The LYF Christmas Bus Sled – courtesy of talented LYF volunteer Stuart Vallentine

This Christmas card was drawn by LYF volunteer Stuart Vallantine.

Stuart is an LYF volunteer.  Hailing from East Manchester, Stuart has ‘high functioning autism’. His passions (‘obsessions!’) include:  public transport, teccie-stuff, football, writing, real ale and politics. An amazing artist too, Stuart cares deeply about any form of injustice in society – in the UK and overseas. Due to his ‘hidden impairments’ Stuart has struggled for some 16 years to find employment. Most recently, after gaining work experience as a volunteer with the LYF helping to develop our new smallholder website, he has now found a job. We are all so happy for Stuart and want to thank him and to congratulate him. And of course – we want him to stay on with us – helping us!  Cheers Stuart!

Stuart has his own website and blog; you can view it here.

http://www.stuartvallantine.co.uk http://mancunian1001.wordpress.com

Launch of our Dfid Project with 10,000 women cocoa farmers in North Kivu,  We meet the dynamic team from  DRC who will be running the radio shows for farmers

Our project with original beans was launched at the end of July 2012 and Cristina and Joseph began to plan their trip to the DRC
to deliver training to local partners on radio, SMS and multi-stakeholder platforms. Unfortunately the months of August and September 2012 proved to be a challenge for travel into the region, as security around the North and East of the DRC became a major problem. The M23 increased its presence around Goma and near the towns of Bunangana, Rutshuru, Rumangabo, Ntamugenga, Kiwanja and Rugari resulting in an increase in violent incidents in these locations. UN troops were relocated to those areas leaving the rest of the East DRC out of control.  The result was a power vacuum and smaller insurgencies in the parts north of Goma.  In the meantime, refugees continued to cross over the border from Uganda on the Kasese Side (Kasindi) and local partners
ASADI reported worrying signs of insecurity at the border crossings, where Maji-maji rebels (or others) were seemingly taking over in areas where a power vacuum existed.

Whilst Kagame, Kabila and Museveni held a meeting in Kampala to look for a solution for the M23. We began to look at the options for delivering training for the IDAD team in Uganda. Fortunately we were able to organise for training to take place in Kagadi (within 80 Km of the DRC border) at the college facilities of the Uganda Rural Development and Training Programme URDT. This institution offers free primary and secondary education for talented girls from poor rural areas. It is also home to the African Rural University (ARU), the first non-denominational all women’s university focusing on developing visionary women leaders in Africa.

It is here that we met agricultural extension team from IDAD (Initiative pour le Developpement d’Agroforesterie Durable) and
female journalists from Radio Graben, who will be working closely together to deliver agricultural extension in North Kivu. We spent  4 days training the team to:

a)  Create a farmer field listening group

b)  Developing the radio agenda and content
with farmer field groups

c)   Delivering agricultural extension
using radio and SMS

d)  Developing a programme for 6 months in
line with agricultural calendar

e) Enhancing the  style and approach over the radio

The Lorna Young Foundation (LYF), with our partner, the Award-winning gourmet chocolate and conservation brand Original Beans, is launching a ground-breaking new initiative with women cocoa farmers in one of the most conflict-torn areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This new venture has been made possible following our successful joint application to the UK Government’s DFID, Food and Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH).

The LYF will be working with Dutch chocolate company, Original Beans, to develop an eco-positive chocolate product with women cocoa farmers from North Kivu to address deforestation. The LYF will establish a radio, SMS, Multi-stakeholder platform on conservation cocoa, to deliver training and information to over 10,000 cocoa farmers in the area.

The project is located in Virunga National Park, situated in North Kivu, DRC, and registered as a protected area, biodiversity hotspot and World Heritage site. For decades, poverty, migration and deforestation around Virunga Park into North Kivu and Oriental Province have been entrapped in a vicious cycle. Movement of displaced populations and poverty-driven subsistence farming has led to rampant slash and burn of old-growth rain-forests.

This project aims to create the first eco-positive gourmet chocolate from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which addresses deforestation in Virunga Park and delivers poverty reduction through the production of high-quality cocoa.

