Practical Attachement Manual (ABVM 473)

Conducting Research in Agribusiness and Value Chain, Practical Attachment)
CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN AGRIBUSINESS

AND VALUE CHAIN (ABVM473)
LT4: PRACTICAL ATTACHMENT (1ECTS)
(ABVM 473)
Compiled By
Getachew Chala (M.Sc.)

Kinfe Asayehegn (M.Sc.)
February, 2013
Revised by
Biruk Fikadu (M.Sc.)
April, 2014
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Jimma, Haramaya, Hawassa, Ambo, Adama, Debremarkos Bahrdar, Semera, Wolayta Sodo
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Table of Contents
Contents Pages
3.4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................1
3.4.2. Objectives of the Learning Task...................................................................................................2
3.4.3 Sections.........................................................................................................................................2
3.4.3.1. Overview of the Practical Attachment...................................................................................2
3.4.3.2. Student Placement for the Practical Attachment....................................................................4
3.4.3.3. Student’s discipline..............................................................................................................14
3.4.3.4. Recording Work activities and Report Writing.....................................................................14
3.4.3.5. Fellow-up and Assessment Scheme.....................................................................................15
3.4.4. Tips on Practical Attachment Presentation.................................................................................20
3.4.4.1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................20
3.4.4.2. Preparing transparencies.....................................................................................................20
3.4.4.3 PowerPoint Preparation and presentation..............................................................................22
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3.4.1 Introduction
Practical Attachment is one of the compulsory learning tasks of research in agri-business
educational unit that you have to take during your study. This learning task is intended to
expand your understanding and critical thinking. It also enables you develop your own
thoughts and goals through attaching to different agri-business organization and observe the
practical working environment and share the new insights and the knowledge you have gain.
It provides students with a smooth transition from the on-campus environment to the working
environment. It is often viewed as a ‘win-win’ situation for both the student and hosting
organizations/employers. Students are able to learn about the profession and gain practical
experience while simultaneously being able to reflect on what they have learned in the
classroom. Employers benefit from practical attachment as students are sources of future
employees.
There are many ways to do practical attachment. This can be regarded as a paradigm which
subsumes a variety of approaches. The choice you make has to be justified in your eventual
report. The aim in making the choice is to achieve attachment outcomes in such a way that
each enriches what you have theoretically learnt in class. That is an important point of the
practical attachment. Focus on the rigor on the attendance, quality work and action learning of
students in the business area and interpretations. The Practical Attachment learning task will
enable the students to adopt the work environments of the organizations they are attached to;
take part in professional activities of the organizations; assess gaps in their own knowledge
and understanding of the work environment; produce organized report from their practical
attachment and the observations they have made during the occasion. This learning task is
designed to provide students a practical experience that would enable them performs better on
different issues of agri-business and value chains. Students will be attached to different
organizations (governmental, non-governmental, community based organizations and private
sectors) working on development activities in the rural and urban areas of Ethiopia whereby
they can acquire the desired skills and practical experience by the help of experienced
personnel working in the hosting organizations. Hosting organizations are required to fellow-
up the students and evaluate upon their attendance, performance on the job, students’ learning
ability, e.t.c.
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3.4.2. Objectives of the Learning Task
The purpose of practical attachment in the field of agri-business and value chain management
is to produce practically oriented graduates that meet the required job-related competences of
their future jobs. Additionally, it serves as a linkage between the University and various
partners who consume services and/or products of the University. Therefore, at the end of this
learning task, you will be able to:-
 Realize your theoretical expectation to real work situation through developing
awareness and field experience, experiencing challenges and harsh environments
 Test the theoretical knowledge and tools learned in class as a result paramount
experiences practically in the job situation and fields.
 Exposed to the behavior, structure, and operation, integration of different functional
areas of organizations both in the internal and external environments and encourage
them to be productive whilst developing future agri-business and value chain
managers.
 Marry theory to practice in real world agri-business and value chain situations
3.4.3 Sections
3.4.3.1. 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? (You can use the following space for your response and crosscheck your
response by reading the concept bellow)
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________
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3.4.3.1. 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.
3.4.3.1. 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.
 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.
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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.
 Shall source for funding from development partners and internally to support
implementation of the practical attachment program.
 Will create platforms and mechanisms for sharing experience arising out the practical
attachment program by the stakeholders.
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.
 Will have improved appreciation of the profession and therefore better work ethics.
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3.4.3.2. Student Placement for the Practical Attachment
Students up on the completion of this Bachelor of Science level training in agri-business and
value chain management will work on different aspects of the agri-business and value chain
management of the rural and urban setup of Ethiopia. Therefore, the Practical Attachment
field work will help the 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 second year, so that they can appreciate practical
attachment as an integral part of their B.Sc. level training program in agri-business and value
chain management. 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 value chain development; 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 agri-business

in the value chain 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 value chain
and agri-businesses. Students will use the checklist to collect the information (See checklist
1).
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Checklist 1. Data collection from Government Organizations
1. The role of the organization in agri-business and value chain development

