Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

In January of this year, F2F volunteer,  Janet Hernandez, had the opportunity to work with Junior Achievement Nicaragua (JA) in  Sisin,  a Miskito community located in the  North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RAAN) ,   and a community of young leaders in Managua.  The Miskito communities of Sisin and Bilwi are comprised of mostly farmers and tend to have traditional family structures, with the women tending to the household needs. During this assignment, Janet sought to empower young girls with both communication skills and tools to build their self-esteem. In Sisin, Janet conducted workshops on themes focusing on leadership, empowerment, team-building, sexism and gender roles, and  community assessment and reflection. She also integrated activities that analyze systems of oppression and build leadership and relationship skills. Janet believes  that JA  would benefit by incorporating themes of gender and self-esteem into their programs.  Interestingly, unlike most workshops,

YS snack food example F2F volunteer, Bill Nichols, embarked on a two week adventure to Guatemala to help Yogi Superfoods (YS) improve their business and marketing strategies as they continue to grow and expand.Yogi Superfoods is a fairly new superfoods company of just four years that has garnered interest among both the local and international community.  YS is owned by Italian entrepreneur,  Marco Barbi,  and consists of seven Guatemalan employees. Marco sees his company as a "social business" and under this vision supports the local population through his hiring decisions, while also sourcing raw materials locally. Bill describes Marco as a "new age businessman" who invests time into regular workshops and  yoga and meditation sessions  with his employees to better connect with them.  This business style intrigued Bill as he set out to visit stores with YS products to speak directly with the restaurant and store owners about their reactions to the products

Product pricing is a vital tool to put a fair monetary value on products. F2F volunteer, Lynda Swenson, recently traveled to Nicaragua to equip small farm owners with the financial literacy tools to be competitive in local and national markets. The primary host of this assignment was the Fabretto Foundation. Fabretto connects communities in disadvantaged areas around Nicaragua with resources so that they can reach their full potential and improve their future opportunities. Education and nutritional programs are their primary aims of the organization. One such program is an innovative high school program called SAT (Tutorial Learning System) in rural and remote communities that tailors to young people and emphasizes hands on learning approach. Lynda provided training to Fabretto staff , tutors, and students on evaluating and setting competitive prices for the agricultural crops and value-added products produced by the organization and the youth in the area. In the workshops a

Beekeeper and graduate student at the University of Florida's Beekeeping program, Michael Drankwalter, recently traveled to Guatemala to offer his knowledge on beehive management, and the production and marketing of value-added honey products.  Michael's workroom for the majority of his volunteer trip was at the  FECCEG headquarters .  T he  Federacion Comericializadora de Café Especial de Guatemala (FECCEG) is an organization that is formed by 13 small coffee cooperatives and spreads across six Guatemalan departments. FECCG is a member of the successful Kishé Foods LLC. Kishé coffee sells roasted coffee from Guatemala directly to consumers and coffee retailers in the United States.  The company's operations and processing are developed in California, but the company management is based in the city of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. There are many Kishé coffee shops that are sprouting up around Guatemala (one volunteer called them the Starbucks of Central America). However, w

Husband and wife, Barry Evans and Louisa Rogers, traveled to Nicaragua as F2F volunteers to conduct interactive workshops for Junior Achievement Nicaragua (JA) to help them improve their educational processes and teaching methodologies. JA is a non-profit educational organization that promotes economic education from an early age and empowers young leaders to be proactive in their own development, both personally and professionally. It implements business education programs aimed at children and adolescents, young women, and female heads of household.  Louisa Rogers conducted interactive workshops on entrepreneurship, leadership, life skills, career planning, and teamwork. The JA youth also developed individual projects and presented in front of the group and on social media. As an experienced world as a training consultant, Louisa was able to effectively share her teaching methods in entrepreneurship, leadership, management, and conflict resolution to participants. Through her tra

By Jan Surface, F2F Volunteer in the Dominican Republic  This past January, F2F volunteer, Jan Marie Surface traveled to the Dominican Republic, where she worked with Plan Yaque on recommendations to improve water quality within the Yaque del Norte watershed. Plan Yaque is a non-governmental institution that combines efforts between the State and Civil Society for the protection, conservation, and sustainable management of natural resources of the Yaque del Norte River Basin. Its fundamental purpose is to contribute to regional and national development towards the construction of a better and sustainable quality of life in the Dominican Republic. During her stay, Jan Marie provided examples on how to set up photo-monitoring points; a list of references for best management practices to improve water quality, tips for writing grants, equipment recommendations for their new water quality lab, and UV treatment recommendations. One of the highlights of her trip, was meeting with

F2F volunteer, Bryce Malsbary,  an international business development expert,  traveled to Colombia in January of this year to offer his business expertise to natural cosmetic company, Zen Naturals.  Based in Cali, Colombia, Zen Naturals sources their natural ingredients from the nearby Department of Cauca. Zen Naturals works directly with the Paez indigenous communities that grow the quinoa used in many of their products.  As their business continues to expand, they have maintained their core values of ethical manufacturing, fair trade practices and loyalty to producer communities.  The goal of this assignment was to help Zen Naturals with their business strategies to positively affect sales and to efficiently aim their marketing efforts. Bryce held brainstorming and training sessions that helped employees to accomplish this task.  The training activities included both individual and group meetings to evaluate which actions were needed to improve product and outreach strategies, pa

By Sarah Brinkley, F2F Volunteer In Haiti I’m thrown into a world of chaos: the smell of diesel, heaps of traffic-impeding garbage, pigs and goats feasting freely—extreme poverty. Though I have traveled to farming communities throughout Latin America, I had never seen such hardship. My assignment with Partners of the Americas brought me to Cap-Haitien, the original capital of Haiti. I was debriefed upon arrival. The Partners’ USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program appointed me to serve as a Coffee Production Specialist. My expertise was needed to survey coffee production, implement agricultural management strategies, and train the local co-op (including farmers, extension agents, and university students). I was optimistic about how my assignment would unfold, who I would meet, and what I would learn. On day 1, I made the rutted, 2-hour journey south through the Nord department to visit the co-op of Association des Travailleurs de Dondon (ATD). In Dondon, I was first ac