Accounting for Coffee: Volunteer Trains Cooperatives in Haiti

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F2F volunteer Howard Fenton prepares
notes prior to leading 2 workshops.
While many of our volunteer Farmer-to-Farmer projects focus on providing agricultural assistance in host countries, we frequently field volunteers that offer organizational assistance. Organizational assistance allows owners of rural enterprises to make business operations more financially efficient and socially and environmentally sustainable. Organizational projects can take the form of professional development trainings, strategic communications planning, or recordkeeping analysis. 

For coffee cooperatives in Haiti’s northern regions surrounding Cap-Haitien, recordkeeping is an invaluable asset for monitoring and controlling day-to-day business costs. F2F volunteer and accountant Howard Fenton took on this challenge as he traveled to Haiti in June to conduct site visits and led several trainings with the coffee cooperatives. As a result of his work, producers will be able to recognize best business practices and opportunities to capitalize on them. Specific items like developing a business plan, setting goals and planning the steps to achieve those goals, and self-evaluation are essential to a successful farm operation.

Workshop participants complete a cost analysis exercise.
In addition to leading trainings on financial management, Howard worked with cooperatives to help define roles and responsibilities for each member of the enterprise. Before leaving the site, Howard also left behind a manual to supplement the trainings he conducted while in country. The manual allows cooperatives to: (1) Know whether the business is making a profit; (2) Control costs; (3) Justify using credit; (4) Compare alternatives.

The resulting information can be used to help identify the degree of financial success experienced by a business or enterprise, provide it with the necessary information to develop business plans and analyze business alternatives that benefit owners, members, and the community at large.

Howard reported overwhelming success with the trainings he conducted and reported hosts were eager to talk about their businesses. He was also interested in the wide variety of income producing enterprises (goats, rabbits, bees, and pineapples) that existed!

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