Sharing and Learning: MYRADA believes that one of the major sources of learning is to share. In support of this belief, it annually responds to over 300 requests from bankers, governments, NGOs, teaching and research institutions, international agencies,etc.with training programmes in the areas of micro finance management through self-help affinity groups, watershed management systems and NGO organizational and financial systems. These experiences in sharing have been both adhoc and in the context of a long-term programme where MYRADA offers support over a period of to 5 years. Examples of this long-term support have been in Cambodia, in three states in the North East in collaboration with IFAD, in Haryana with the Mewat Development Agency and IFAD and in Myanmar through UNDP MYRADA has learned a great deal through these joint ventures.

The benefit of sharing is also experienced when MYRADA's own staff visit other institutions to learn from them.

Capacity Building in MYRADA

MYRADA has been conducting capacity building programmes for various categories of participants in the past decade. Over 7000 training programmes are conducted on our projects annually, of which 90% are for community-based organisations from our own project areas and from elsewhere. MYRADA has ten rural training centres in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

• HD Kote – Mysore
• Holalkere – Chitradurga
• Huthur – Chamarajnagar
• Kamalapur – Gulbarga
• Kamasamudram – Kolar

• Kadiri - Anantapur
• Madakasira (Agali, Gudibanda and Gayatri Colony) – Anantapur

• Achettipalli - Hosur – Dharmapuri
• Arepalayam – Erode
• Talamalai – Erode

These centres are located within MYRADA’s Project areas so that all the training/exposure programmes conducted will be based on field experiences and interactions.

MYRADA has so far only responded to requests for training from interested institutions and therefore does not have a published training calendar. MYRADA arranges training on its various projects based on the needs of the client after considering the following aspects: Training needs of the participants Profile of the participants: Job responsibilities, language preferences, distances from MYRADA training centres Development strategies envisaged in the client organisation Follow-up support required MYRADA also provides long-term training partnership/ mentoring support to other institutions either on MYRADA’s Projects or in the location of the client institution’s own work areas.

Broadly the areas that MYRADA trains/mentors in or exposes to are:

1. Concept of Self Help (Affinity) Groups – for credit management and empowerment, facilitating SHG development, monitoring in SHGs (including Participatory Impact Monitoring), capacity building for SHGs, federations of SHGs, building linkages between SHGs and other institutions etc.

2. Watershed management through people’s institutions: Concept of participatory watershed management, building people’s institutions for watershed management, planning of watershed management programmes, monitoring and evaluation (including Participatory Impact Monitoring), resource mobilisation for watershed management, building visions for sustainable resource management, etc. 

3. Participatory Community Development Approaches: Participatory Planning, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of development interventions. Building ownership in community development, building appropriate people’s institutions for resource management, PRA, Project Management for NGOs. 

4. Appreciative Inquiry: MYRADA has been involved in a recent experiment in applying Appreciative Inquiry for community development. We will be happy to share our experiences with other development agencies. For more details refer to our website at http://iisd.ca/ai

Batch Size 
Keeping in view effectiveness of training – MYRADA prefers batch sizes of not more that 20-25 persons per programme.

Language
MYRADA offers training in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and English (and in some cases Hindi). In case the participants are unfamiliar with all these languages, we prefer to have at least two-three persons in each batch who are proficient in any of the above-mentioned languages to facilitate translations.

Facilities
MYRADA's training centres offer simple shared accommodation and a variety of South Indian menu for food. The training halls are themselves fully equipped for training. MYRADA arranges for travel within the Project from a pick-up point, which will be specified in our communication. The participants themselves must pay for all transit costs at Bangalore/other cities… though MYRADA will arrange for accommodation and other services if required.

Training processes and Contents
The training schedule is prepared based on the requirements of each batch. There is a great amount of flexibility in the training content. Participatory training methodologies are used and the trainers are drawn from the Projects themselves and sometimes from other institutions. All the training programmes will involve at least 40% of the time on the field with assignments.

Budgets
The budgets and mode of payment for the programmes depend on the duration of the training, category of participants and the programme requirements and will be communicated on formal request. 

Indian Institutions can either contact the BANGALORE OFFICE or MYRADA'S PROJECTS directly for clarifications and bookings. The addresses of Projects are given in the website.

Requests for Long-term Training or Mentoring/Training Deputations or strategic support must be directed to the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/DEPUTY DIRECTOR/TRAINING TEAM at Bangalore or the PROGRAMMES OFFICERS of MYRADA. The procedures for such support will be communicated on receipt of such requests.

Training for Foreign Nationals:
All international training requests must be directed to members of the TRAINING TEAM at Bangalore - 

MYRADA, 
No. 2 Service Road, 
Domlur Layout, 
BANGALORE - 560 071
Ph.: +91-80-25353166, 25352028, 25354457
Fax: +91-80-25350982 
Email: myrada@vsnl.com. 
Website: www.myrada.org

A FEW GLIMPSES OF TRAINING IN MYRADA