Train-the-Trainer Network

Learning from the Train-the-Trainer network in Latin America

For four years now the Train-the-Trainer network has been supporting the development of biodynamic training in Latin America. With the support of the Biodynamic Federation Demeter International and the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum, a group of experienced trainers from Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile came together in 2020 with the vision of strengthening the biodynamic impulse throughout the region.

In the first year, an online course was held for trainers from across the region, focusing on the methodological foundations of adult education. In the second year, the trainers supported the planning, implementation and evaluation of a series of introductory biodynamic courses in the different countries – in many of them for the first time. The year ended with a face-to-face Biodynamic Trainers & Teachers Conference in Lima, which contributed to the ongoing process of building a network of learning and mutual support among Latin American trainers.  With the main aim of strengthening the local group of trainers in the different countries, this train-the-trainer impulse continued in 2023 and 2024, with experienced trainers travelling to neighbouring countries to offer support and guidance to colleagues.

These four years of training have brought many benefits to the development of the movement in the region. The network of biodynamic trainers in eleven countries has been strengthened and expanded. Local trainers – especially a younger generation – have deepened their knowledge and expanded their skills in adult education. Local teams of trainers have grown and been empowered.  In the words of one Argentinean trainer, “the belief that it is necessary to bring in experts from abroad to teach biodynamic courses has been broken”.

As part of the process, local biodynamic associations have also developed their organizational capacity. Many young associations now have the capacity for the first time to offer biodynamic training programs according to their different needs and socio-cultural contexts. A wider range of introductory and advanced biodynamic courses is now available throughout the region than four years ago. At the same time, this has provided local organizations with a new source of income and economic sustainability.

As the Train-the-Trainers network continues to develop meaningful biodynamic courses in the region, the seeds of this impulse are bearing fruits beyond the training goal, which are essential for the future development of the movement in many countries. For example, the deep commitment and dedication that drives these trainers is helping to unite and strengthen biodynamic communities in some countries where there are no active biodynamic associations, such as in Ecuador or Paraguay, or where there are only a few pioneering practitioners, such as in Venezuela.