Question

In this assignment, you will select a program, quality improvement initiative, or other project from your place of employment. Assume you are presenting this program to the board for approval of funding. Write an executive summary (850-1,000 words) to present to the board, from which they will make their decision to fund your program or project. The summary should include: 1. The purpose of the program or project. 2. The target population or audience. 3. The benefits of the program or project 4. The cost or budget justification. 5. The basis upon which the program or project will be evaluated.

Answer 1

Ans.) To explain the format of summary an example of project targeting the rural population of India to enhance their livelihood by mushroom cultivation is given below –

Wild edible mushroom are an important food source for rural communities during the rainy season in many regions of world. It can also provide additional income to the household, if mushroom are sold in rural market. People used to go to forests and collect wild mushrooms. It is very difficult to differentiate between an edible and poisonous one. Sometimes it results in mishap. To avoid such situation it will be appropriate to provide authentic edible mushroom to the rural people. Similarly several edible mushroom i.e. Pleurotus sajor-caju, P. florida and P. ostreatus as well as medicinally important fungal species Ganoderma lucidum can be cultivated artificially and have potential in pharmaceutical industry.

This project is an effort to achieve the goals –

• Organizing and conduct hands-on training programmes and demonstrations for the rural people especially selected women self-help group for the cultivation of medicinal and edible fungi.
• Capacity building of selected women self-help groups in cultivation of Oyster mushroom and value addition of its products for income generation.
• To document traditional knowledge about edible fungi from local people.

The target population or audience:

The rural people especially selected women self-help group and the unemployed youth.

Outcome of the study:

• A significant awareness was generated among rural people especially women about nutritional as well as monetary value of mushroom.
• Rural people were consumed wild mushroom from long ago but they did not know; how to earn money by growing it in economical way.
• Now, they know that mushroom cultivation is a good venture and willing to adopt mushroom cultivation as an extra source of income.

Conclusions summarizing the achievements and indications of scope for future work

Mushrooms are appreciated for their good taste and nutritional value. They are commonly gathered in wild. They can be grown by households in a sustainable way to create a source of livelihood and empower women. Since it does not require access to land, it is a viable and attractive activity for both rural farmers and peri-urban dwellers. Income from edible and medicinal mushrooms is an important source of revenue for rural communities, especially in developing countries. Extension of mushroom cultivation technology is an ongoing process in which useful information is transferred to people and then they are assisted to acquire necessary knowledge, skills and approach to utilize effectively information or technology. Principal objective of this project was to aware people of available knowledge and technology about mushroom cultivation. This work was mainly focused to make people aware about medicinal virtue of mushroom and to promote its cultivation technology to improve their social and economical condition.