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.