Course Details - Youth Entrepreneurship in Agriculture and Changing Food Systems
This course blends practical, hands-on training on developing career paths for young women and men during the start of their working lives, with the big picture perspective of agri-food systems models and labour market trends. Regarding career paths, the course looks at the preparation and start of work for young people in threestages;
- Inspiration & education. How young people perceive agri-foodsystems, are (dis)incentivized to engage in this sector, and how current education systems do and don’t help them to start a career, especially in starting a business.
- Starting a business. What are the technical, life and business skills needed to start a business, and what support does a start-up need to increase its chances of success.
- Scaling a business. How does a business grow from micro- to SME stage, what are the main challenges that it faces and how to overcome them.
Food systems modelling
In parallel to this, participants are introduced to food systems modelling with an emphasis on socio-economic impact. While looking at the system as a whole, particular emphasis is placed on;
- Household livelihoods and income, especially in rural contexts.
- Developing inclusive value chains for different kinds ofagri-products.
- Healthy food for consumers, relating production and delivery to nutritious diets.
By integrating these two levels of analysis through teaching, case studies, field visits and application of tools, participants will develop a robust understanding of how complex agri-food systems function and how they can be developed to create jobs and start-up opportunities for youth with different educational backgrounds and resources.
Interactive course
The course integrates classroom-based teaching with groupwork, developing case studies that allow participants to immediately apply the learning to real-world examples. Field visits provide the opportunity to learn about different teaching methodologies, good business practices and business incubators from first-hand experience of practitioners. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with a robust understanding of a number of fields of expertise that will not only help them in their own current projects and programmes, but also what new partnerships and initiatives can be developed to improve entrepreneurial and job opportunities for youth.
This course is taught in a blended format: partially online and partially in person in an OKP country
Our courses are currently taught blended and follow this format:
- Online pre-course assignments for you to get to know WCDI and for us to get to know your work environment and your expectations about the course;
- Interactive plenary sessions where we share content, review assignments and facilitate exchanging experiences. During those interactive sessions we work with a number of online tools like Google Jamboard, Mural and Mentimeter. A part in online sessions and a part in person;
- Group work either online or offline where you with other participants address a specific question or do an assignment. Results of these assignments are also shared and discussed during online sessions;
- Individual assignments where you will read literature, watch videos, and do exercises on your own. These assignments are an essential part of the learning and most of them count for getting the certificate. They are meant to introduce or deepen knowledge and make the link between theory and your own situation. These assignments are reviewed either by peers or facilitators.
In some, but not all courses we go on virtual field visits – showing you ‘live’ situations in the field, or with companies or organisations that we collaborate with. We offer coaching trajectories where we support you one-on-one or in small groups to review your individual learning paths in the course and help with any basic questions you may have.
Online platforms: Zoom and TalentLMS
Internet connection is important for the completion of the course. Not sure about the connection in your area? Send training.cdi@wur.nl an e-mail about your situation.
We use Zoom as a facilitating platform for all our online courses. Our courses take place in general over a 6-8 week period to make the workload and time you spend online manageable.
Our online learning system is TalentLMS. Everything you need — our course programme, chatrooms, assignments, background information are in this system. TalentLMS is easy to operate, can also be accessed by your phone and has an on-and offline functionality. We even organise a technical check-in before the course starts, to test your facilities and get familiar with the tools.
Course planning and certificates
The course workload is approximately 16-20 hours a week (2-2.5 workdays).
The exact programme of your course will be available 2-3 weeks before the start of the course. If you’ve successfully completed your course we send you a digital certificate.