The IYFEF programme of the Schorlemer Foundation of the German Farmers’ Association implements an international bilateral exchange of young farmers from Uganda and Germany, who complete an internship of several months on selected farms in the other country and participate in seminars. The nexus Institute’s accompanying research has the task of recording the effects of the programme on those involved and developing possible optimisations. The first step is to evaluate whether comparable exchange programmes exist and to what extent the experiences there can be used for the further development of the IYFEP programme.
The core of the study consists of twelve qualitative interviews. Three interviews each will be conducted with German and Ugandan young farmers, two interviews each with employees of the participating farms and two further interviews with programme coordinators. The research questions in the interviews concern personal development, increasing agricultural competence and the competitiveness of the farms, as well as challenges during the internship and wishes for improvement of the programme on the part of the participants. Field reports, press reports and other documentation of the first exchange are included in the evaluation.
Another central question is how exchange activities can continue in times of Covid 19 pandemic and associated travel restrictions and what potential web-based exchange could offer. A kick-off workshop to finalise the survey concept and a results workshop to discuss the ideas and recommendations from the interviews are planned. With this project, the nexus Institute contributes to the promotion of youth in rural areas and bilateral networking in a sector such as agriculture, which is characterised by local ties and global references.
Duration: 10/2020 – 03/2021
Client: Schorlemer Stiftung des Deutschen Bauernverbandes
Team: Prof. Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel (Project manager), Elisabeth Dienel, Milena Groß
Picture: Jaanus Jagomägi / Unsplash