The summer months have been anything but a carefree holiday period for the PIP Training Unit. In preparation for campaigns that will get under way in September and October, the Unit has been hard at work organising a number of training workshops for different ACP target publics.
First priority was given to instructor training, the cornerstone of the PIP training strategy. The idea is to form a core group of local service providers - public and private - capable of training management staff of horticulture companies. Five workshops for English and French-speaking groups, in East and West Africa, were planned in 2004.
Upon completing the training course, the local instructors selected will take over from the PIP, providing training to food safety and traceability managers, production managers and small growers, packhouse managers and hygiene managers. Also in 2004, no fewer than 20 workshops are planned in Burkina, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana and elsewhere.
On top of the workshops, the Training Unit has developed a set of teaching material that includes thematic modules on the use of pesticides, regulations, traceability, etc. and multiple-choice self-evaluation questionnaires. A film meant to raise awareness of the issue of food safety is also in the works, along with educational videos on specific subjects related to hygiene, the proper use of pesticides and similar issues.
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