The document discusses a regional professional bachelors degree program called PRAM in Poverty Reduction and Agricultural Management between AIT and universities in Thailand and Laos. The program aims to build the capacity of local government officers in Laos to reduce poverty through sustainable agricultural practices. AIT will support curriculum development, quality assurance, and issue degrees while the partner universities will deliver coursework. An oversight board will regularly review the program's "fitness for purpose" in meeting its poverty reduction goals.

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Partnerships for Local-Level Capacity
Building in Lao PDR: A Regional
Professional Bachelors Degree
Program in Poverty Reduction and
Agricultural Management
Jonathan Shaw and colleagues
Asian Institute of Technology

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The PRAM
• Regional
• Professional
• Bachelors Degree
• Poverty Reduction
• Agricultural Management

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Demand side
Achieving food security
Increasing community income and self-
sufficiency
Drawing on lessons learned from community
fisheries initiative piloted by AIT’s Aqua
Outreach Program in Savannakhet (Minister of
Agriculture and Forestry Sitaheng Rasphone)

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Demand side
• Greater effectiveness of district level
government officers
• 3000 in seven southern provinces alone

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Four strategic aims of the Lao
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
• Achieve food security for the country
• Assist communities to develop
agricultural production for cash
• Stabilize shifting cultivation to alleviate
poverty
• Sustainably develop forests

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Supply side
Extensive network of well equipped agricultural colleges
in Northeastern Thailand
Excess capacity, due to declining Thai enrolment
Experience in sustainable household agricultural
development
Shared common language and cultural heritage
Wetlands Alliance resources

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Partners
Wetlands Alliance Program
• A process of regional collaboration to strengthen
local-level capacity for sustainable, poverty
focused wetlands management
• Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand
• focus on provincial and district institutions, but encourages
national agencies to explore ways to provide more effective
support to local initiatives in development and conservation
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)
• helps create conditions that will enable the poor to improve their
lives

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Partners
• Asian Institute of Technology
• Prince of Songkhla University, Thailand
• Udorn Thani Rajabhat University, Thailand
• Udorn Thani Agriculture and Technology College, Thailand
• Sri Saket Agriculture and Technology College, Thailand
• Savannakhet Agricultural College, Lao PDR
• Department of Livestock & Fisheries, Lao PDR
• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR

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AIT
Sri Saket
Udorn Thani
Savannakhet
Prince of Songkla
Bangkok
Vientiane

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AIT …
is a regional international academic institute advancing
technology-driven initiatives for sustainable development in
Asia and beyond;
exists to advance our partners’ understanding of global
changes and the impact of those changes in Asia, and to
influence and enable development for the better

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AIT Mission
Our mission is to build intellectual capital and impart our values
through our work:
Teaching and learning: Train leaders to hold the highest ethical
standards, to think and to act beyond national boundaries, and to
use knowledge to serve society.
Research: Conduct applied research to achieve a deeper
understanding of the complex interaction and interdependence of
social and economic systems with the natural ecosystems so we
can develop unconventional solutions that cut across disciplines to
achieve prosperity that is socially responsible and environmentally
sustainable; and to bring that knowledge to the classroom.

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Mission
Our mission is to build intellectual capital and impart our values
through our work:
Practice and outreach: Work in the field with global and regional
network of partners to develop innovative responses to the long-
term development challenges of Asia and beyond, and to connect
the classroom with the field.
Advocacy: Use innovative research, problem-based teaching and
learning, and outreach to advocate for people-centered policies
designed to achieve our vision for a prosperous Asia.

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Goals
• To make an immediate and measurable
impact on poverty in southern Laos
• To build capacity of local government
workers to reduce poverty

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PRAM curriculum structure outline
Orientation courses
(18 credits)
Core courses
(25 credits)
Elective courses
(35 credits)
Compulsory courses for registered students (25 credits) -
Agricultural Communication, Health and Sanitation, Agro-Ecology,
Agricultural Management, Natural Food Security, Poverty Mitigation,
Field Research Methods, Agricultural Extension, PRAM Seminar.
Elective courses for registered and non-registered students
(total of 35 credits required for PRAM graduation) - Educational
institutions who are members of the PRAM Consortium and
responsible for PRAM course delivery, offer a large menu of elective
courses for students to choose from. Some Elective courses are
required courses for students wishing to specialize in a subject area
(e.g. Animal Health, Fisheries).
Composed of two Parts which most students will need to take
before they begin the Core courses:
Part 1 (9 credits) - Introduction to Agriculture, English language, Thai
language, Computer skills, Introduction to Education
Part 2 (9 credits) – Science and Mathematics, Environment and
Society, Communication Team Work and Facilitation, Basic
Accounting

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• Students: mid-career district level extension officers
with high school or vocational qualifications
• linked to official Ministry systems of staff promotion
• Courses taught in Savannahkhet in four week blocks,
after which students return to their stations
• Gap between degree program structure and desired
outcomes

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Role of AIT
• Support curriculum
development
• Assess readiness of
colleges to deliver
program
• Provide faculty
development training
• Design and conduct
quality assurance
• Issue degree

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Quality and Fitness for
Purpose
“ … determined by the relevance (fitness of purpose) of
its mission and objectives for the stakeholder(s) and
the extent to which the institution/programme/course
fulfils the mission and objectives (fitness for purpose),
The quality of an institution/programme/course is also
judged by the extent to which it meets the minimum
standard set for inputs, processes and outcomes,
which is called the standards based approach to
quality.” (Sanyal and Martin, 2007)

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Quality and Fitness for
Purpose
Did this course lead to a measurable
reduction in poverty?

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Poverty reduction
Examples
• Increased availability of nutrients in diet
• Increased knowledge for treating goat
health problems
• New crops planted
• New sources of protein (frogs, insects)
farmed

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Proposed approach
• A goal-oriented process in which all
stakeholders meet together regularly
• Reviews curriculum development
against the criterion of “fitness for
purpose”

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PRAM course
delivery
institution
PRAM course
delivery
institution
PRAM course
delivery
institution
Asian Institute of
Technology
MAF/DLF
Wetlands
Alliance
Program
Quality
Assurance
Board

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Quality Assurance Board
• Comprising 2 – 3 members from all
stakeholders
• Each PRAM course delivery institution
has its own QA and curriculum
development committee
• Two-way process

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Proposed AIT role
Facilitating and guiding towards goals
(“fitness for purpose”)
Ensuring continuous quality improvement

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Other quality concerns
• Developing capacity of Thai colleagues
as they develop capacity of Lao
colleges
• Meetings in three languages
• Curriculum in Thai, but participants
struggled to read and especially write
Thai
• Problem-based learning

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Ongoing capacity building
• Problem-based learning workshop
• Poverty reduction indicators workshop