SEMINAR ON FORESTRY TRAINING FOR TARGET GROUPS THAT ARE HARD TO REACH
12 May 1997
Centre forestier de la Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
La Bastide des Jourdans (France), 20-24 April 1998
The seminar on forestry training for target groups that are hard to reach will be organized under the auspices of the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Committee on Forest Technology, Management and Training at the Centre forestier de la Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in La Bastide des Jourdans (France) on 20-24 April 1998.
Considerable efforts have been made in the area of training for the forestry sector in recent years. However, there are still a number of obstacles to providing training in particular for forest contractors, forest owners and operators of harvesters, at a time when these groups are becoming increasingly important for sustainable forest management and the forest economy in many countries.
The seminar aims to analyse the various reasons for this situation and to share conclusive, innovative and practical experiences that may be transferred from one country to another.
The seminar will address the following topics, with particular reference to the three target groups defined above:
1. Integration of the environmental dimension into training
This topic item concerns the introduction of training to apply environmentally sound procedures in forestry operations; innovation may cause resistance to change.
2. Physical problems of access to training
The spread of enterprises over a wide area, small size of units, diversity of activities, limited access to information and available training, incompatibility between the length of training and professional activity, cost and funding, and distance of training centres are real obstacles to the provision of training.
Non-material problems of access to training
Cultural factors, the isolation and dated image of the profession and misconceptions about training constitute psychological hurdles.
3. Design of training in response to needs expressed by the profession
Quality, safety, productivity and involvement of professionals are all goals presenting difficulties.
4. Provision of training
Choice of suitable teaching methods, human resources (qualified trainers) and material inputs for training, high cost of training, funding, compatibility of the period and length of training with work, distance of training centres, appropriate and up-to-date programmes.
This item relates both to initial training and to retraining.