report on strat. planning meeting

The strategic planning meeting was a success! it
It took our ngo, global service corp, squarely out of the center-
Our farmer leaders were having open exchange, not only with each other,
but also with visiting representatives from various fields vital to
their growth: - micro-finance, media (to raise public awareness), market
training-both the trainers and also visiting farmers who'd been trained
by them, gender specialists talking about who in the household is making
the decisions and controlling the resources, political representatives
talking about how agricultural extentionists and village representatives
can campaign together to raise the support for organics in the region-
Although we'd gone for hours and it was past lunch it remained a highly
energetic exchange. Covered on radio, tv, and a couple of different
newspapers; - public profile for organics in this region.
We had some fresh moments of exchange; in one, the visiting farmer said
they'd been tricked into converting to organics because just as the
coffee prices (their crop) rose, their coffee got wiped out by pests-
upon questioning our trainers said they'd been improperly trained in
organics and were going half and half, organic and conventional, which
doesn't work. Our trainers offered to include them in our trainings. In
another moment william challenged the media to support these local
farmers rather than flocking around the president and politicians when
they come to town, asking them why in the history of organic farming
here we'd never seen them at a meeting before- They said they are ready
to partner with our farmers on getting the word out about organics. As
the various consultants talked about what they had to offer our farmers
queried them if they charge for their services or if like our organic
farm training it is offered free of charge. In william's group he had
some farmers plus the agricultural extentionist- when one of the farmers
was expressing doubts about succeeding in the market the extentionist
cut in to encourage her saying the extentionists and village leaders can
campaign together to support organics in the region- This seemed like
something fresh, to have politics and media and microfinance, gender
relations, market training and the farmers all together getting excited
about this common project!

William, Javasson, Sommy, and I met for a follow-up/general BIA monthly
meeting today:
We determined follow-up steps to yesterday's meeting.

Follow-up steps:
Sommy is going ask the farmers in attendence yesterday to meet within 10
days and come up with proposals and action steps. The farmers were
making connections between themselves and the fields represented, and
seemed full of ideas, so we are eager to see what comes out of it. And
feel this is a good independent step for them to take now, brainstorming
on their own and reporting to us.

William will assemble a series of meetings with village leaders and
extentionists starting in January.
he also has the Dec. 12th crop calendar and record keeping training
coming up during which he will follow up with the farmers on this
strategic planning meeting.

Sommie and Javasson are going to put together a new farmers' group for
BIA trainings composed entirely of agricultural extentionists.

Deborah and I are going to put together an MOU for Faida MaLi and GSC-
We've been talking about at least partial exchange of trainings (we
would need to pay extra for their trip to Dar trainings, for example)

Faida MaLi talked about including some of our farmers as guests on their
trainings in Tanga, and we have invited the farmers who were there
yesterday to come to our Dec. 12 training. Harold, of Faida MaLi who
helped facilitate yesterday wants to attend a training with Sommy and
Javasson to learn more about how we teach.

William wants us to ask Faida MaLi, since market research is part of
what they do, to research the organic market potentials for this region.

of course i'm very enthused- in part because i felt like we were doing something real rather than having yet another meeting that's going through the motions, which i find so common here- nice speals with zero relevence on the ground; and it was my biggest fear and what i at all costs wanted to avoid- wasting the farmers' time- so i felt so pleased to see all these different previously un-networked sectors interacting, and i myself and other gsc organizers, except those presenting (william) totally outside the action way on the fringe- loved that. i know my tendency here is to get very excited thinking we're breaking ground in revolutionary ways that will result in great long-ranging change, and i'd be wise to temper this enthusiasm a bit... for example the demo plot where last month i'd been so thrilled to institute changes is now contending with setbacks as our main worker is sending the harvest to the compost pile rather than marketing it. Deborah my superviser feels if you think you can create change here in less than 5 yrs. you're dreaming- yet, the strat.planning meeting was an energizing exchange with new connections forged, and i can't see that not having ripples.

Here's some human interest writing from a while ago, to lighten up all this work-writing:
wanting to e-mail about my phone, my family, aunt laura, about manu-chou, about fay and ededwin, and about harry and Ikunda, so sebastian, about Rahel, Placid, yusuphu and mary. So can i start with the phone? how my phone got pic-pocketed last week at lunch time, boarding the dala dala perhaps with Placid my Tanzanian 'counterpart' or workpartner in Tengeru which though reminded almost daily, i'd forgotten was a notorious cell-phone theft town. And then when nearing our destination on the DAla Dala (arusha) i searched unfruitfully for my phone and Placid says in horror -"someone has absconded with your phone!"
How i've been hanging out with these youngsters in their 20's and want to hang out with w/older, but can't seem to find them, so for now enjoying the youngsters. It's odd to lose your phone here because you've written a lot of texts on it, it's personal like losing your computer. And the sympathy! Placid texted several friends in alarm reporting my phone had been taken - At home they reacted with shock and such sympathy! Then within minutes though, people reveal theytoo have had their phones stolen - Placid has had 2 taken, my house father also 2, the 4 tanzanians i work with in tengeru have each had their phone stolen - and once they get onto these old stories it's often relayed with great amusement! The sympathy and shock at the loss of my phone is in great contrast to the reaction to news of personal losses, Nate, Vicky -which is often diverted eyes and a brief 'i'm so sorry' and change of conversation. What else. Agnes the house girl, and aunt laura, a grown unmarried sister who lives with us. laura is very chritian. she's up praying from midnight to 2 am most nights. she's a bit younger than i -beautiful, tall thin, killer gifure like many women here- chiseled features and long braids, burning eyes. she could be an intimidating character- want her in my corner for sure- she's usually laughing and has got great business schemes -open a spa for income and then open a joint center for elderly and hiv+orphans, to care for eachother. she barks at the kids in the house, is the only one who seems to discipline them, and she bakes cakes late at night after most have gone to bed. i like her- she'd take shit from no one and is very funny. Agnes the house girl who walks around the house spreading calm and good will and taking care of all the things that need to get done. agnes is very amused by me. the kids: fay and edwin- i've bragged too much about well-behaved african kids -as penance have landed in the household with unruly undisciplined little tyrants. cute as can be and not as bad as i say. but little edwin gets away with murder-screaming at the dinner table, giving his big sister a bloody lip, whining, and no one says much. whenever he sees me he bursts out "hi Dafna!!!!" it absolves him for me of many sins. then there's fay who i share my room with. she says things to me before sleep like, "daphne, i like you. let's pray', then she closes her eyes and starts chanting, 'father bless us bless us bless us' the other night she said 'daphne i like your nose, it's big.' i like fay too. although all this togetherness does make me miss having my own space where i might start being more creative. Fay is a little fat and everyone thinks it's funny. teases her about her belly. she could care a less, also thinks it's funny.

