Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (“International Agriculture and Rural Development (IARD)” to establish the global and regional contexts for sustainable agricultural development and focus on development challenges in Asia through cases in developing countries.
Project Duration: 2008-Ongoing Awarding Organization – Cornell –Sathguru Foundation
Project Value: USD 0.5 Mn (per year) Geography: – India and USA
- To train students of partner universities with interdisciplinary issues associated with food systems and rural development in emerging nations
- To provide students with an opportunity to observe agricultural development in India and to promote interdisciplinary exchange among faculty, staff, students and their Indian counterparts
- To strengthen collaboration and build partnerships between American and Indian institutions of higher education
- 630 Students are awarded with a multidisciplinary major leads to a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Agriculture at Cornell University in past 9 years
- Students are acquainted with the major issues and problems in international agriculture and rural development and demonstrate how problems in development are being addressed in developing nations
- An in depth knowledge of problems in food, agriculture, and livestock production in the context of social and economic conditions of India through a three-week field-study trip in January is followed by discussions, written projects, and oral presentations
Project Conceptualization & Management
Sathguru worked towards strengthen the agricultural education system of India and bring them at par with the global standards through building collaboration between Cornell and Indian Agricultural Universities for developing understanding about in terms of acquaint students about the infrastructure present in rural areas and also problems related to agriculture, healthcare, sanitation, trade and education in India. Sathguru has been executing this project since 8 years and equip the students by structuring the course, implementing a 3 weeks experiential learning program in various parts of India visiting various processing units, plants and government bodies and evaluation criteria for the course.
- Trained around 630 students in past 9 years in the areas of agricultural and food safety issues in developing nations
- Conceptualization, planning , evaluation and monitoring of the course with global and Indian partner universities
Global Collaborations
Over the years of implementation of IARD, Sathguru worked closely with its global and Indian partner universities to develop agricultural education system. The project fetched strong network of experienced faculty from Cornell and Indian universities.
- Equipped Indian and US students with the unique and interdisciplinary issues associated with food systems and rural development in emerging nations
Capacity Building
Sathguru aimed at building individual and institutional capacity through exposure at leading universities and strategic impact oriented resource based, technology driven intervention in the Universities. The project had trainings that were designed to hold equal significance to knowledge givers (Faculty) as well as seekers (Students). Faculty and students have been trained on effective adoption of the new interventions.
- Students provided an multi disciplinary experiential learning visit to various processing, production and farmer organizations involved in addressing various issues related to food, agriculture and rural development in India
Monitoring and Evaluation
Sathguru has developed an evaluation and monitory plan involving a mid-term and final assessment. Every year, Sathguru aims at empowerment of beneficiary students of this initiative through improved course structure including equipping students with latest practices, technologies and also multi disciplinary issues in agricultural systems in developing nations. Sathguru’ s monitoring and evaluation plan contributes to organizational learning and knowledge sharing by leveraging previous course key takeaways, faculty experiences and expertise. M&E also provide opportunities for stakeholder feedback, especially beneficiaries, to provide input into and perceptions of our work, modelling openness to criticism, and willingness to learn from experiences and to adapt to changing needs.
- Conducted a mild term and final term evaluation through feed backs and a specified reflection paper on learnings that students are equipped with in this course structure both theoretical and experiential leaning program.