information, facilitating linkages with market actors and increasing negotiation capacities

Household

A process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives and the decisions and resources which affect them.

Farmer Trainer - Well-performing and capable farmers, previously trained in Farmer Field Schools, who became FFS facilitator themselves after ToT training

Collective action - by a producer group is one way to partially overcome constraints such as in weak markets, where inputs and services essential to production innovations, are generally scarce, costly to access and/or to obtain. Collective action is working in group instead of individually in order to gain economic or social benefit. Through collective action, farmers can address constraints in their market linkages, organise their activities jointly and use their collective bargaining power to reduce input costs through bulk purchase, or to obtain services from buyers such as farm-level collection of produce

Community Animal Health Workers: members of the community who are trained to provide farmers with basic health and production support for their animals

Resource Farmers (RF) are members of Farmer Field Schools (FFSs). They are selected from the FFS groups to lead other members in organizing different useful collective actions and to maintain networks on behalf of the members. These RFs are given additional capacity building training to enhance their knowlege on simple record keeping and business skills.

Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the contractual representative of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands and signatory to the agreement for the Blue Gold Program with the External Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance as the signatory for the Government of Bangladesh

Focus Group Discussions - in which a group of participants from similar backgrounds or experiences gather to discuss a specific topic of interest, guided by a group facilitator who introduces the topics for discussion and helps the group to participate in a lively and natural discussion amongst themselves

Any formal or informal structure (not necessarily a physical place) in which buyers and sellers exchange goods, labour, or services for cash or other goods. The word 'market' can simply mean the place in which goods or services are exchanged. Essentially, markets are defined by forces of supply and demand, rather than geographical location

An ustad is a village-level technological entrepeneur who runs a local business providing services and/or goods eg electrical, mechanical repairs; cast iron foundry etc)

actions taken to prevent or repair the deterioration of water management infrastructure and to keep the physical components of a water management system in such a state that they can serve their intended function.