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Building Organic Agriculture in Armenia; Improving the knowledge and skills of organic stakeholders through participatory curriculum development and outreach| BOAA

Project BOAA
© Milena Klimek


Project coordinator:
Bernhard Freyer

Coordinating institution: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Partner institution: Armenian National Agricultural University (Astghik Sahakyan)

Partner Country: Armenia

Project duration: 1st of March 2017 - 31st of July 2020

Abstract

BOAA has been created to help deliver the need for an increase in organic agriculture professionals skilled for research and practice in the Armenian context. The Armenian government in collaboration with EU and the ADC has recently launched support for increasing organic agriculture to mitigate marginalized people in impoverished areas, better handle small farm sizes within the country and ensure the conservation of Armenian water, soil and biodiversity. There have been projects and support for awareness and implementation of organic agriculture in the country, however with this recent organic support comes a demand for trained and skilled Armenian organic practitioners in research as well as in practice. To fulfill this need BOAA has been designed as a transdisciplinary project developing and implementing an Armenian Organic Masters Program (OMP) with place-based curriculum through three phases:

  • Phase 1 gathers stakeholder data from focus groups and interviews that will be used to inform about current challenges and needs of present and future farmers and organic practitioners.
  • Phase 2 entails the development of the organic masters program curriculum and the trainers of the ANAU instructors in organic theory, methods and practice. The development of the curriculum will be done predominantly through the stakeholder steering committee. The training of the instructors will be done in two parts: 1) an Armenian partner team will visit BOKU’s Division of Organic Farming at the Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems as well as attend in-field visits. 2) A BOKU teaching team will visit ANAU to both visit and understand the Armenian agrarian context and help train and develop staff and curriculum.
  • Phase 3 entails the finalisation of the OMP and its curriculum, its dissemination and implementation. In addition to a stakeholder committee devoted to the implementation and management of the OMP, project dissemination will occur through social media, newspaper articles, student outreach events and a public television broadcast.

These project phases demonstrate transdisciplinary development of organic agriculture in Armenia through participatory curriculum development. The teaching of organic farming through BOAA will ensure for highly connected and empowered students graduating with improved knowledge and skills in organic farming and practice, ready to enter the workforce.

scholar Hasmik Hovakimyan
© Hasmik Hovakimyan Hasmik Hovakimyan
students sitting together discussing survey
© Hasmik Hovakimyan students sitting together discussing survey
Group photo of organic farmers
© Österreich Bibliothek Jerewan Group photo of organic farmers
groop photo of visitors in front of orchard
© Naira Avetyan & Naira Gasparyan Group photo
Scholarship holder Hasmik Hovakimyan holding her workshop notes and standing next to a workshop participant
© Elke Stinnig Scholarship holder Hasmik Hovakimyan during organic stakeholder workshop in Armenia
Some people sitting on a couch and some standing behind a desk with notebook on it and talking to each other
© Astghik Sahakyan 2019_project149_meetingarmenia_1_c_Astghik_Sahakyan.jpg
Group of people posing for a group picture next to a  NAIRIAN sign
© ICARE BOAA project meeting in Armenia in May 2019
Cover of oead.news 109/2019
© photo: pixabay / cover: OeAD Cover of oead.news 109/2019

Organic farming and the bologna process?

Read the article in the oead.news 109 from June 2019 about the development of a Master curriculum and its alignment to the bologna process (pages 44 - 45). In German only!

"Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft - nachhaltige Entwicklung" - an article by Milena Klimek published in the spring 2019 edition of the Alpen-Kaukasus Kurier (in German only).

Portrait of Hasmik Hovakimyan
© Varduhi Kolyan Hasmik Hovakimyan

Update on PhD research by APPEAR scholarship holder Hasmik Hovakimyan

Participatory approaches to curriculum development in higher education in Armenia, using organing farming as an exampe.

A man is giving a speech in front of an audience of approximately 50 people.
© APPEAR APPEAR in practice_9: Organic agriculture in action

Recap and photo gallery of APPEAR in practice_9

BOAA team members participated in this event that took place in May 2018 in Vienna.

Group of people posing for a picture
© Elke Stinnig Visit of the Armenian project team to Austria
Garden with various vegetable patches and flower beds and trees in the background
© Milena Klimek During kick-off meeting in Armenia in May 2017

BOAA project is off to an excellent start

Follow this link to find the gallery with impressive photos from Armenia and the report from the kick-off meeting that took place in Yerevan in May / June 2017.

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