In the DRC, this project will establish a holistic model for reforestation activities and cocoa expansion in Mid and Northern parts of Virunga, adopting a REDD-like approach that uses GIS mapping-informed replanting, farmer enrolment programmes, nursery infrastructure and technical support and extension outreach to some 10,000 smallholder farmers using radio/SMS platforms. Locally, we will collaborate with conservation institutions to reduce deforestation rates in critical forest zones, by driving sustainable land management practices and incentivising quality cocoa production working closely with 2 women’s cooperatives in Virunga Park. This will improve farmer incomes, and slow the slash and burn cycle; the recognised most cost-effective measure against global climate-change.

KEY POINTS:

1. This project will support local women’s cooperatives in Virunga Park to produce quality cocoa, undertake tree planting activities and improve land management practices, resulting in a higher value, eco-positive product which addresses deforestation.
2. The project will deliver agricultural extension, cocoa market information and technical support to a targeted audience of 10,000 smallholders in the region, through  the delivery of agricultural extension information, using radio, SMS and multi-stakeholder platforms.
3. The content will be generated by female smallholders in two cooperatives, the information generated by the network is just as relevant for all smallholder farmers in the Virunga Park region.

About Original Beans

Pursuing their mission ‘The Planet: Replant It’ Original Beans works in some of the ecologically richest, economically poorest regions in the world to produce chocolates found on the menus of Michelin starred restaurants. For every Original Beans bar consumers buy, local cocoa farmers plant one tree that can be tracked on www.originalbeans.com. Business Week has called Original Beans a company that is ‘making the world better through chocolate.’

Lunch with Richard Branson – Not Just a Youth Enterprise entrepreneur Blessing Maregere is recognised as a Virgin Pioneer

Blessing from the LYF’s Not Just a Youth Enterprise programme and Laura from the LYF had lunch with Sir Richard Branson last month at the final of Virgin’s ‘Pitch to Rich’ competition. Blessing Maregere from our Leeds enterprise group, entered the enterprise into the Virgin Pioneers competition and was very excited to receive a phone call telling him that he had been chosen as one of 8 semi-finalists!
This won him the opportunity to go to Branson’s home to meet him and introduce him to ‘Not Just a Bar of Chocolate’

Blessing said – “Everyone at the event was really impressed with our chocolate bar – and that we have created this brand ourselves with support from the LYF, and that the profit is going towards supporting young people with business skills.”

“I think Branson loved our business idea because it fits with his new approach in his book ‘Screw business as usual’ which is about businesses making a difference in the world – and our business is about helping people both in poor countries and at home”

Over the last three years we have created and delivered a number of innovative programmes and new ventures, including our ground-breaking farmer capacity building programme in Africa – the Smallholder Support Network; our trade justice initiative – the Black Gold Foundation (www.blackgoldfoundation.org); our latest social enterprise Not Just a Trading Company Ltd (www.notjustawebsite.org.uk); and the amazing Oromo Coffee Company (www.oromocoffee.org) that we started with Oromo refugees three years ago.

We now need to ensure that our governance arrangements are sufficient to meet the challenge of building on this work. We are particularly interested in hearing from individuals with a successful track-record in one or more of the following:

• Business development (particularly retail sector)
• Entrepreneurship
• Organisational growth and sustainability (including HR)
• Sales and/or marketing
• Legal and governance issues
• Fundraising and/or investment
• Youth and community development
• PR/ social media

At least two of our new Trustees should live/work within easy travelling distance of our operating base in West Yorkshire.

Typical commitment required is around 10-12 days per year, which will include at least four Board meetings per year, as well as supporting the executive team between meetings via Skype, email, phone and face to face as required. Trustee positions are unpaid; however, we can cover travel and other expenses if required.

If you are interested in applying for these positions please submit your CV, along with a cover email setting out why you wish to apply and what you can offer, to projectmanager@lyf.org.uk. For more information, please contact Ian Agnew on ian.agnew@yahoo.co.uk or Martin Meteyard on martin.m@pop3.poptel.org.uk. Please email applications to admin@lyf.org.uk. Closing date for applications is Monday 30^th July 2012.

However, the funding for the Radio element of the SSN will end in April 2012 – so in order to ensure that this work of ‘entering the homes and lives of the smallholders’ continues – we need your help! The costs required to keep the Radio Broadcasts going for another year are pretty small and very simple….

