SuperWECoffee project implements its Training of Trainers in the Sekong Province in Laos with 4Form and ICA Asia Pacific
Within SuperWECoffee project, we together with the Partners CARE International in Lao PDR, 4FORM (Ente di Formazione Nazionale di Legacoop) and International Co-operative Alliance-Asia and Pacific, we have been in the Sekong province in Lao PDR, to implement the Training of Trainers.
The local training facilitators from LAO have learnt about the cooperative model, as a tool to improve and enhance the local coffee producers network and to address the main gaps identified in terms of organizational capacity among coffee producers. Coffee producers groups are small producers and face challenges, such as lack of skills, low productivity, climate change negative impacts, and lack of sustainable and proper facilities to process coffee.
Thanks to the two cooperative experts from 4FORM and International Co-operative Alliance-Asia, the facilitators are now awared about the cooperative principles and values, and techniques of facilitation to train coffee producers. Indeed, after the this ToT, the facilitatrs are expected to train more than 100 coffee farmers, to raise awareness on the benefits of cooperative model, and support coffee producers in developing sustainable cooperatives in 15 villages of Dak Cheung district in Lao PDR.
The capacity buliding modules of the TOT provided by the experts aims to support facilitators to assist producers in defining common business cooperative model according to their production and marketing needs. The project has involved the participation of the International Labour Organization in the training as an added value for our facilitators to learn more about tools developed by ILO to support and manage agriculture cooperatives, as supply of farmers inputs and coop marketing. Among the other training materials and techniques of training used by our experts, the facilitators are now awared about the ILO tools as think.coop and my.coop. The TOT session also included visits to Cooperative of Sustainable Eco Coffee (CSEC) and Dak Rai coffee village, as an occasione to meet directly the future traineens, the coffee producers, and heard about their challenges and needs.