2. The value chain and agri-business sector (the policy Environment)
 Main components of Agri-business and value chain development

 Weaknesses/gaps in relation to today’s understanding of Agri-business and
value chain development
3. Organization and management of agri-business and value chain development
programs
 Mandates
 Main components of its on-going Agri-business and value chain 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.
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6. Resources available for executing agri-business and value chain development

programs
6.1. Human resource
No Discipline (profession) Required Available Gap (in

number number number)
I. Technical staff
II. Supporting staff
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
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5.4. Office facilities: computers, chairs, offices etc….
6. Major bottlenecks in planning, managing and implementing agri-business and value chain
development programs
2. 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 agri-business and value chain 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:
(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:
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(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 agri-business and value chain 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
 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
16. 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)
17. Problem/ difficulties faced by NGO
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(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.N. Information Points to be studied and number of cases to be reported
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 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?
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?
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
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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 Identify the following
NGO
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
 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
 Members contribution
 Loans/credit
 Other
11. Planning, auditing & other record maintenance
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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
 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
 Which organizations are the partners?
 Linkage with input suppliers, financial institutions
 What is the purpose of partnership/
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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
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
agribusiness and value chain management 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
 Formal and informal social institutions
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 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
3.4.3.3. 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 satisfactory written evidence from the local
administration where he/she lives.
3.4.3.4. 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 countersigned by the head of each section/wing or other authorized person where the
student is placed on the daily basis.
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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 value chain and agribusiness 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 agri-business and value chain?
 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
3.4.3.5. Fellow-up and Assessment Scheme

The performance of students for the Practical Attachment learning task will be assessed in
two stages.
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First, on the basis of the marks given by the officials/expert/coachers of the organizations
where the students are placed for the practical work (this includes attendance, motivation at
work, the ability to work independently or as part of a team, ability to carry out the list of
works mentioned in the activity sheet as well as good conduct at work).
Secondly, on the basis of the final report that is produced by each student (both written and
oral) there is a room to assess the performance of the student during his/her stay in the host
organization. In this case, the department will examine the magnitude of the work that the
student has done (assesses their practical knowledge about the field work, the presentation
skill, the ability to comprehensively and clearly/confidently express their work both in written
and oral form, how well versed is the student with the techniques in the field and how has
he/she relates their work with the contemporary agri-business and value chain). The
distribution of marks for the Practical Attachment is given below:
Table1: Components of the Evaluation and Distribution of Marks
No. Component Marks

1. Written report 40
2. Presentation 30
3. Marks awarded by the hosting organization 30
Total 100
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Serial No. Evaluation criteria Maximum Mark Mark given by the

allotted Evaluator
1. Eagerness to learn or work 10

2. Knowledge of the subject area
2.1 Theoretical background 10
2.2 Practical Knowledge 10
3. Confidence in his/her duty 10

4. Respect for the rules and regulations of the institute /
organization
4.1 Punctuality 5
4.2 Discipline 5
5. Professional ethics 5
6. Completion of task in line with
6.1 Quality level required 15
6.2 Given time 10
7. Team work ability 5

8. Creativity in solving Problems 10
9. Use of tools & equipments to the safety rules (If it is 5
available )
Total 100
Name of apprentice ___________________________ Occupational title _____________________

Name of the college ___________________________ Total Apprenticeship hrs. Allotted ____________
Name of Hosting Institution _____________________ Total apprenticeship hrs. conducted ___________
Place/location ________________________________
Duration Date ________________________________
Table 2: Evaluation format to be completed by the hosting organization (100%)
Table 3: Evaluation criteria for practical attachment report (30%)

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S/N Section Important parameters to be Maximum mark

considered
1. Allotted Obtained
 Cover page
 Title Page 5
Preliminary page  Table of Contents
 Abstract
2  Background
 Mission and Vision of the
Introduction organization
 Objective of the practical 10
attachment
3 Discussions  Exhaustive discussion about

 Value chain and agribusiness 19
activities being carried out by
the organization
 Strength and weaknesses of
the organization
 Problems Identified
4 Summary, Conclusion and  Summary and Conclusion 6
Recommendation  Recommendation (Suggesting
possible solutions for identified
problems)
40
Student name----------------------------------------------------- Title of the

proposal------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------Evaluator name----------------------------------- signature
-----------------date-----------------------
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Table 4: Evaluation criteria for practical attachment report presentation (20%)