They have the ideas but not the know how ... you are bringing in
some expertise that they don't have-- the micro-finance person, he
extention agent . They probably want/ need to put together a farmers
cooperative that could do some market research on what they should
grow extra, could do the marketing and the business end. Not every
farmer with surplus food should need to go out and do their own
marketing. One role of this meeting could be training to form a
cooperative and have some farmers take leadership roles in the
institution. Use the meeting to start the process. Then they might
want to create a business plan, a roadmap to where they are going and
where they would like to be in the next ew years. Alternatively, if
they have a good thing going, they might need an infusion of capital
to capitalize on it-- that is where microfinance comes in. They
could actually pool some of the money into a farmer's micro-credit
savings and loan. Another idea because they are in a central tourist
area-- potentially more of a cash cow than just farming-- they could
look into entering the tourist economy. Eco-tourism (remember that
farm we stayed on in Monte Verde in Costa Rica). Or marketing
produce to international hotels and touring agents-- definitely a
niche market for organic produce.
hope this is helpful--Amy

You mentioned in the beginning of the email that your organization is working to have solutions come from the people and communities themselves. perfect. the challenge when brainstorming, I've found, is to not lead to much with your own ideas, even when you think they're perfect for the communities you are working with. If it's going to come from them, it has to come from them. But how to facilitate it so that happens, if that's the best role?

I agree that bringing farmers together with extensionists and others who could provide tangible assistance as part of creating larger infrastructure locally and elsewhere is an exciting opportunity;. Could you talk with some of the farmers you've been working with, and ask them how they think the meeting should be organized to get the best results. Could the farmers be empowered to make a considered request of the officials in attendance to help them with marketing training, market infrastructure, etc? I agree with you that then breaking into small groups is the way that the most people will get to directly share ideas and create solutions, which can then all be shared with each other. That's what I'd think too, but does that fit with local custom and experience?

seems like it would be useful for the farmers to think of some bottom line requests for the officials, what they want to get out of the meeting, what the follow-up will be, etc.

strat. development:

sorry for the long pause- i've been soliciting help on my strategic planning meeting, and have gotten great responses which i'll post-

my info. solicitation went as follows, and then i'll post some of the responses:

here's the situation:

my organization, GSC, started out in '96 with the agricultural mission
of addressing aids in this region by improving food security. Teaching
farmers Bio-intensive agriculture so as to improve the nutrition of
their family and communities- that much has been accomplished now with
farmers producing plenty of organic veggies- more than enough for their
families and communities.
At issue now is farmers with too much production who haven't themselves
come up with a way to market the produce.
A main concern for GSC is that farmers take active roles and don't get
accustomed to being spoonfed solutions.
To expand the GSC mission, my local counterpart and i have gone out to
discuss w/ farming group leaders their ideas on what's next. we 've
talked to many over the months, and have also recently held a small
meeting of nine of them to discuss their ideas and to network with
eachother. these same nine are coming to a meeting the end of nov.
which will also include an agricultural extentionist and a village
political representative, a micro-finance representative, a
representative from another ngo working with farming villages, and a
couple of farmers who've worked with a market training ngo, to let our
farmers know how the market trainings have worked for them. I am to
come up with an agenda for the meeting, and envision dividing our
farmers into small groups mixed with the other peo. at the meeting to
brainstorm. the question is what to ask them because i've already asked
them a million times what their problems are and what solutions they
see. they've told me a million times, market and market training is the
solution along with post harvest preservation techniques like drying
produce. i can't bear ask them yet again those same questions and waste
their time. I actually feel like the info. gathering is complete and gsc
ought to move ahead aligning w/ market training partners, but boss
insists on this last strategic development meeting. it seems like
there's potential for a productive meeting as our farmers will have a
chance to brainstorm with these outsiders who approach the issue from
different perspectives, but how to best make use of this combination of
people. any thoughts? any strategic development resources i might check
out? the info i've looked out doesn't seem really to apply to such a
mixed group- seems more for meetings where everyone has a common history
within a single organization. the reason i like this meeting is it
potentially expands the idea of organic farming beyond GSC and our
farmers to a regional and also political issue, where extentionists and
municipalities could get involved to make organic farming something the
whole arusha region supports - something that puts arusha on the map and
as an attraction to the many tourists, ex-pats, and international
businesses that congregate here. That's the way our bio-intensive-ag
expert/leader, william, is thinking and why he's invited the
extentionist and municipal leader to the meeting. William is himself a
resource as he's involved in the Tanzanian organic agricultural
movement, and has much info he could report on at the meeting as to
what's happening with organics in TZ. A part of me would like to set up
the meeting so that William reports, the farmers with market training
report, a couple of our farmers report, and then we all divide up and
brainstorm. Brainstorm how, though?