Who can become a Master Trainer?

Any person who is, or who is part of an organisation that is, an Academy Partner can apply to participate in an Academy Master Training to become a Master Trainer. The qualities we are looking for in potential Master Trainers are prior training experience, field experience working with smallholders, and good communication skills.

Effectively training independent smallholders is a key focus of the Academy. In practice, a trainer's abilities to gain smallholders' trust, to engage them in a sustainable and practical way, and to translate technical concepts in a way that links to their experience and day-to-day priorities, are often more important than the specific technical abilities.

Furthermore, the Academy focuses on building Partners' capacities to more effectively train their own trainers to train smallholders and group organisers/managers. This requires the abilities to reflect on training method, to unpack, contextualise, and adapt a training programme and training activities.

Through interviews with potential Master Trainers we assess the person's potential to develop these skills.