S
tr
engthening C
ommunit
y L
ear
ning C
en
tr
es thr
ough Link
ages and Net
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yn
thesis of Six C
oun
tr
y R
epor
ts
the approach is sometimes initially undertaken by the mother NGO or the government
agency responsible for several CLCs to the principal offices of the potential partners.
In both cases, the dialogue should bring out the objectives and proposed plans of the
partners as well as the CLCs, so that some coordination can be undertaken regarding
scheduling training sessions, use of facilities, sharing of expertise, and so on.
Step 6: Translate Collaboration into Action through Pilot Projects
The CLC must then start informal activities or pilot test a few programmes. At a certain
point, dialogue and talk must translate into specific action. If the partnership and
linkages are quite new, it may be best for initial action to start on a small informal
scale. Such an action could be in the form of a pilot test, an experiment, or a case study.
In any case, actual collaboration with a specific project, such as a training programme,
could start at a small scale. For example, it could be only in the sharing of physical
facilities to begin with. Nothing succeeds like success. If the initial collaboration in
training is successful, for example, then follow-up activities like actual production and
even marketing after that would be easy to undertake as part of the collaboration
between a CLC and its linked partner:
The CLC in Zhouxiang Town, Zhejiang Province, has established a model of
networking: CLC + Professional Associations + Farmers. For example, the
CLC provides a training workshop for farmers in cooperation with the County
Mushroom Association. Afterward, the farmers' products are sold with the
guidance of the Mushroom Association.
The CLC in Xushui County, Hebei Province, has set up a model of networking:
CLC + Enterprises + Farmers. For example, the CLC provides a training workshop
for farmers on raising chickens, in cooperation with the Dawu Group Company.
Later on, the farmers sell their chicken to the Dawu Group Company.
China Report, p. 12
In Tianzhu County of Gansu Province, the community learning centre was set up
at Sangoutai Primary School. Since 1997, there have been 9 training workshops
jointly held by local government, health and sanitation department, and animal
husbandry department on health and sanitation and animal disease prevention,
with participants from over 95 per cent of village families. The training upgraded
the local people's awareness about health and illness prevention. At the same
time, 4 qualified clinic workers and 3 nurses were trained, which made it more
convenient for local people to treat their illnesses in a timely way. He Yuhua, one
of the local women, opened a private clinic by herself.
China Report, p. 11