by Mamusha Lemma  

Throughout its activities in Ethiopia, the Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project has used participatory processes to design capacity development interventions that assess the knowledge and skills gaps in value chain actors and service providers.

Implemented through training, coaching and mentoring, study tours, and self-learning materials, among other strategies, these interventions have been characterized by experimenting with different capacity development approaches in different regions based on local needs.

Collective exploration and lessons from these tests have helped refine further and articulate more clearly the best capacity development approaches. ToT training, mixed group training, couples training, study tours, and coaching and mentoring have emerged as the most effective ways of developing the knowledge and skills of value chain actors and service providers.

Some of the project’s findings have corrected previous assumptions including the expectation that coaching and mentoring would be conducted only after training activities to support knowledge and skills application. In some areas, study tours followed…