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

SAFE is a Rwandan NGO that aims to combine scientific evidence and community-based gender transformative approaches such as Inclusive Agribusiness Management and Agripreneurship, Gender Action Learning System (GALS), Gender Entrepreneurship Training (GET Ahead), and Gender Inclusive Financial Literacy Training (GIFT). Its mission is to empower, through research and development, the most disadvantaged groups, mainly women and youth, to remove structural barriers to their full economic participation. SAFE envisions a world where women and youth are heard and respected as they influence and co-create locally relevant, inclusive, and fundable climate solutions that deliver real benefits to people and nature as part of local, national, and global responses to the climate-hunger-poverty crisis.

One of SAFE’s interventions is the support the organization has been providing to rural women under an IFAD funding, the “Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment through Gender Action Learning System (GALS)”, which focuses on deepening financial inclusion and women’s leadership in critical rural governance circles.

For the past 6 years, SAFE rolled out GALS trying to integrate key components such as Nutrition, Climate Change, and Entrepreneurship, aspects that the organization believed could boost the socio-economic improvement of the women supported. In different participatory gender review sessions SAFE organized, the women reported positive results, and more need to be supported.

To catalyze a more integrating approach that could have a bigger outreach, SAFE proposes to develop the Rural Women Economic Empowerment (RWEE) Hub which will be developed as a center of excellence (one-stop shop for developing, deploying, and coordinating tools, data, and financing of GALS) in improving intrahousehold, extra household and business level gender equity through the amplification and large-scale deployment of GALS method in Rwanda’s rural areas. Given the limited resource base of the organization, SAFE requested a Farmer-to-Farmer program to support the organization in successfully launching the mentioned flagship product.

Assignment Scope

The assignment would focus on the development of an integrated model of the Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (RWEE) Hub.

The F2F volunteer will assist in the consolidation of

•  all learning from the past RWEE projects,
•  analyzing opportunities for scaling the GALS approach, and
•  use the current RWEE phase’s elements of entrepreneurship and financial literacy to profile SAFE as a center of excellence in delivering the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) in Rwanda.

The F2F volunteer will develop the RWEE Hub business model and roll-out plan, including its first resource mobilization. The development would involve multiple activities:

•  discussions/collecting information with key beneficiaries of the model (farmers’ groups and cooperatives that make and/or are supported by SAFE) and
•  discussing with other stakeholders of the organization to hear their inputs (funding partners, the district where the project is currently being implemented, etc.).

The volunteer is expected to meet with all the mentioned stakeholders to gather the required information and use this information to develop the RWEE Hub model by working closely with the SAFE leadership team. The volunteer will also lead the model testing sessions with stakeholders and could participate in or lead its validation before providing the final copy of the document.

Host Profile

The Sustainable Agriculture for Food Security and Economic Development (SAFE) is a Rwandan non-governmental organization mandated to fight hunger and poverty in the realm of climate change. It was created in 2012 and registered with the Rwanda Governance Board in 2016 with a mission to empower, through research and development, the most disadvantaged groups mainly women and youth, to remove structural barriers to their full economic participation. By influencing and co-creating locally relevant, inclusive, and fundable climate solutions that deliver real benefits to people and nature in response to the climate-hunger-poverty crisis.

SAFE is a unique Rwandan NGO that combines scientific evidence and community-based gender transformative approaches such as Inclusive agribusiness management and agripreneurship, Gender Action Learning System (GALS), Gender Entrepreneurship Training (GET Ahead), and Gender Inclusive Financial Literacy Training (GIFT). Its mission is to empower, through research and development, the most disadvantaged groups mainly women and youth, to remove structural barriers to their full economic participation. SAFE envisions a world where women and youth are heard and respected as they influence and co-create locally relevant, inclusive, and fundable climate solutions that deliver real benefits to people and nature as part of local, national, and global responses to the climate-hunger-poverty crisis.

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 eUrCdS1 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: Have a degree in Development Economics or Rural Development, Entrepreneurship or Business Development or equivalent.
•  Experience working with innovation organizations on the improvement of their product offering.
•  Proven previous experience in developing new concepts, products, or projects from conception to resource mobilization and launch.
•  Proven experience in brand development for new products and tools.
•  A good understanding of gender equality and/or women economic empowerment concepts.

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.