Supporting the cooperative via online training
22-04-2020In February 2020 the final phase of the study Food & Business (HAN) started for Laura Polo with an internship for Agriterra. She would work on an assignment for 21 weeks, focussing on coffee cooperatives in the Great Lake Region: Rwanda, Congo & Burundi. But it turned out differently.
Read her blog:
"There I was, in Rwanda, emphasizing on the 'was'. Because due to the corona outbreak I am now, unfortunately, not in Rwanda anymore. A few weeks ago I had to return home and work on my internship from the Netherlands, from my home to be exactly, in a completely different setting.
A big part of my internship was focused on working together with the coffee cooperative Abakundakawa and providing training's and workshops for them. Communication and interaction with the members of Abakundakawa became more difficult now that I am not in Rwanda anymore. But with a little bit of creativity we (business advisors Jean Marie Ntakirutimana and Jasper Spikker) have managed to create something great: a 6 week training course, tailor-made for Abakundakawa.
The great technology of nowadays still allows us to continue supporting the cooperatives
Today was the first training were we explained the basics about marketing and social media. During the training course we'll walk through all the necessary steps to create a strong marketing/social media strategy. The participants, both board-members and youth-members, are being empowered to take on marketing activities and are now given all the knowledge and tools to work on their own marketing strategy.
Every week a different topic, all related to the main theme; marketing and communication, is dealt with, based on a interactive PowerPoint presentation. The participants will also perform some assignments, which helps them to increase understanding and knowledge of the topics. Eventually this will result in the knowledge needed to take over the marketing and communication tasks independently.
So even though we are now worlds apart, the great technology of nowadays still allows us to continue supporting the cooperatives and help them strengthening themselves. The results of the training course will hopefully help them to distinguish themselves, find their unique selling point and find buyers by themselves while at the same time creating more transparency, direct trade and access to the market.