Name of the student: _________________________: ID no. :_________________
Date of presentation_________________
Title/
description_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Points
Area of assessment Allotted Points Scored Remark
(%)
Expertise/ confidence on 4
gained knowledge and skill
Coherence and quality of the 4
report being presented
Use and clarity of visual aids 3
Voice modulation/ articulation 3
Eye contact with audiences 3
Handling questions and 5
comments
Time management/ observance 3
The overall presentation skill 5
Total 30
Comments given:
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
____________
Name and signature of evaluator / instructor:

________________________________________
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3.4.4. Tips on Practical Attachment Presentation

3.4.4.1. Introduction
Think of a good presenter in every presentations starts at a time you have the rehearsal of
practical attachment report presentations. What did you like about your teachers’
presentation? Learners learn better and enjoy learning when taught by a skillful trainer. On
his/her part, a skillful learner derives satisfaction from the progress of his/her learners and
strives to do better all the time. Here, for your presentations of different reports such as
practical attachment report, you can use either the overhead projector transparencies or
PowerPoint LCD projections. Below are some tips on preparing transparencies and making a
presentation that could greatly enhance learning.
Objectives of the notes
After going through these notes, you will be able to:
 Prepare legible transparencies;

 Make a successful presentation and;
 Handle questions raised in the presentation better
3.4.4.2. Preparing transparencies

Well-prepared transparencies can greatly enhance audience understanding of your
presentation. On the other hand, poorly prepared transparencies can spoil audience
understanding of even the best quality information you may want to share. For your
transparencies to be legible there are points that you need to bear in mind during preparation.
Below are some of them.
 Do not write more than nine lines of text per page.

 Do not write more than 40 words/data per page.
 In the case of tables, do not write more than 6 rows by 6 columns of data.
 Separate words by a space of one letter ‘n’.
 Separate sentences by a space of two ‘n’.
 Separate lines by a space of 3 ‘n’.
 The minimum height of letters should be 5mm (or font 24 if typed).
 Use black or blue color for normal information.
 Use red or green color for emphasis.
 Use lower case instead of capitals for easy reading.
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Making your presentation
In making your presentation, there are points that you need to bear in mind to make it
interesting and enhance understanding. The following are some of the major important ones.
 Do not speak before you are ready – otherwise you will confuse yourself when you
find that there is something missing in the middle of your speech.
 Ensure that the equipment is in working order before you start speaking.
 Warm up your audience to break the ice.
 Manage stage fright. Stage fright is quite normal and can be managed or
controlled. Below are some of the ways of managing stage fright.
- Prepare thoroughly so that you will be confident about your information.
- Do not attempt to memorize your presentation speech otherwise you will get
confused when you forget or miss a word.
- Relax, take a deep breath, look at your audience and appreciate them, crack a
joke but do not lead the laughter otherwise they will think something is wrong
with you.
- Channel nervous energies into movement and gestures.
 Tie-in your message to some previous experience.
 Pay attention to your appearance.
 Pay attention to your body movements:
- Move forward and to the center to emphasize a point.

- Move backward to de-emphasize a point.
- Move laterally to change topic.
 Do not stand behind the podium.
 Pay attention to your articulation, pronunciation and loudness.
- Your voice should be audible, intelligible, expressive and pleasant.
 Vary the pitch of your voice. A monotonous voice seems to be talking about a
monotonous point.
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 Vary the rate of your speaking. Slow down when you are talking about
difficult concepts and faster when you are talking about familiar concepts.
 Face your audience.
 Avoid confusing jargon. Be clear not clever. ‘Keep it simple to the extent that
it sounds stupid (KISS).
 Involve participants.
 Welcome criticisms and evaluation.
 If you are using transparencies, uncover and discuss one point at a time.
 Handle questions skillfully.
 Avoid distracting mannerism.
 Be natural. Do not be showy.
 Know the facts, not just about the facts.
 If you display aids, use them otherwise the audience will keep wondering what
they are for and cause distraction.
 Follow notes instead of reading a speech.
 Use alternative communicators (where possible) and communication devices
like visual, audio, or audio-visual aids, group discussions, panels, interviews,
when appropriate.
 Limit the scope of your presentation to a few basic ideas that can be covered
well in the time allocated.
 Evaluate your message.
- Evaluate your audience’s reaction while you are speaking.

