Following the successful implementation of the Poverty Reduction and Agricultural Management (PRAM) Programme by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and local partners of the Wetlands Alliance, AIT proposed, in early 2010, a project aimed at distilling lessons learned from the PRAM programme.
PRAM focused on poverty reduction as a priority and measurement of success. The programme targeted local governmental officers – often based in remote rural areas – and offered them an educational platform with a practical programme of professional competency development. The programme suited local needs and had the potential to positively impact poverty levels.
With this model as a case study, AIT and partners, namely the University of the Philippines, Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universiti Sains Malaysia, developed a project whose main objective was to identify innovative educational approaches to improve postgraduate curricula, incorporating the needs of the region’s poorer groups and serving as a guide to change educational practices.
Providing a comprehensive overview of the PRAM initiative and its educational processes, partners worked on analysing opportunities and constraints of implementing such an innovative programme.