An ISU College of Agriculture program received a $10 million gift Friday to help sustain agriculture in rural areas and developing nations.

The Sustainable Rural Livelihood program was formed with the help of a gift from Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky of Oak Brook, Ill., and the Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky Foundation, Inc., Aurora, Ill., said Robert Mazur, associate professor of sociology and director of the Sustainable Rural Livelihood program.

“A few years ago, leaders in several ISU departments and the Kolshowskys met to come up with a plan to teach principal sustainable agricultural practices in rural areas of developing nations,” Mazur said.

“The Kolshowskys gave their gift for three reasons — Mr. Kolshowsky is an alumnus of Iowa State, the university’s strong sustainable agriculture program and Iowa State’s international agricultural reputation.”

According to the SRL Web site, the program was established in 2003 to provide leadership and support for rural communities of developing countries, to increase local food security, to strengthen sustainable natural resource practices, to increase income levels and ability to cope with various shocks, and to improve household and community well-being.

“The Kolschowskys want to emphasize the SRL program, not the money,” said Rich Bundy, executive director of the ISU Foundation.

The first developing country that Iowa State has partnered with is Uganda, Mazur said.

“Uganda’s primary university, Makerere University, and the Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns, a national nongovernment organization, will be the first partners,” he said.

Mazur said one of the first programs to be initiated is the Training of Trainers, in which the community elects farmers to learn sustainable agricultural principles, who will in turn train others in the community so that initial investment will grow.

“There are three main goals of what SRL wants to accomplish in Uganda,” Mazur said. “The first includes the components of post-harvest storage, value-added transformation and marketing. The second includes social organizations, similar to our traditional agricultural cooperatives. The third is finding and using the links between agriculture and diet, especially concerning infants and children.”

Mazur said the program cannot be rushed.

“So many times, programs come and stay for one, two or three years and are not successful in helping for the long term. We want to help these nations become agriculturally sustainable without becoming dependent.”

The SRL Web site lists that partners in the program’s long-term strategy for engagement are community members and their organizations.

Others include local, national and international organizations in the public, private and nongovernmental sectors.

“We want to help change more than the ideas and practices of these developing rural areas,” Mazur said.

“We want to change the institutions.”