AMBO UNIVERSITY

GUDER MAMO CAMPUS

SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND RURAL

DEVELOPMENT

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

PRACTICAL ATTACHMENT ((AgEc 451)

COMPILED BY: CHIMDESSA U.

JULY, 2022

AMBO, ETHIOPIA
 Table of Contents
Co
ntents Pages
1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................1

2. Overview of the Practical Attachment.........................................................................................2

3. Student Placement for the Practical Attachment.........................................................................4

4. Student’s discipline....................................................................................................................14

5. Recording Work activities and Report Writing.........................................................................14

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1. Introduction
Course Description
Students shall be attached for at least two months to identified and approved organizations or
institutions for getting practical (on job) experience on issues related to management, marketing
and financing under close supervision of the departmental or faculty staff. The student should
keep a record for daily work signed by his/her direct supervisor and produce a comprehensive
reports on their practical experiences and findings in the prescribed format, verified by the
authorized supervisor, at the end of the period.

Course Objectives:
The main purpose of the course is to provide students with work experience, and exposure to the
real work environment in agricultural economics, community and rural development activities so
that they can easily cope with their future careers upon graduation.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

 Adopt the work environments of the institutions they are attached to;
 Take part in professional activities of the organizations they are attached to;
 Learn technical aspects of specific systems such as scientific equipment, computer
software or models, data generation and management systems
 Identify and/or prove themselves to potential employers; and produce report of scientific
standard from the observations they make and research data they collect.

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2. Overview of the Practical Attachment

What do you mean by the practical attachment? Why do you attach to different organizations for
your practical attachment? What are the organizations that can host you for your practical
attachment?
2.1. What is practical attachment?

In the context of these guidelines, practical attachment is a practical-based practical training

experience that prepares trainees for the tasks they are expected to perform on completion of
their training. Currently practical attachment in many Universities is known by several names in
different faculties and/or disciplines. The other names for it include: Practical attachment,
internship, school practice, community Based Education and Services (COBES), and industrial
training. The term “Practical Attachment” is used for all learning tasks to mean any approved
practical based practical work carried out by students for the purpose of teaching in places
outside the University but where the University is responsible for the supervision and evaluation
of these practical activities of its students.

2.2. Roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders

Practical Attachment will be implemented through partnership between the University and other
partners who consume the University’s products and services. This partnership has three key
stakeholders namely: the University partners, the University and the students. Commitment to
this partnership rests on mutual benefits for all the key partners. The expected benefits of the
program for the different parties include:

University Partners/Organizations
 Will get opportunity to be involved in the training and review of programs at the
University.
 Will be exposed to a pool of potential employees from which to select. This will
ultimately reduce the cost of induction/orientation of new employees,
 Will get additional human resource for effective and efficient service delivery.

Putting in mind the above benefits, the host organizations:-

 Shall participate in the planning, supervision and evaluation of the students on practical
attachment.
 Will provide on-site technical and professional guidance to the students on practical
attachment throughout the field attachment period.
 Will provide feedback to the University on the experience of the practical attachment
program.

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  Will commit their organizational facilities and/or resources for effective implementation
of the practical attachment program.
 Will engage in a mutual learning exercise together with the students and staff of the
University.
 Will provide students on practical attachment with a wide range of experiences that go
beyond technical skills.
 Shall give accreditation and credit gains to students on practical attachment.
The Universities

 Will get opportunity to appreciate client demands and the quality of graduates required to
fulfill these demands.
 As a result of the cooperation the potential for research will be enhanced and developed
with the various partners,
 Will get opportunity to access training facilities and resources that are not available at the
Universities
 Industry linkage
Bearing in mind the above benefits, the universities:-
 Will provide overall institutional management of the program.
 Shall prepare required forms to the curricula and have it reviewed periodically.
 Will be responsible for developing a monitoring and evaluation criteria for the practical
attachment program including the code of conduct for students and staff.
 Shall initiate partnership with relevant organizations and concretize this partnership with
memoranda of understanding.
 Will be responsible for identifying sites that offer valuable learning experiences to the
students and staff.
 Will develop criteria/and or guidelines for selection and training/orientation of the
practical supervisors.
Students
 Will acquire new knowledge and practical experiences,
 Will improve their confidence in problem solving.
 Opportunity to relate to different categories of people likely to be met in the real-life
situation.
 Will gain exposure to the demands and challenges of the work place.
 Will get opportunity to meet and work with potential employers.

