Launching the Course: Initial Impact of Flint's Video Course on Sustainable Agriculture
In response to growing program demand and travel restrictions imposed by Covid-19, Flint recently launched our Sustainable Agriculture Course in Tanzania and Uganda. The course is an online option (accessible by mobile and computer) for our partners to quickly and remotely gain training and mentorship in sustainable agriculture through video content, worksheets, activities, and direct digital interaction with our team. By expanding our work to include these digital programs, we can reduce program costs while increasing the number of partners we equip.
The following story was written by Flint’s Director of Innovation, Caleb Meeks, and is a reflection on the new program’s developing impact.
You know those stories of how Steve Jobs or Bill Gates launched their world-changing company from the humble beginnings of a repurposed garage? I can imagine how they felt after tinkering away for the first few months with little more than optimism and a caffeine addiction to show for it. I can also imagine how they felt when watching their first customers use the thing they had worked so hard on. It must have been a mixture of anticipation, relief, and excitement.
That's how I've felt with the launch of our Sustainable Conservation Agriculture Online Course over this past month. Our first cohort is in Uganda and has experienced numerous challenges, most of them related not to the course but rather to environmental challenges. I have kept a spirit of resolve as we revise and reconstruct based on tests and trials in the field. Today, for the first time though, I also feel a clear sense of joy.
A couple days ago, a friend of Flint who has been helping us refine the agriculture course suggested I send it to their friend Daniel in Tanzania. Daniel and his wife live in a small town called Majengo, just a few miles from where Kristina and I worked in Southeast Tanzania. Though Daniel can understand and work in English, he and I were able to briefly get to know each other over the phone in Swahili. When I asked him why he was interested in our course he said, "I have already been teaching the local school children and their parents new agricultural practices. I want them to see that it can be a legitimate profession!"
He then sent me a video of a three-acre field of sesame seed he had cultivated for a cash crop. I could tell he was excited and eager to begin, so yesterday I quickly set up the WhatsApp group chat and sent him the first lessons which introduce the course. This morning, I awoke to find all his completed assignments in the chat along with very insightful follow-up questions that my coworker, David Reeves (our agriculture guru), was able to quickly answer.
After nearly five months since beginning the development of this digital course, it is amazing to see someone like Daniel eagerly jump at the chance to use it. I am excited that he is committed to taking the content and communicating it to his neighbors and friends in a way that would take us years to replicate ourselves. The agricultural practices we teach have the potential to yield four to eight times the harvest of traditional approaches. All while using materials and funding that people already have at hand. In his hands, and with his heart for service, this information can translate into generational change for an entire community.
Our vision at Flint is to see families and communities flourish and make the world a brighter place. We work hard to empower people like Daniel to do just that. What a joy to see the clear promise of a good harvest!
About Caleb Meeks
Caleb Meeks is Flint's Director of Innovation. Caleb grew up in Kenya, East Africa, until he was eight years old and then lived in rural East Tennessee for the remainder of his childhood. He and his wife Kristina moved to Tanzania for five years after college where they learned Swahili and gained a deeper appreciation for their Christian faith and the great need and potential in the world. They are the delighted parents of five amazing children and are currently based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Caleb was an entrepreneur from an early age, starting an organic chicken farm in high school. He studied mechanical engineering at Harding University and is weeks away from completing a master's degree in global engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. He loves hearing and telling stories and is always on the lookout for ways to innovate at Flint.