Support the First Steps in Rural Leaders' Training

Message from ARI Curriculum & Admissions

After overcoming a hot summer, participants are heading towards the last few months of the training program. Through many opportunities to practice leadership, participants faced many challenges and gained many achievements. Since ARI is diverse, each participant must practice being a good listener and learn how to deal with disagreements, misunderstandings, and even conflicts as their fellow members have different cultures, ways of thinking, and communication styles. These trials are essential. During these times, they learn the most about leadership and team building.

Participants frequently struggle when leading the group, but through their challenges they learn the importance of sharing work, participatory decision making, motivating people, and much more. Participants often comment that leading at ARI is tough but prepares them well for when they return home. When they work with people with the same language and culture, it will be easy! Upon completing their leadership term, ARI staff set up a Leader’s Reflection session in which they can reflect on their strengths as a leader and can find ways to improve themselves.

Study & Observation Trips:

The participants also visited farms and other off-campus locations. At organic farms in Ogawa Town, they met organic farmers practicing crop rotation, companion plants, living mulch, Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) and Biogas production. Seeing the techniques they had studied at ARI being put into practice on these farms reinforced their learning. The study tour also teaches about the history, philosophy and practice of organic farming in Japan through interactions with many agricultural groups and cooperatives. Together, these lessons (combined with the servant leadership skills essential to their application) enable Participants to develop in a comprehensive way.

In the Rural Community Study Tour, a week-long tour, participants visited Yamagata prefecture, and Iwate prefecture, visiting farms, cooperatives, schools and other farming groups and individual farmers. They also visited several other farms, and a compost center within Tochigi prefecture.

Summer Individual Project:

Participants had a week-long opportunity to deepen their learning in an area of their choice. Each must consider what learning would be helpful for their community back home. Then design their study or practical project plan. Many projects both practical and theoretical were conducted on and off campus.

Guest Lectures:

We were blessed with several guest lecturers throughout the year. Some of the notables are Shimpei Murakami, Ardhendu & Satoko Chatterjee (DRCSC, India), Patrick Trail (Echo Asia, Thailand), Sherry DeLeon (AFARI, USA), Rev. Jeffrey Mensendiek (JF Obirin University), Tony Rinaudo (Australia), Yuri Morikawa and others. Other graduates and local resource persons have also dedicated much time and energy into sharing their lifelong knowledge with the participants.

Mid-term presentation:

In this presentation, participants shared their biggest learning at ARI so far. We could see that each learned something different from living the same daily schedule. Such is the beauty of a learning space based in community living. Currently, participants are
continuing to build upon their learning and have begun preparing for the important work that awaits them back home. We encourage you to continue your support of our participants' efforts, as they prepare to return home and implement their future community projects.