- Record and play back your presentation.
- Ask for evaluation and don’t be depressed by negative evaluation.
 Observe time allocated to you.
3.4.4.3 PowerPoint Preparation and presentation
When preparing your PowerPoint presentation please consider the following points
 Reduce the number of words on your slides drastically

 Use key words/phrases
 Avoid long sentences
 Focus your presentation on the major points of your attachment report
 Make sure that your conclusions are based directly on the report you have given
 Make sure that the recommendations arise directly from your conclusions.
 Use Areal font style/not Times New Roman
 Adjust your spacing between words and lines correctly
 1.5 or single space between same concepts
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 Double space between different concepts

 Use limited number of words per line
 Use limited number of lines per slide
 Maximum of nine/ten lines per slide is recommended
 Use the right font size
 28-44 is recommended
 Use different colors to give emphasis on selected points
 Take care of the color blind people
 Black, blue, dark black, deep blue and sometimes deep green are
recommended
 Avoid double emphasis of points
 Underline with different colors
 Bold with underline
 Double bullet
 Assign number
 Titles and subtitles
 Slide number
 Use the right slide layout/design
 Avoid extra/unnecessary animation
 Think about your time management
Presentation Stage for PowerPoint
 Dress smartly to add you confident

 Look your audiences left to right and front to back
 Move around
 If you need to stand, be perpendicular to the ground
 Introduce yourself and your project work
 Eye contact, body language
 Speak to your audience, but not to the screen/wall
 Support your reading with explanation
 Voice modulation
 Changing sounds up and down with the concept
 Do not read from the screen/ read from computer
 Link your current slides with previous concepts
 Objectives with the gap in problem statement
 Conclusions with objectives
 Recommendations with conclusions
 Do not read every figure in the table (if any)
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Responding to questions
 Relax yourself
 Avoid fear of failure
 Give your audience smiling face
 Internalize the question
 Be sure about the answer, then respond
 Take a note for comments, questions and suggestions to be consider/incorporated
 Staffs and students are commenting you, but not blaming you
 Try to explain and justify your response
 Support with sources
 Add figures, easily convince your audiences
 Avoid unnecessary defensiveness.
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Practical Attachement Manual (ABVM 473)

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Conducting Research in Agribusiness and Value Chain, Practical Attachment)

CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN AGRIBUSINESS

LT4: PRACTICAL ATTACHMENT (1ECTS)

Getachew Chala (M.Sc.)

3.4.2. Objectives of the Learning Task

3.4.3.1. 1. What is practical attachment?

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

3.4.3.1. 2. Roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders

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

Bearing in mind the above benefits, the universities:-

 Will provide overall institutional management of the program.

 Will acquire new knowledge and practical experiences,

3.4.3.2. Student Placement for the Practical Attachment

 The purpose of the practical attachment program.

1. Placement in government organizations

Students will be placed at the government organizations/companies working on agri-business

Checklist 1. Data collection from Government Organizations

1. The role of the organization in agri-business and value chain development

 Main components of Agri-business and value chain development

 Impact indicators may include income, employment, ownership of household and

6. Resources available for executing agri-business and value chain development

No Discipline (profession) Required Available Gap (in

II. Supporting staff

5.2. Budget during the past years

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

2. Placement in Non-Governmental Organizations

Checklist 2. Data Collection from Non-Governmental Organizations

Table III: Source of Funds

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

Identify the following

1. Registration of NGO a. How the NGO was established?

Identify the following

3. Management of NGO a. Identify how much decision making process require

a. How the activities (or) interventions are identified?

5. Linkage Identify the following

a. Institutions to which they are linked

6. Funding of NGO Identify the following

a. Funding pattern for the activities

12. Role of the organization in the development of the area

4. Year of establishment: and date of starting activity

10. Organizational structure

Major areas where students can be attached

 Saving and credit institutions

3.4.3.3. Student’s discipline

3.4.3.4. Recording Work activities and Report Writing

The report should consist:

3.4.3.5. Fellow-up and Assessment Scheme

Table1: Components of the Evaluation and Distribution of Marks

No. Component Marks

Serial No. Evaluation criteria Maximum Mark Mark given by the

1. Eagerness to learn or work 10

3. Confidence in his/her duty 10

7. Team work ability 5

Name of apprentice ___________________________ Occupational title _____________________

Table 2: Evaluation format to be completed by the hosting organization (100%)

Table 3: Evaluation criteria for practical attachment report (30%)

S/N Section Important parameters to be Maximum mark

3 Discussions  Exhaustive discussion about

Student name----------------------------------------------------- Title of the

Table 4: Evaluation criteria for practical attachment report presentation (20%)

Name and signature of evaluator / instructor:

3.4.4. Tips on Practical Attachment Presentation

Name of apprentice _______ Occupational title _