Help – Innovate – Donate!

Just £400 per week will allow the LYF to continue to build on this incredible success in educating and transforming the lives and income levels of desperately poor smallholders! These costs directly relate to broadcasts within Kenya – but the wider work of the SSN is preparing to replicate itself across Africa and to all developing countries…

So, the £400 breaks down into…

• £250 air time (the broadcasting costs) and
• £150 for the Farmer Field Listening Groups  and the costs for the research and content creation/ Extension Officer/Presenter costs.

SIMPLICITY and CREATIVITY has always been the keywords of the LYF….PLEASE think Simply and Creatively about how you can help the continuation of the SSN Radio Broadcasts!

For example:

How about opting to ‘Sponsor a Show’? (we can add your name or your organisation’s name to the LYF website and blog as ‘Sponsor of A Radio Broadcast’)

• Hold a Coffee Morning to raise funding for the SSN….
• Screen a showing of ‘Black Gold’ in your community….
• Run a Mini Marathon…..
• Have a Sponsored Coffee-Flavoured-Week…
• Clean out your junk – have a Car Boot Sale and provide a Free Coffee for every sale over £2.00….

Or if that is too much trouble -  just make a simple donation!

We REALLY need your help to make good these incredible gains to date….!

We know through personal and professional experience that Radio Outreach is the Lifeblood of Africa. Please help us to refine this approach for smallholder empowerment.

It isn’t rocket science.  This approach sprang from small-scale and cost-effective attitudes from people who have lived and worked in developing countries and who are vehemently FOR keeping money for foreign aid in the countries that need it the most.  But most importantly of all – we can now show that this approach WORKS for the smallholder! The LYF now wants to replicate it across the developing world – but we can’t do this without your support and action!

If you can donate, please do so – and we would LOVE to mention you as a donor! Don’t hesitate to email us or to write to us to let us know how you have made a donation or raised money for the SSN. We need your stories and even your smallest actions keep us going…

For online donations go to www.lyf.org.uk/support-our-work

But we always love receiving letters, cheques or anything else cheery in the post. Cheques are payable to ‘The Lorna Young Foundation’ and you can find us at: The LYF, 47 Lea Lane, Netherton, Hudds, W Yorks, HD4 7DP. UK

The first 2-4 programmes covered the issue of the Coffee Calendar, Coffee Crop Varieties, Yields, Weather and Pest Resistant Crops. The SSN receives atleast 20 SMS messages after each broadcast in those first few weeks. Most of the SMS asked about the Batian variety of coffee which was being marketed by the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) -  a variety which is supposed to produce greater yields, better quality and which is pest and disease resistant – particularly in relation to Coffee Berry Disease and leaf rust.  As a result of the content of the SMS messages received, the SSN decided to re-schedule the broadcast and instead, prioritise an interview with the Director of the Coffee Research Institute which would focus on the Batian coffee variety.

Immediately following this interview, the demand for Batian coffee at the CRI became so high that the CRI is now currently unable to meet the demand and has run out of seedlings altogether. Both of the coffee co-operatives involved in the Farmer Field Listening Groups also bought seedlings, which they are selling to the farmers via a credit facility.  As a result, there have been notable changes in practices in the two cooperatives. These are:

Planting of the new Batian variety:

The Gikanda cooperative has purchased 2000 Batian trees and these are being planted  by 50 farmers, with a further 8000 more being ordered. Rumukia cooperative has planted 30,000 batian trees and has ordered a further 30,000 trees. Due to these incredible increases it is anticipated that this will lead to higher yields and greater levels of resistance to disease and pests as a result.

An Increase in FEMALE Member Enrolment at both Cooperatives:

One of the key objectives behind the SSN was to increase the number of women smallholders represented within the cooperatives (the LYF’s work to empower women in this way was recently recognised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who chose the SSN as a case study of good practice in this area). Following the radio broadcasts, there have been excellent achievements in this area with;

• Gikanda welcoming 205 new farmers for the last year -  of which 103 are women.
• Rumukia welcoming 500 new members during the last year – of which 250 are women

A Marked Increase in Production at both Cooperatives

At Gikanda cooperative, production figures for the last financial year were 1 million Kgs of coffee. For this financial  year, the figure has increased to 2.7 million Kgs.