3. Student Placement for the Practical Attachment

Students up on the completion third year of this Bachelor of Science level training in
Agricultural Economics will work on different aspects of the Agricultural Economics of the rural
and urban setup of Ethiopia. Therefore, the Practical Attachment field work will help the
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graduates to accumulate practical experience and prepares them to the job employment. Before
the placement, students should be briefed a week before they do the end of Semester II
examination of the third year, so that they can appreciate practical attachment as an integral part
of their B.Sc. level training program in Agricultural Economics. In such briefing, the following
areas shall be addressed:

 The purpose of the practical attachment program.

 Basic requirements in terms of equipment and materials.
 Code of conduct expected of the students during the Practical attachment
 Roles of the various supervisors (academic and field supervisors)
 Grading/evaluation of the field attachment program
 Various channels of communication for students on practical attachments e.g. where and
how to report when they have problems.
 The final practical attachment report format.
 When and how to hand over materials/equipment lent to them (by) the host organization)
during practical attachment.
 Other matters concerning their welfare during the practical attachment

After clear briefing what and how students will do, students will be assigned to different
organizations that may have roles to play in the Agricultural Econmics; the organization/
company that may play any of acting, supporting and influencing role could host and train them
the practical skill and affection which enable them in applying the theoretical knowledge they
acquired from the theoretical session of the learning tasks. Therefore, the Practical attachment
contains two types of organizational placements as indicated

1. Placement in government organizations

Students will be placed at the government organizations/companies working on Agricultural
Economics for some two months at the end of second year during their vacation. A student who
is interested in to be attached and work, learn in government organizations is possible to be
placed in a government organizations at different levels (woreda, zonal, regional or federal
level). With this placement, students are expected to study the structure, planning, management
and activities performed by these organizations towards Agricultural Economics. Students will
use the checklist to collect the information (See checklist 1)

Checklist 1. Data collection from Government Organizations

1. The role of the organization in Agricultural Economics development

2. The Agricultural Economics sector (the policy Environment)
 Main components of Agricultural Economics development
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  Weaknesses/gaps in relation to today’s understanding of Agricultural Economics
development
3. Organization and management of Agricultural Economics development programs
 Mandates
 Main components of its on-going Agricultural Economics development programs/
activities
 How it is organized to discharge its responsibilities, including its organizational
structure
 Main departments and their functions
 How the different departments are coordinated
 The planning process
 Personnel management: recruitment, promotion, incentive for staff motivation
 Performance measurement systems
 Performance monitoring and evaluation systems of development activities: When,
how and by whom, frequency, participation of stakeholders and clients …etc and
constraints.
4. Institutional interaction/partnerships with stakeholders
 Partners/key stakeholders
 Roles and contributions of stakeholders
 Mechanisms of managing linkages and partnership. For eg. joint problem
diagnosis, joint planning, joint review meeting…etc
 Problems in working in partnership
5. Impacts on livelihood of different socio- economic groups/rural communities.
 Impact indicators may include income, employment, ownership of household and
productive assets, gender participation, conservation of resources, access to basic
services, equity in the distribution of benefits between households, social groups and
geographic areas etc within the district concerned.

6. Resources available for executing Agricultural Economics development programs

6.1. Human resource

No Discipline (profession) Required Available Gap (in

number number number)
I. Technical staff

II. Supporting staff

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 5.2. Budget during the past years
Budget
Year
Requested (required) Allocated Gap/discrepancy

5.3. Logistics (both at Woreda and village levels) such as transport facilities and others

5.4. Office facilities: computers, chairs, offices etc….

6. Major bottlenecks in planning, managing and implementing Agricultural Economics

development programs

4. Placement in Non-Governmental Organizations

As to the second classification, students who are interested to be attached to non-governmental
organizations can also choose any non-governmental, Community Based Organization or
cooperative or private agency working in agri-business and value chain aspects. And, they are
expected to understand the aims, objectives, structure, management and scheme of the respective
organization. Students will use the checklist to collect the information (see checklist 2, 3, 4).

Checklist 2. Data Collection from Non-Governmental Organizations

Students are expected to understand and collect information related to the objectives,
organizational structure and activities performed towards agri-business and value chain
development by the non-governmental organizations. Students should use the following checklist
for collecting data.

1. Name and role of the NGO working in Agricultural Economics development programs:
(Full name of the NGO)
2. Address:
(Complete postal address including telephone number, email and name of contact person)
3. Year of establishment:

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 (Date of commencement
4. Registration
(Year of registration and Act under which the NGO is registered)
5. Objectives
(What are the objectives of the NGO)
6. Beneficiaries of the project:
(Who are the beneficiaries?)
7. Criteria for the selection of beneficiaries
(Basis for selecting beneficiaries and type of beneficiaries)
8. Area of operation:
(Indicate where they are operating Woreda/Regional/National/International level)
9. Linkage with other organizations:
(What are the different links that the NGO has with other organizations? For what purpose
do they have links?)
10. Organizational structure: (Draw an organizational chart)
11. Staff profiles:
(How many staffs are working in the organization and in what capacity? You may consider
number of staff qualification and experience or service year)
12. Gender profile of the staffs
13. Management and Administration:
(Who manages the NGO? and explain who are the decision makers in the NGO?)
14. Sources of funds: Resource mobilization
(Regional/National/international- List out all the funding agencies that provide funds for
their activities for the past years)

