The relationship between training and commitment : programmes for the KSS representatives in Bangladesh

This thesis examines the relationships between training and commitment with reference to the programmes for the KSS representatives in Bangladesh under BRDB. It argues that commitment at the macro and micro levels is essential for the effectiveness of such training. Since there has not been any systematic study of commitment at the macro and micro levels in relation to the training programmes of the KSS representatives, the findings of this study are expected to contribute significantly to the corpus of knowledge concerning training of farmers and other village cooperators in Bangladesh. These findings may also prove useful and beneficial to many third world countries. Chapter I argues the need for training of village cooperators and shows that the Comilla co-operative model, now replicated by BRDB throughout the country, attached supreme importance to such training. Analysis in Chapters I & II reveals that the training of the KSS representatives in the 1960s had a positive impact on their motivation to adopt improved agricultural practices and to increase production. This was possible because of the commitment of the personnel at the macro and the micro levels to training. Evidence produced in the chapter suggests that the training of the KSS representatives has now become ineffective, lifeless, stereotyped and ritualistic due to the lack of commitment at the macro and the micro levels. Criteria of effective training and commitment are developed to provide a conceptual framework to facilitate subsequent analysis in the thesis. Chapter II, III & IV examine the commitment at the macro level to the training of the KSS representatives. Analysis in Chapter II reveals that the governments were committed to the Comilla model and the training of the KSS representatives in the 1960s. In the 1970s and mid 1980s the governments and BRDB lost their commitment to the training of the KSS representatives. Chapter III shows that the governments and BRDB failed to provide resources for an adequate training and learning environment in the Upazilas. BRDB authorities are shown in Chapter IV to be not specifically committed to the training of the KSS representatives in the Upazilas. Analysis at the micro level in Chapters V & VI demonstrates that the trainers and the trainees are equally not committed to such training. Chapter VII reviews the evidence of the earlier chapters in relation to the training and learning of the KSS representatives and concludes that no one at either the macro or the micro level was committed to the training of the KSS representataives during the 1970s and mid 1980s. The thesis argues that effective training of the KSS representatives is essential for the improvement and modernisation of agriculture and co-operatives in Bangladesh. Authorities at the macro level and trainers and trainees at the micro level must be committed to effective training. The study concludes that none of the governments, BRDB, nor the Upazila level trainers and the trainees were committed and that a return to the Comilla model principles of commitment to training is required before training can become effective.