agricultural

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....

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 and trainin...

This past December, F2F volunteer, Melanie Forstrom traveled to Nicaragua, where she conducted interactive workshops for Junior Achievement Nicaragua (JA) facilitators and trainers to improve educational processes and teaching methodologies.  JA is a non-profit educational organization that is present in more than 120 countries. The goal of the organization is to promote economic education from an early age and empower 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.  Melanie Forstom earned her Master’s degree in Conflict Transformation from the School for International Training and has spent countless years working with at-risk youth in a variety of different locations and programs throughout the United States. She currently leads youth development programming in Ulster Country through the Cornell Cooperative ...

This article is a contribution to a blog series on how Partners Agriculture and Food Security programs contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals . This week’s blog highlights what Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers have been doing towards SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Around the world, women and girls play a crucial role in creating sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families. However, minimal access to land, credit, training, and leadership positions due to gender-based inequities all too often limits their economic opportunities. For our USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer and Haiti Nutrition Security programs, family spending dynamics play a crucial role in livelihood development. A growing body of research shows that when women have control of familial income, they invest more money in their children’s education, health care, and overall wellbeing. Not only does this dynamic produce positive health and wellness outcomes, but it elevates ...

As Partners of the Americas' Haiti Nutrition Security Program enters its final closeout phase, we're gathering important statistics on the impact of NSP's care groups model.  The program used a family-centered approach that increased local capacity in nutrition to influence behavior change. In doing so, Partners aimed to  build social capital while preventing malnutrition, promoting best hygiene practices, and supporting malnourished children throughout Haitian communities. To read more about NSP and the structure of the care groups model, see our previous program features .

Since 2014, Partners of the Americas has facilitated 52 Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer trips to Nicaragua. F2F field staff, local hosts, and volunteers have worked hard to create collaborative solutions to complex community problems. Check out the incredible F2F partnerships we’ve formed in the past few months! Cattle and Dairy F2F volunteer Daniel Shaneyfelt give a lecture on improved cattle ranching techniques. Over the past 3 years, Partners has been working diligently with the Nicaraguan government, the  National Cattleman’s Commission of Nicaragua (CONAGAN), the Nicaragua Chamber of Beef Industry Exports (CANICARNE), and the Nicaraguan Chamber of the Dairy Sector (CANISLAC) to strengthen the domestic cattle and dairy industries from all ends of the value chain. F2F assignments have ranged from advising smallholder farmers on hygienic milking practices to establishing a national beef grading and certifications system for the country. Farmers have reported an extreme uptick in ...