Rumukia cooperative produced 1.2 million Kgs for the last financial year and this year has reported that it has reached 3.7 million Kgs.

Given that these remarkable achievements cannot be correlated solely by the increase in membership, the figures do point to an increase in production amongst existing members. It further suggests that greater transparency on pricing (i.e. pricing information is now being broadcast via the radio programmes) is leading to more smallholders wishing to become members of those cooperatives which are actively engaged in the SSN project.

An Increase in Income for Smallholders

Coffee Management Services (CMS) which markets 34% of all coffee produced in Kenya – have confirmed to the LYF that as a direct result of the radio/ SMS initiative,  the organisation has received an increase in interest in coffee farming, more coffee seedlings planting (of the Batian Variety), improvement in the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices, increased agro-input use in order to realise increased production and a visible increase in smallholder desire for better governance within the cooperatives. The information supplied from CMS has been further corroborated by statistics which the LYF has received from both Gikanda and Rumukia cooperatives which confirms that a marked increase in income for smallholders should be seen as a direct result of (increase productivity and volumes) before the end of Year 2.

But of course, we must stress that these are just the outcomes achieved by only TWO of the cooperatives in the region, that the LYF has chosen as ‘pilot Listeners’.  Our aggregate achievements therefore – for all smallholders in the area must be magnified…thanks to the outreach capability we have harnessed via Coro FM…

To summarise, these remarkable achievements in such a small space of time – from LYF’s analysis of the SSN to date -  it seems that in particular, the programme has directly led to:

• Improved practices on the use of resistant varieties such as Batian by the farmers. This will reduce the cost of their production and use of fungicides and pesticides (a clear cash saving for the farmers)
• Better education about, understanding, use and choice of Agro-Inputs (NB Agro-Inputs are items that are added to the ‘growing process’ – such as fertilisers and pesticides etc) This will lead to overall increased production of crops in the longer term.
• Increased quality as a result of better use of Agro-Inputs. Although there is an 18 month lead time from intervention to seeing the results in terms of crop yield – the programme will accelerate much better quality in crop yield – in the longer term
• Improved coffee processing at the wet mill level – leading to a better cup
• Improved Cooperative Society efficiency as smallholders have learned to ask more searching and better informed questions of the cooperative leaders(in relation to costings, pricing  etc.)
• Demand for training from other coffee cooperatives beyond the Rumukia and Gikanda Farmer Field Listening Groups.  The LYF has been informed that other coffee co-operatives in the region have been inundated with demand for information since the SSN Radio Broadcasts.  We have been reliably informed that on aggregate, the other coffee cooperatives in the area have had to hire a further 8 agricultural extension field staff in order to meet the demand for coffee marketing, pricing and overall industry knowledge.

At the same time, the challenges of climate change, food security and increased pressure on natural resources means that the buyers, exporters and certification schemes urgently need to engage with hundreds of thousands of smallholders around the world on these issues – which also directly affect the farmers’ livelihoods.

The Smallholder Support Network (SSN) was set up by the Lorna Young Foundation in 2010 in order to address the training and information needs of smallholder organisations around the world. The ultimate aim of the SSN is to equip poor smallholders with greater levels of unbiased knowledge and understanding of the markets that they sell to. The SSN works on the premise that improved crop husbandry will lead to greater yields and quality. These are the factors that will lead to improved prices for produce over the long term and which will result in more sustainable livelihoods and a reduction in poverty in developing countries.

Working out of Ethiopia and Kenya – LYF’s pilot countries for the SSN -  an unusual and empowering approach has been created.  The SSN has created a dialogue directly with smallholder populations via RADIO, SMS and INTERNET platforms.  These technologies deliver real LIVE TIME updates on issues affecting smallholder crops and livelihoods. At the current time, the SSN’s focus is on coffee farming and in March, this month, for the first time ever, an exchange visit of Kenyan coffee board members will take place in Ethiopia, so that training and exchange of information in relation to the  international coffee industry can occur. The SSN’s Radio Agriculture Extension Officer, Joseph Macharia, will be following 4 coffee board members as they travel throughout the supply chain in Ethiopia.  They will meet millers, auctioneers, tasters, sales and marketing experts and buyers and will learn about the international coffee trade, with the new knowledge being brought back to Kenya via the SSN Radio broadcasts – hosted by the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation’s channel Coro FM.

