The postharvest training program being launched in January 2015 by The Postharvest Education Foundation will be offered for up to 50 young horticultural professionals currently working in developing countries over a period of 12 months during 2015.
Training activities will include a wide assortment of reading, e-learning and fieldwork assignments to be undertaken by each trainee in their home country. Participants can choose the crops they are most interested in, and focus on the postharvest technologies most suitable for their region. A registration fee of $600 will be charged for the training program, with a 50% discount available for those located in less developed countries. PEF will supply all the required training materials and provide participants with weekly online interactive sessions, feedback and mentoring. Priority will be given to those trainees who have the approval or permission of their supervisor, and it should be understood prior to applying that no financial compensation will be provided for the trainee’s time away from work.
Those trainees who successfully complete all ten e-learning assignments and submit four written reports will receive a Postharvest Training of Trainers Certificate of Completion and a Postharvest Tool Kit valued at over US$400. Successful trainees will be invited to travel at their own expense to work with our PEF team during January or February 2016 to assist us with implementing training programs for small-scale horticultural farmers at one of the many new Postharvest Training and Services Centers. The top three participants in the program (as evaluated and selected by the training team and PEF board of directors) will be awarded a PEF travel grant valued at up to $1500 to cover their travel expenses.
Please feel free to share this application form with those who may be interested in this training opportunity. The ideal candidate is a young person with a strong horticultural background, good English skills, ready access to the internet, and who is able to show evidence of recent horticulture research and/or extension experience in a developing country. The skills gained from this practically oriented field based training will help to reduce postharvest losses and food waste, improve the quality of postharvest extension work and enhance capacity to provide postharvest training on cost effective small-scale technologies for harvest, grading, packing, cooling, storage and processing horticultural crops for smallholder farmers.
The deadline for receiving initial applications is December 31, 2014.
Please send completed application form saved in MSWord doc format with the applicant’s full name – PEF application 2015 as the file name, via email to Dr. Lisa Kitinoja at kitinoja@postharvest.org
Dr. Lisa Kitinoja, Founder of The Postharvest Education Foundation (USA)
Website homepage: www.postharvest.org Blog: http://postharvest.tumblr.com/
Linked In website: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kitinoja
Linked In Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Postharvest-Training-3770124
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PostharvestEducationFdn
Small-scale Postharvest 2015 App form (1820 downloads)
Small-scale Postharvest 2015 Agenda (2178 downloads)
