agricultural

O swaldo Leon traveled to Nicaragua as a communication specialist to prepare an official communication plan for Junior Achievement (JA). The aim of the plan is to bolster JA as the leading organization helping young Nicaraguans develop vital entrepreneurial and leadership skills.  During his workshops, Oswaldo and participants had conversations about social media and various ways to communicate ideas through words and photos.  At first, Oswaldo found it challenging to figure out how to relate intricate communication techniques into practical concepts and engaging activities. He was effective though and people dived right into the activities as seen in the photos posted below! He discovered that Whatsapp can be used as a social network, which is an app already widely  used by young people throughout Latin America. In some rural areas, Oswaldo discovered that it is used more frequently than the internet websites like Facebook and Twitter. Intrigued by this, Oswaldo encourag...

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...

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 Cent...

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 he...

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 acquainted ...