Farm Advocacy Training Video Contractor

Background

RAFI-USA’s “Farm Advocacy” program assists farmers who are in financial crisis with expert, in-depth technical assistance to navigate their financial options and get better outcomes than they might without help. Sometimes this assistance saves farms; sometimes it helps farmers access loans for operating expenses or expansion of their businesses, which they may not have been able to access without our help. We help family farms of all types and descriptions. 

“Farm advocate” is a rare and highly skilled profession that must combine a broad array of competencies. The deliverable for this project will be developing video training modules which will efficiently provide new farm advocacy trainees with a solid foundation of knowledge to begin supervised casework-based training.

Contract Work Description

Over the course of about a year, RAFI-USA conducted and recorded 23 training sessions with our lead farm advocate, comprising approximately 35-40 hours of training footage (with detailed notes) and accompanying casework documents. The trainings addressed topics organically as they came up in casework, and are not organized by topic. RAFI-USA is seeking a contractor who will work closely with the RAFI-USA Farm Advocacy team to index, organize, and edit this content (and find/record additional content as needed to fill in gaps) into no more than seven topic-specific video modules (with accompanying documentation) for use in training future farm advocates.

These video training modules will be used to train new farm advocates at RAFI-USA and beyond in the movement.

Compensation

Our budget for successful completion of this project is $30,000. Compensation is based on an estimate of 700 hours of work for the project. Payment will be disbursed in approximately 8 installments upon satisfactory completion set benchmarks.

Duration

This is a limited-duration (approx 7 month) contracting opportunity that we anticipate will occupy approximately 100 hours of the contractor’s time on a monthly basis. RAFI-USA’s goal is for the project to be completed before the end of 2023.

Location

Remote. Any additional footage captures necessary will either be done by video conference, or can be covered by RAFI-USA staff - this project should not require travel.

Desired experience & skills

• Highly organized; prompt communicator
• Ability to process and organize large amounts of information
• Ability to research for materials and answers to missing information
• Familiarity with agriculture and farm advocacy casework a plus
• Video editing experience
• Curriculum development or teaching experience

Project Inputs and Deliverables

Resources/Source Material

• 23 training recordings (~35-40 hours of footage)
• Detailed notes of the 23 trainings
• Accompanying case-related documents 
• RAFI-USA Farm Advocacy team time for coordination, consultation, and review
• Additional footage: to be recorded as needed
• Additional existing training resources: to be researched/located as needed

Finished Products

Seven topic-specific video training modules

• On topics such as the review/appeal process, including the National Appeals Division process; farm business plans and feasibility in FSA loan applications; eligibility for FSA loans and programs; bankruptcy considerations; others as as identified with the Farm Advocacy team
• Accompanied by narration (as needed), explanatory slides/graphics (as needed), and relevant written documents (casework materials or other training materials identified)
• Presented in a way that protects the confidentiality of the farmers whose cases are being discussed.
• Shared with RAFI-USA in a manner that allows for future editing of video modules if needed
• We anticipate video length will be 45-75 minutes/topic but the length is less important than the module’s effectiveness at teaching the topic, and the degree to which it captures as much of the lead advocate’s relevant insight as possible

Questions? Contact Margaret Krome-Lukens (margaret@rafiusa.org) or Lisa Misch (lisa@rafiusa.org)