Leadership and Team Building Programmes commenced for District Level Officers

Two Out Bound Training Programmes on Leadership and Team building for Agriculture Development Officers, Agriculture Instructors, Agriculture Technical Assistants, Technical Officers, Draftsman, Soil Tester, Work Supervisors and Development Officers from Department of Agrarian Development, Provincial Department of Agriculture and Department of Irrigation was organized by Deputy Project Director’s Office of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP ) at Ree-Cha Organic Resort, Iyakkachchi, Kilinochchi recently.

These programmes, in which even the project staff participated, consisted of  Orientation & Introduction; (45 Minutes), Characteristics of Leadership concepts (01 hour), Out Bounce Activities: (05 hours & 30 minutes) and Summary, feedback from participants & Closing remarks: (30 minutes). Inaugurating the event as a Chief Guest, Mr. A. G. C. Babu, Deputy Project Director, CSIAP-Northern Province expressed the CSIAP project interventions and crucial roles of the participants & purpose of the Training programme.  Mr. S. Nilojan, Acting Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist, CSIAP- Northern province explained the goal of these programmes, guidelines and basic instructions.  

Conducting these training programmes, Mr. B. Sribavan, Humen Recourse Development Officer, District Secretariat - Jaffna discussed the theme of the training programme, course content and major outcome of the programme and presented Leadership & Teambuilding concepts, Types of leadership, Importance of leadership, Skills and  Characteristics of Leaders while Mr. S. Kalatharan, Development Officer, Pradeshiya Sabha – Nallur, facilitated the session with brainstorming activities. During these programmes, participants were fully engaged in the “Team Up” activity and learned how to organize a team properly. Participants were involved in different learning activities such as Cane balancing with the floor, Ball passing among team members, Human tunnel, Tower building, Hula Hoop Activity, Risk zone recovery, Number training and Rope chain training, etc. Later, they have an opportunity to gain knowledge on  Communication (Non- Verbal, Non- Violence), Collaboration, Critical thinking, Creativity, Initiative, Decision making, Out of box thinking, Flexibility, Productivity, Self Confidence, Self-evaluation, Resource management and  Skill identification etc.  

The WB discusses the way forward in proposed activities for next 18th month

The World Bank Officials visited the Project Management Unit of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) this morning (14th) to discuss the way forward in proposed activities during the period of project extension from July 2024 to December 2025.

Representing the World Bank, Senior Agriculture Specialist Dr. Athula Senarathne, Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan and Consultant Mr. Sarath Wickramarathne attended this meeting. Eng. R. M. B. Rajakaruna, Project Director led the CSIAP team with Mr. R. P.M. Dissanayake, Deputy Project Director- Southern Province and subject-related specialists of the PM. Deputy Project Directors of North Western, North Central, Eastern, Northern and Uva provincial offices of the CSIAP joined the meeting via Webex.

The areas of focus would include:
CSA program
a. Agronomic improvements to be scaled up
b. New developments of farmer training school(s)
c. Proposed CSA Center at the MOAPI

Agribusiness and value chain development program
a. Brainstorming discussion on agribusiness and value chain development activities for identifying an innovative program
b. Possibility of getting international expert support

2. Institutional development and capacity building program
a. Next steps of CMP development and implementation
b. Progress of issuing a public administration circular and cabinet paper on CMCs
c. Workshops and awareness programs - Implementing Street dramas, organization of a workshop for DSs, National workshop for heads of institutions

3. Integrated water management in cascade systems and strengthening Fos
a. Prepare a combined training program by Water Resource Management and ID&CB teams and with the support of the other relevant PMU staff and government officers to strengthen the capacity of the FOs.

4. Digital agriculture developments and MIS
a. Next steps of MIS development
b. Utilization of MIS effectively for monitoring and project impact evaluation
c. Other areas of digital development

5. Other relevant matters
a. Amalgamation of Uva and Southern Province and organization of project activities in these provinces during the extension period; recruitment of vacant staff positions

This discussion is a continuation of the dialogue the World Bank started on actions agreed during the recent implementation support mission and the subsequent meeting the World Bank had with the CSIAP’s staff on the allocation of funds for respective project components.

Photograph by Nikeshala Kodithuwakku, PMU, CSIAP 

The CSIAP takes the initiative to prepare the Zonal Land Use Plans for 61 cascades

 The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) follows the cascade management approach in implementing its activities. For this purpose, the CSIA project establishes Cascade Management Committees (CMCs) for all the cascades in the project area.  Accordingly, the CSIAP has already established 54 CMCs and another 7 CMCs are to be established. For the protection and development of cascades, these CMCs develop Cascade Management Plans (CMPs) which include cascade profiles and cascade development plans. It has also identified the necessity of including Zonal Land Use Plans in the relevant CMPs.  The Department of Land Use Policy Planning (LUPPD) accepted the CSIAP’s request to prepare Zonal Land Use Plans which include land suitability assessment for 61 cascades in which the CSIAP is being implemented.  As an initial step, a workshop was organized with the participation of LUPPD officers of relevant project districts and relevant officers of the CSIAP to discuss and finalize the guidelines for the preparation of the Zonal Land Use Plans. This two-day workshop was held at Four Points Resort, Anuradhapura recently, with the participation of 65 officers from both institutions.

The first day of the workshop was held at the Four Point Resort and matters relating to the historical aspect of the tank cascade system in Sri Lanka, the roles and responsibilities of CMCs and the process of preparing CMPs were discussed. In the afternoon the guidelines for preparation of Zonal Land Use Plans were discussed with group work to finalize the guidelines. The second day of the program was scheduled a field visit to the Meehondawewa cascade to identify various components of it and find out various degradation issues arisen in the cascade due to human and non-human activities. The field visit was also facilitated by an expert on the subject. The workshop was very successful and it will help all the participants to perform the assigned task effectively.