1-Coop Organization and Functioning
Organizing women into a coop helps us bring them together because united, they can accomplish more. Once the coop is organized, we then encourage them to choose the leadership, which has to be done through an election. The women aspiring to leadership roles have to campaign and rally others to their cause and agenda. The woman with the most votes becomes President. The same process is repeated for every leadership position. The basic principle is to ensure every woman knows that she has a voice and that it matters.
2- Basics Economics: the laws of supply and Demand
For them to succeed these brave women have to be trained on the basic notions of economics. We want them to understand which crops would likely generate more profit and when could be the right time during the year to plant and harvest them. In addition, they need to be aware of the market conditions, know what the customers are expecting in order to accordingly adapt their production schedule, and diversify their products. This knowledge will be key in setting them up for success.
3-Marketing
Most of the villages in which we operate don’t have local marketplaces. Our marketing training is designed to help them understand their strengths and weaknesses. We teach them product positioning and pricing. They learn with us how to expand their reach beyond their villages not only into other villages but into nearby cities as well.
4-Finance
In addition to those basic marketing lessons, we also share with them how with the size of their group they can easily raise initial capital by charging a fee to join the coop and sell their services as workers to other farmers looking for extra hands for farming work. This has the benefit of providing them with cash, but also reducing the pressure on children working in those farms.
5-Accounting
We finally offer basic accounting principles to ensure that women understand bookkeeping and how it is critical for the survival of any business they ought to start. Understanding the notions of assets and liabilities is meant to help them understand and appreciate what they have and be strategic on what is needed to create their businesses.