Table III: Source of Funds

Year
Particulars 1 2 3 4 5
Government
International
Others
Total

15. Major activities of the NGO in Agricultural Economics development

(Explain in detail- the NGO may have more than one activity. Indicate all those)
16. Impact of the activities undertaken by the NGO
(What impacts/benefits have been created for the beneficiaries because of the intervention by
the NGO)
This includes:
 Income
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  Creation of jobs (employment)
 Ownership of house hold and production assets such as oxen, donkey
 Health services
 Housing and nutrition
 Gender participation
 Conservation of natural resources

17. The Strength and Weakness of the NGO?

(What are the strengths and weakness of the NGO- example may be well known in the area etc)

18. Problem/ difficulties faced by NGO

(What are the problems faced by the NGO? in terms of funding, linking, human resource etc).
Check whether you have collected the following information, as they are essential to write
the final report.

S. Information Points to be studied and number of cases to be reported

N.
Identify the following
1. Registration of NGO a. How the NGO was established?
b. Who initiated the NGO?
c. NGO registration number and process

2. Objectives of NGO Identify the following

a. How many objectives were there at first when the organization
was started?
b. What additional objectives have been added over the time
period?
c. why did they amend their objectives?
Identify the following
3. Management of NGO a. Identify how much decision making process require
participation (management and leadership style)
b. Identify how they are elected?
c. how the NGO is managed?
4. Activities of NGO Identify the following
a. How the activities (or) interventions are identified?
b. How do they carry out the identified major activities?
(Student has to ask the officials to explain with one selected activity)
5. Linkage Identify the following
a. Institutions to which they are linked
b. What are the different organizations to which they are linked?

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 c. What do they get when they link?
d. try to analyze the linkage with an example
(Students have to ask the officials to explain for one activity, how do
they have the link)
6. Funding of NGO Identify the following
a. Funding pattern for the activities
b. Do they have enough funds for performing their activities?
c. How do you work for fund raising?
7. Procedure of starting an NGO Identify the following
a. What are the procedures for starting an NGO?
b. Assess whether you can start an NGO after completing your
graduation in agri-business and value chain development.(at
least one page)

Checklist for Data Collection from Community Based Organizations (CBOs)

Placement in the community based organizations (CBOs)
Information for data collection
1. Name of the organization
2. Date of the establishment of the organization
3. Initiation
 Self-initiative (formed by the community themselves)
 External initiative (formed by someone’s initiative for e.g. government, NGO’s or
others)
 Legal status (registered, if not registered why, if so procedure of registration)
 4. Area of operation (Kebele, Woreda/Regional/National)
5. Organizational structure (Draw)
6. Membership
 Number of members
 Eligibility for membership
 Rights & duties of members
 Gender participation
 Members’ participation in decision making
 Capacity building strategies for members
7. Leaders election
a) Followed democratic procedures b) appointment c) Other
7.1. Capacity building strategies for leaders (What strategy is designed to enhance the capacity
of the management team?)
8. Objective of the organizations
9. Functions and services of the organization
10. Source of fund

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  Members contribution
 Loans/credit
 Other
11. Planning, auditing & other record maintenance
12. Role of the organization in the development of the area
13. Impacts of the organization in the operational area
 Income of the household
 Creation of jobs (employment opportunity)
 Ownership of house hold and production assets such as oxen, donkey
 Health services
 Housing and nutrition
 Gender participation
 Conservation of natural resources
14. Promotional strategies (membership recruitment service, product delivery, resource
mobilization e.t.c.
15. Challenges encountered in performing the activities & opportunities ahead
16. Role of the CBO in motivating females to participate in value chain development
Checklist for Data collection from Private Agencies
Data from private sectors is collected during the fieldwork in order to achieve the stated
objectives of the course. The data to be collected need to be relevant to the objectives,
organizational structure and any other activity of the respective private sector in the rural and
urban setting assisting the agri-business and value chain development process. The following
checklist is prepared for collecting the relevant data.
1. Name of the private firm (Full name)
2. Types of the business organization (partnership, sole proprietorship etc...)
3. Address:
Complete postal address including Telephone number, email, and name of contact person
in the private sector.
4. Year of establishment: and date of starting activity
5. License: year and date on which the private sector achieve legal status, where and under
what kind of requirement.
6. Objectives of the business organization
7. In what kind of sector or specific activity is the private business involved (Area of
involvement):
 The type of goods or services offered by the private sector (or
organization/enterprise)
8. Area of operation:
 Indicate where the private sector under question is working:
 Woreda/Regional/National/Global levels
9. Linkage/partnership with other private sectors organizations
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  Which organizations are the partners?
 Linkage with input suppliers, financial institutions
 What is the purpose of partnership/
10. Organizational structure
 Draw an organizational structure for the private business
11. Human resources (Employee) available in the private business
 Total Number of staff
 Gender composition
12. Activities: detailed explanation the activities of the private business
13. Impacts of the activities by the private business
 Impacts on the society (interims of employment, services, marketing e.t.c)
 Impacts on the environment
 Impacts on related and non-related business
 Clearly sort out negative impacts and indicate ways of mitigating and preventing
them.
14. Various problems/challenges
 Environmental problems for starting up and survival of a private sector
 Government policy/political environment (e.g. Entry requirements,
investment incentives like exemption from tax, etc.)
 Socio-economic environment
5. Major areas where students can be attached

