Welcome to RUAF - South Asia

Urban Agriculture Distance Learning Courses Urban agriculture in increasingly practiced by people from all walks of life. Support for urban agriculture is increasing, as is the demand for training. In response to this demand, Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada), ETC Urban Agriculture (the Netherlands) and RUAF (International network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food security) will be offering a series of unique Distance Learning courses on urban agriculture.

Starting from January 2008, students, staff from NGOs and research institutes, representatives from local and national governments as well as international organizations can sign up for the urban agriculture courses with a focus to enabling multi-stakeholder research, action planning, policy development and implementation on urban agriculture. The courses are designed in such a way that they can be accessed with low-speed Internet connection. Course materials will also be provided on CD-Rom. Courses will currently only be given in English, in future courses will hopefully also be provided in Spanish, French and possibly Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic. See our flyer for details.

1. ACCREDITED(as part of the Ryersons University's Continuing Education program): Each course will run for 14 weeks or one semester. It is estimated that course participants will spend at least 3 hours/week on lessons and study. Course participants will interact with experienced course instructors and other students and participate in group discussions and assignments. Grading will be based on the level of participation as well as a final exam. Course participants will also have access to a technical help-desk and library. Upon successful completion of the course, course participants will receive an official transcript of their participation. Course fees amount to CAD 456 (equivalent to US$ 465) per course.

2. FREE AND SELF-PACED (independent learning): From next year onwards, the materials developed for the university courses will also be offered for free on the RUAF website (www.ruaf.org) and as a CD-Rom. In this set up, learners decide for them selves what materials to study and when.

To express your interest in and support of the development of these urban agriculture courses, please complete this form.