The Communication Challenge

Over the past 6 months the SSN has collaborated with a wide range of stakeholders throughout its SSN Radio broadcasts in Kenya – including certification schemes, exporters, coffee buyers, NGOs and government bodies, with the express purpose of ensuring that smallholders are receiving  information that is timely, relevant and up to date.

Unlike some other initiatives, the SSN does not believe in the dissemination of biased information i.e.  ‘training’ which pushes any one production approach or certification scheme, which all too often are made up of content which is more important to the big business or to the stakeholders involved in the industry and their own sales figures.  Rather, it is about developing a two way dialogue with smallholders in rural farming communities. One of the major objectives of the SSN has always been to empower smallholder organisations to make better business decisions with the buyers of their products. The SSN is now achieving this by developing smallholders’ understanding of ethical certification, sustainable agriculture, supply chains, export markets, business requirements and international trade.

The SSN uses an SMS platform to develop the dialogue; smallholders send their questions on the coffee industry to the SSN Radio Programme and they are answered by a team of experts working in the coffee industry. This approach is truly empowering. It provides smallholders with a voice and an opportunity to engage more effectively with one another, with agricultural extension services, development organisations and with the buyers and even the consumers of their produce.

How the SSN works

Working with Agricultural Extension Officers in Kenya, the SSN targets coffee smallholders via the medium of RADIO, assisting them with learning on key issues, such as quality, yields, climate change and food security. These broadcasts are now reaching  an audience of 4.5 million people and some 500,000 coffee farmers via Kenya’s Coro FM. SSN’s ‘Farmers Gold’ or ‘DhahabuYaMurimi’ as it is known in the local Kikuyu language, is the first Radio Programme of its kind that brings together a multi stakeholder platform –of ‘specialised’ NGOs, buyers, exporters, research and training institutes with the express purpose of reaching smallholders. After being delivered via the airwaves – the Radio broadcasts are then uploaded onto the internet, where they can be accessed as podcasts at any time.

As an overall approach, the SSN essentially has 3 key components:

1)       Farmer Field Listening Groups: Two groups of 15 farmers from 2 different coffee cooperatives (the ‘Rumukia’ and the ‘Gikanda’ Coffee Cooperatives) make up the Farmer Field Listening Groups and act as the SSN pilot ‘listeners’. As individuals they are committed to raising queries via SMS, but as a collective they also work together  to generate content for the radio programmes and to ensure that its content addresses the key concerns of coffee smallholders.

2)     Multi-stakeholder Platforms: The SSN has adopted a multi-stakeholder approach in order to ensure that farmers have the most up to date and important facts, on a broad spectrum of issues and from reliable sources. The SSN brings together a platform of coffee stakeholders such as millers, buyers, agricultural extension staff and development specialists in the supply chain to generate information on issues affecting smallholders livelihoods (i.e. prices, volume requirements, pests, diseases, diversification, food security, droughts, weather, sustainable agriculture). The stakeholders are responsible for answering smallholder questions via the live feedback facility which relies on communication from farmers through SMS text messaging. Every week, 5 key questions which have been generated via SMS are addressed in the radio programme.

3)       Radio: Specialised agricultural extension staff with radio experience deliver 10 minute weekly programmes addressing key topics such as:

a) the Agricultural Calendar (cropping, fertilising, harvesting)

b) Markets (price, quality, volume)

c) Certification requirements (wages, PPE, environmental standards)

d) Climate Change (food security, diversification, sustainable agricultural practices).

e) Weather information

f) Agriculture news (coffee news)

g) Gender issues

The radio programmes are aired on prime time vernacular radio, in the evening in order to facilitate access to information for women. These programmes are then translated and made available as podcasts through the SSN portal. It seems that the genuine ‘grassroots generated’ nature of the content – accompanied by ‘answers from the experts’ has been a key factor in engaging the attention of smallholders across this region of Kenya.