Students can be attached at different levels of the agri-business and value chain oriented
organizations. This ranges from the very rural areas to towns and highly developed cities from
the first level of agricultural product value chain (producers and input dealers) to the value
addition and final consumption. Students are not limited to the following organizations, but the
following are some of the hosting organizations for the practical attachment of the Agricultural
Economics students.
 Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECEX)
 Agricultural industries
 Private and government agricultural firms
 Agricultural input dealer organizations
 Private and government companies
 Market dealing organizations
 Networks, consortiums and associations
 Agricultural cooperatives and unions
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  Formal and informal social institutions
 Saving and credit institutions
 Banks and insurances
 Private entrepreneurs
 Research institutes, Universities, ATVETs
 Agricultural offices of different levels ( Local, Zonal, Regional or Federal)
 Community based organizations
 Non-governmental organizations
 Postharvest and processing
 Gender and youth affairs

6. Student’s discipline
Students are expected to thoroughly offer their analyses based on their observation, the day-to-
day practical work and the information gathered from the hosting organization, and are required
to submit a written report to the department and offer an oral presentation. The department will
organize the oral presentation date after coming back from their vacation.

Attendance in all the components of the attachment is compulsory. Students are not entitled to
any kind of leave during the attachment period. The hosting organizations will take the
attendance and students should come up with an attendance certificate duly signed and sealed by
the hosting organization. Attendance and discipline (good conduct) will attribute to the
evaluation reports by the hosting organizations and this in turn would be part of the performance
evaluation of a student.

Any misconduct at work would be viewed seriously and result in academic disciplinary action.
Thus, students have to maintain good discipline throughout the Practical Attachment period. In
the event of illness, for which the student can produce a medical certificate from a recognized
health institution (clinic or hospital) or under some circumstances that would not allow the
student to pursue the course, he/she will be admitted to register for the course the following year
provided that he/she can produce a satisfactory written evidence from the local administration
where he/she lives.

7. Recording Work activities and Report Writing

During the entire period of the Practical Attachment, every student should have a work activity
sheet where he /she can record the work done, lessons learnt by him/her and any observation
pertinent to the study in the respective organization. The work activity sheet has to be

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countersigned by the head of each section/wing or other authorized person where the student is
placed on the daily basis.

At the end of the Practical attachment period, students are required to produce a written final
document in the given format of writing an academic paper and submit to the academic
supervisors in one copy. The maximum number of pages of the report is 15-25.

The report should consist:

1. Title and Cover page of the Practical attachment
2. A synthesized abstract of the report
3. Overview of the report (few notes about the hosting organization such as missions, values
and visions, the development intervention that the hosting organization is involved in and
connect this with the agri-business and value chain management issues you have covered
in the class)
4. Objective of the Practical attachment (General objectives of the attachment + specific
objectives of each students in the areas related to agri-business and value chain
management, s/he is going to be attached)
5. Methods on how the exercise is carried out
6. Discussion based on the observation and data collection
 What Agricultural Economics activities are being carried out by the organization and
how can these activities do impact the life of the chain? Is the chain problem driven?
Are the chain activities multi-sectoral? Is the decision in the chain participatory? Do
the producers/farmers are beneficiaries from the chain
 What work has been done in the past years? and by whom?
 How do you relate the issues under question with Agricultural Economics?
 Offer a critique (mentioning both the strength and weakness of the organization)
 Support your argument with a relevant literature source on issues (in necessary).
 How do you relate your learning in the field to the courses you have taken
theoretically in the class?
 Problems Identified (what problems did you identify). Are the problems cross
cutting?
7. Summary, conclusion and recommendation

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