Helping to Rebuild Rwanda
The PEARL Project
When the land-grant philosophy really works, then there are no boundaries. It's ultimately a bunch of people who work together to get a job done that needs doing.
--Dan Clay
Helping a small, war-torn country try to rebuild even a part of its economy is not for the faint of heart. But the devastating events in Rwanda in the mid-1990s did not stop Dan Clay of MSU's Institute of International Agriculture from believing he could apply his knowledge of international development to do something to help the country he and his family had been evacuated from when civil war broke out in 1994. That something was PEARL.
The Partnership to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL) is an innovative international project that utilizes the knowledge of university laboratories and industry experts, together with Rwandan farmers' indigenous knowledge, to help transform unexceptional coffee beans into a premium specialty coffee ready for the world market. This export provides a much-needed source of income for Rwanda's farmers and for the country's beleaguered economy. The project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In 1994, Dan Clay was in Rwanda as MSU's in-country director of the Rwanda Food Security Research Project. His policy research work there addressed income diversification, land use, food availability, nutrition, agricultural productivity, and food aid targeting and impacts. In 2000, Clay became director of MSU's Institute of International Agriculture; a year later he conceived and launched PEARL. The original partnership included Emile Rwamasirabo, rector of the National University of Rwanda (NUR), and Tim Schilling, an agronomist with Texas A&M University, who agreed to direct the project in-country and continues in that capacity today.
Working with farmer associations to improve the coffee product at all stages of production, processing, and marketing, the PEARL project realized its key objective in 2003 when the project introduced the specialty coffee into the United States through New Orleans based Community Coffee. PEARL has also helped to strengthen Rwandan universities and research institutes by providing master's degree training in agricultural sciences at two U.S. universities for 19 young instructors (twelve at MSU and seven at Texas A&M). These instructors are now applying their research knowledge back in Rwanda.
Coffee is available for purchase at http://shop.msu.edu
If you bring the right resources and give people a stake in it, it's amazing how the technology spreads on its own. There's no reason this can't work in other places.
--Dan Clay
The PEARL Model for Successful Agricultural Outreach and Technology Transfer: Ten Guiding Principles
- Work through farmer associations/cooperatives (and commodity groups as they form).
- Work through partnerships to strengthen farmer associations around key economic opportunities to add value and respond to market demand. Build private sector partnerships.
- Be "action oriented" in program initiation.
- Understand and accept risk; be prepared for failure.
- Reduce risk through demand orientation. If a project investment can help meet market demand chances of success are much higher.
- Focus on complete agricultural product supply chains "from farm to table."
- Ensure local government buy-in and support.
- Place emphasis on local ownership and management.
- Build an integrated program of applied research that will address practical needs of the farmer and commodity associations.
- Never overlook human resource training.
More information on the guiding principles
Sources: Information for the PEARL Project description was obtained from Dr. Clay and from the following Web sites:
http://www.newsbulletin.msu.edu/jan2705/rwanda.html
http://special.newsroom.msu.edu/rwandacoffee/
http://www.msu.edu/aktl/aktl_5.html
http://special.newsroom.msu.edu/rwandacoffee/pearl_contribution.html
http://www.iia.msu.edu/news/iia_news200009.htm
Information from existing sources edited by Catherine Gibson, Contributing Writer/Editor, University Outreach and Engagement.
Back to topRead other examples of outreach and engagement
