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

COCOF-supported beneficiaries consider soybeans to be one of the major crops that can help them get out of poverty by increasing its production, value addition, and selling derivative products. Some of these beneficiaries are individual farmers, others are small producer groups and others are formal cooperatives. All of them currently produce and sell raw soybean products to the processor. Many sell directly to COCOF for storage and wholesaling, and to other off-takers in the area. Considering the cost of production, soybean producers feel they are not earning a reasonable profit from soybeans. In addition to this, the production is low based on different factors including but not limited to land scarcity, and limited use of inputs which causes low productivity, and all of these contribute to lower incomes.

COCOF believes one of the ways to hamper this low-income challenge would be to add value to the soybean product, which is also one of the targets of Farmer-to-Farmer – increasing the profitability of food systems actors by increasing the value addition of existing products as an entry-level. COCOF requested F2F-IFS to support some of the organization’s producer groups to add value of soybeans by making tofu and other derivative products and selling them directly to the local market.

Assignment Scope

The assignment would focus on training different soybean-producing groups and cooperatives on making value-added products from soybean, such as tofu, soybean milk, snacks from byproducts, etc. using locally available and affordable materials and equipment. COCOF will help to organize three training sites with all interested groups to attend a 5-day training on each site.

Each site is expected to host 15-20 participants from nearby places and learn how to make soybean products locally to be sold and consumed in the community.

The volunteer will also prepare a simple and easy-to-use handout he/she can leave to participants so they can refer to it in the future and/or use it to train their fellows to ensure an expanded outreach.

Host Profile

COCOF (Conseil Consultatif des Femmes: Advisory Council of Women) is a women’s organization established in December 1994 by a group of peasant women with a vision of ” a Rwanda where both women and men attain equal rights”, a mission to “help women achieve economic, social and political abilities that allow them to enjoy the same rights as men and address the problems they face” and the core values of “integrity, volunteering, self-confidence, mutual respect for members and for the community and loyalty to COCOF”. COCOF is an experienced and professional organization excellent to work in partnership with different stakeholders as it can be testified by the current donors.

Currently, COCOF has 594 members who are exclusively female and 11,000 beneficiaries of its different interventions of whom 71% are female who, most of them, are grouped into cooperatives or groups and have been supported by COCOF with household incomes increased to meet the basic needs of their members and reinvest. As a result, cooperatives offer their members the services necessary to increase their agricultural or artisanal production and for the sale of their products under favorable conditions. Co-operatives supported by COCOF are well organized and well managed and COCOF’s performance has improved.

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
  •  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:

eUrCZ6h veHaP
•  Education in food science, food making, or a related field
•  Experience in hands-on soya value addition to various products
•  Experience in training illiterate people
•  Having worked with African local organizations will be a plus.
•  Sufficiently physically fit, with appropriate medical clearance
•  Familiar with working with non-English speakers through translators/interpreters

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.