Russ Dilts passed away in October 2011
His obituary can be found Here.
Russ spent more than 30 years living and working in Indonesia leading development initiatives ranging from adult education, to farmer extension, to community-based natural resources management. In 1975, before coming to CIE, Russ worked in Indonesia as part of Stanford’s Volunteer in Asia program, first as a volunteer and then as VIA’s Indonesia organizer. He then worked for World Education in Indonesia and Thailand.
In the 1980s while at CIE completing his doctoral program he was actively engaged in Indonesia’s emerging NGO movement often collaborating with Monsour Fakih. In 1985 he married Wahyu Setyowati and together they had five children.
He then began what would become his signature accomplishment with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). He played a leading role in the development and implementation of what became known as the Farmer Field School (link is external) approach to helping farmers. An article by John Pontius, Russ Dilts, et.al. describes the FFS philosophy as: The Farmer Field School is a form of adult education, which evolved from the concept that farmers learn optimally from field observation and experimentation. It was developed to help farmers tailor their Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to diverse and dynamic ecological conditions.
The FFS method first spread in Indonesia, then was expanded to 12 Asian countries and is now being applied in countries in Africa and South America.
In the late 1990’s the BBC produced a two-part documentary, narrated by Russ, about the program which can be found on YouTube (Part 1) & (Part 2). The videos cover the challenge of controlling pesticide marketing and use, as well as the impact of the FFS approach on reducing pesticide use in Cambodia and Thailand.
In 1995 Russ and his wife Wahyu began work with street children. Then in 2000 they established the Dilts Foundation which works with street children and poor urban communities to provide education, employment training, and medical care. Their oldest son, Bayu, serves as the Director of the Foundation.
In 2002, Russ along with John Pontius and others, founded the NGO Farmers Initiatives for Ecological Livelihoods and Democracy (FIELD), which continues its work today.
From 2004 to 2010 Russ served as the regional coordinator for USAID's Environmental Services program in the province of North Sumatra. Besides tackling water and water resource issues in the province the program helped with recovery activities following the 2005 tsunami that caused damage along the West coast of North Sumatra. He then spent time working to establish a national park in the province of Aceh for reforestation and the protection of endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger and the orangutan. [11-11]