Land O’Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. Since 1981, it has implemented over 315 integrated dairy, livestock and crops development programs in nearly 80 countries � creating lasting impact by linking farmers, businesses, and the public and private sector in local and global contexts. Land O’Lakes Venture37’s long-standing affiliation with Land O’Lakes, Inc. sets it apart. Land O’Lakes, Inc. is one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. It supports Land O’Lakes Venture37 project implementation with nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights and technologies. This gives Land O’Lakes Venture37 development projects a unique global view of agriculture, food and the power of well-functioning market systems. Land O’Lakes, Inc. supports these efforts as part of its enterprise purpose of Feeding Human Progress at home and around the world.

Program Overview

The Farmer-to-Farmer Inclusive Food Systems (F2F-IFS) program is boosting productivity and profitability of market actors across local food systems in Egypt, Lebanon, and Rwanda by providing targeted, sequenced, and layered volunteer technical assistance. As food systems become more productive and profitable, F2F-IFS is contributing to sustainable, broad-based economic growth within the agricultural sector. F2F-IFS is also facilitating people-to-people exchanges that promote connection and understanding in the global food and agriculture community.

To ensure that food systems are more inclusive and efficient in Egypt, Lebanon, and Rwanda, Land O’Lakes Venture37 is leading a five-year, $7.5 million Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program. Venture37 will complete 181 assignments, which will be specifically designed to make food systems more inclusive and accessible across the three core countries.

Since 1987, Land O’Lakes has sent more than 1,400 U.S. highly qualified volunteers � including 160 of our affiliate Land O’Lakes, Inc. staff and cooperative members � on assignments in 27 countries. As a quality-driven food company, Land O’Lakes, Inc. is uniquely positioned to drive improvements in food safety and quality by offering a broad range of agricultural technical expertise on a voluntary basis, including improved agri-business management, quality assurance, improved policy and regulatory regimes, and production and post-harvest activities. The program is funded through the USAID John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program. F2F initiatives generate rapid, sustained and broad-based economic growth in the agricultural sector. These programs also promote international goodwill, an understanding of U.S. foreign assistance programs, and private involvement in development activities.

Description of Assignment

Problem Statement

Inyambo Fresh Dairy is a sole proprietor dairy product-producing company registered as a limited liability, operating with a production capacity of 1,500-1,800 Liters of fermented milk per day in two forms: standard fermented milk and yogurt fermented milk. This milk is packaged in 4 different sizes: 1-liter jerrycan, 2-liter jerrycan, 3-liter jerrycan, and 5-liter jerrycan. However, the company can also prepare a 20-liter jerrycan if the client special orders it.

The company started as a small milk treatment facility to collect raw milk from nearby farmers and ferment and package it to different outlets in the location, and in the Rusizi district. The company has received support from some projects in the past to improve its operations from a part-time producer to a full-time working company that has regular collection and production of fermented milk and yogurt. The company operates with mainly family members – the owner, the husband, and the children plus additional staff hired for technical and manpower work. These workers, especially in leadership and management, have no vision, mission, or goals they work against. They receive raw milk and treat it to package in plastic jerry cans and small bottles mostly for the local market. There is no differentiation between the human resource and finance resource departments since the owner and children do a self-arrangement to ensure the factory progresses and delivers products for the existing market or just a slow-growing market. They have no formal management system nor leadership skills required to run a factory and expand its market share. With the equipment and the housing, that the company received from some donor projects, the factory is running and making some profits. However, it could be more profitable if the company had a good operating system, written vision, mission and goals, and other well-documented working systems. That is why Inyambo Fresh Dairy Ltd requested technical assistance from F2F IFS to help them increase their leadership and management skills to strengthen the company’s operations and improve the working conditions for a more visionary and mission-oriented company.

Assignment Scope

From its set up to today, the company is run mostly by family members of the owner, many of them are youth and have attended university with different disciplines of what they are doing now. The factory owner herself has no formal skills nor much experience in factory management or leadership. There is no formal way of doing things.

The volunteer should focus on the factory management for all resources and operations, so all activities are well-coordinated. The volunteer should train the company workers to work cohesively with a vision, a mission, and accountability. The volunteer should train workers to define their deliverables work with formal schedules in the factory. The volunteer will work with the host to:

•  Increase the governing body’s leadership skills
•  Enhance the company’s Human Resources and Financial Management
•  Help the company create the vision and mission statement, as well as future goals
•  Develop a formal operational system

Host Profile

The owner of Inyambo Fresh Milk started the milk business in 2005 when she was assisting her mother to buy whole milk that she was retailing in a small kiosk in a nearby district. Later, her aunt advised her that she could make money by doing a milk business because her aunt saw a growing milk demand in the Rusizi district neighboring DRC. From then, the owner of Inyambo Fresh Milk started to pasteurize milk herself and send this milk to her aunt for retailing in Rusizi as advised. As she started the business as an individual, she had no capacity to buy all required equipment and was doing it in a traditional way in her family house. Her business was temporarily shuttered by the district for not complying with certification standards. She was discouraged but did not give up on her business. She got the standard certificate in 2017.

Today the company is operating with a production capacity of 1,500-1,800 Liters of pasteurized milk per day. Inyambo Fresh Milk recruited two professional staff: one has a degree in food processing and another has a degree in finance. The company has other 4 permanent staff that support in production, storage and loading and unloading of milk, as well as in other daily activities in the processing facility. The company has signed contracts with 15 main suppliers known as “Abacunda” that collect milk from different places and supply it to the company on motorcycles and on bicycles.

Deliverables

Each volunteer must submit a Final Report to the F2F Program, which includes the following sections:

• •  A summary of tasks and observations from site visits eUrCj0s veHaP
  •  A list of 3-5 specific and actionable recommendations for the host organization(s). The recommendations are very important to the program as they are used to track host adoption of recommendations and the impact on hosts’ farms and businesses. These recommendations will be reviewed during the debriefing session with country staff at the end of the assignment and the volunteer may make revisions to them in their Final Report.

•  A section listing the assignment objectives above and how they were met or why they were not met.
•  A short summary of the assignment with relevant photos that can be shared on various media platforms.

Outreach

Upon return to the United States, the volunteer is requested to communicate his or her F2F experience to their peers and communities. Outlets to share the volunteer experience include home groups (e.g., civic and religious groups, professional associations, etc.), workplace presentations, local newspapers, community or workplace newsletters, personal blogs and social media sites. It is important to give recognition to USAID for funding the F2F IFS program. At least two outreach events are requested and should be communicated to Elizabeth Laferriere (elaferriere@landolakes.com). Volunteers will be invited to join a volunteer group through LinkedIn and will receive occasional surveys requesting information about completed outreach activities during each period.

Volunteer Qualifications

The recruited volunteer is expected to have the following skills and qualifications:

•  Educational Background: degree in Human Resource Management, development studies, Social Sciences, Business Administration, or a related field.
•  More than 5 years of practical knowledge and experience in implementing leadership development assignments, conflict resolution tasks, and operational development skills areas.
•  Training Skills, including training in group settings
•  Excellent writing and computer skills
•  Sufficiently physically fit, with appropriate medical clearance

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is an equal opportunity employer and an organization striving to help global communities thrive through agriculture. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status, among other factors. Our culture values a diversity of voices. So bring us your unique experiences, your workstyle, and your dreams � they’ll only make us stronger.