Climate Change Adaption In Africa-Tanzania,Malawi Agriculture Project
INADES are an autonomous, not for profit, non government organization based in Tanzania. IFTz are concerned with building the capacity of rural communities to bring about socio-economic advancement and transformation of the societies in which they live. IFTz are a legally independent organization operating as a National Association.
IFTz conducts participatory socio-economic studies and other training activities in rural areas, sometimes in partnership with other NGOs, the Government (e.g. the Ministry of Agriculture) and CBOs. IFTz use action research training methods to support farmers’ knowledge, actions and initiatives in: Sustainably managing their natural resources; Controlling the channels of distribution and marketing of their produce; Building capacity of Farmers Organizations (FOs) in negotiation and advocacy, so as to influence national policies concerning their own development; Catalysing FOs own development process, especially through networking; Promoting awareness on HIV/ AIDS and other health concerns.
In supporting farmers' initiatives, IFTz use the Backing-up to Farmers Organizational Dynamics (BAFOD) approach that aims to stimulate and support farmer’s processes of social change; owned, managed and controlled by farmers themselves.
Since its inception in 1989, IFTz has trained more than 30,000 farmers, farmers’ leaders and development agents through its field training programmes and distance learning correspondence courses (in Swahili medium). Of these, about 40% are women and 90% smallholder farmers. These figures exclude those who have benefited through spill-over effects and farmer-to-farmer learning.
IFTz is one of the few organizations involved in the production of educational materials for and with farmers as one of its basic functions. This has led other organizations to join IFTz in co-production of such materials. Many others have used IFTz materials for training of their target groups. By 2001, about 106 titles of educational materials (booklets, technical notes, farmer stories, cartoon strips, illustrated booklets, etc.) had been produced based on farmers experiences covering a wide range of themes.
