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 [...]
By any stretch of the imagination – the SSN has achieved phenomenal results (see our other recent blog posts) for a project that set out to work towards the empowerment of smallholders and to increase their sustainability and livelihood chances. But the successful ingredients of the SSN are even more impressive when the tiny budget [...]
One of the biggest problems facing poor smallholders in developing countries is their lack of access to relevant, affordable and timely information on agri-business issues, especially in relation to export markets. This impacts on their ability to engage fairly within both local and global trade. At the same time, the challenges of climate change, food [...]
NJU product development workshops at Fairtraders’ Cooperative The NJU teams have been working hard on developing their products. They had a fantastic day at the fair traders’ cooperative in Holmfirth when groups from Doncaster Leeds and Huddersfield met up for the day to take part in workshops around developing and marketing fairly traded and ethical [...]
Reaching the Smallholders – Small charity, Big Loud Programme! Climate change, deforestation, food security, droughts, poverty alleviation, export markets, sustainable agriculture, gender, HIV… Is it impossible to reach smallholders in developing countries on all of these issues at the same time? The LYF thinks not … At 8.30 pm last night, the first ever radio [...]
It’s a long time coming but Kenyan coffee farmers may soon be able to serve the local coffee market, realising greater value for their coffee than simply growing and selling the raw beans for export. However, this adds greater pressure on them to build their business skills. http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Growers+get+nod+to+roast+coffee+beans+for+local+market/-/539550/1206870/-/403dd4z/-/
At a time when the Right in the UK are growing increasingly vocal about the UK Aid and Development Budget, it is heartening to see the impact that this programme has on the ground in supporting the sustainability of small farmers. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14197220
June has been a very busy month for LYFs youth enterprise groups! Sadly, we weren’t able to bring the young Kenyan farmers to the UK, as their visas were denied (twice) by UK immigration. But in spite of the disappointment of the Kenyans not being able to take part, the groups decided to go ahead [...]
Lorna Young was one of the founders of Cafedirect, and was its first marketing manager, when it was still an experiment thought up by innovative pioneers. She secured their first supermarket listings and, with her colleagues at the time, launched the company into the mainstream. It’s her pioneering work that enabled Cafedirect to be the [...]
Bill Gates promotes the programme, which his Foundation part funded, that links smallholders to markets. http://www.wfp.org/stories/gates-spotlights-wfp-support-smallholder-farmers
