How to Create and Sustain Farmer Field Schools for Rural Women by Ibtada
About the Solution
This playbook by Ibtada outlines a model for creating and sustaining Farmer Field Schools (Ajeevika Pathshala) to bridge the information gap for women in agriculture. The solution centers on training and mentoring local women (“Sakhis”) to become community resource persons who facilitate monthly meetings. These field schools create a dedicated space for women farmers to access knowledge on new cultivation techniques, government schemes, and livelihood opportunities, fostering peer-to-peer learning and support. This institutional approach builds a sustainable, community-owned system for disseminating agricultural best practices and enhancing rural women’s socio-economic agency.
Ibtada is a not-for-profit, non-governmental development organisation working in the Mewat region of Rajasthan. It is a grassroots effort dedicated to mainstreaming deprived women in the region through organising, educating, and empowering them. They operate in 550 villages across 8 blocks of Alwar, 1 block of Bharatpur, and 1 block of Dausa districts in Rajasthan, as well as 2 blocks of Jhansi and 1 block of Chitrakoot in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. As part of its expansion efforts, Ibtada has recently begun interventions in Dausa and the Bundelkhand region.
They can be reached via:
Mail: info@ibtada.in
Training
Category –Capacity Building, Handholding, Knowledge Documentation & Resources, Monitoring Evaluation & Learning
Sub-Category – Creating and Sustaining Farmer Field schools for Rural women
Duration – 2-3 months
Group Size – N/A
Willingness to travel – Yes
Languages Supported – N/A
Certification – N/A
Assessment – N/A
Mode – N/A
Institution / Trainer – Ibtada
Schedule – N/A
Short Description –
Audience: Women Farmers, CSOs, Community Resource Persons
Objectives:
Improve access to agricultural information and modern farming techniques for women farmers.
Create a peer support network to encourage knowledge sharing and collective problem-solving.
Build local capacity by training and mentoring community resource persons (“Sakhis”).
Enhance climate resilience and farm productivity through practical, field-based learning.