PRO-PLANTEURS Day 2019

The so-called PRO-PLANTEURS day took place for the second time.

This is where the project participants come together once a year to discuss project progress, share experiences and jointly develop the project further. 132 participants from the 35 cooperatives involved, from the Ivorian Ministry of Agriculture (MINADER), the state authority Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) and the PPP platform, the project's implementing partners and nine members of GISCO, who are represented locally, met in Abidjan in September.

The aim of the event is to promote a common understanding of the project approach among all participants. To this end, the participants will work out recommendations for further action and for a better cooperation between GISCO and the other project financiers of PRO-PLANTEURS in thematic workshops.

Learning from each other - exchanging with each other - sharing success

No longer surprising for the coordinating project team around project manager Judith Steffens was the active participation of all participants. The representatives of the cooperatives as well as training organisations, project financing companies and government representatives gladly use the PRO-PLANTEURS day to learn more about the work in the individual project areas, to share their experiences and to give suggestions or confirmation. Most impressive are the spontaneous approvals and reflective contributions to the discussion made by the farmers, because it is they who are the focus of the entire project work and who should benefit from the measures developed.

The different backgrounds of the participants make the exchange with each other particularly valuable. Such an exchange and learning from and with each other are a central element of the project work of PRO-PLANTEURS. This year, important input was provided by the women trained by the project as rural advisors "Animatrices Rurales", who advise families on nutritional issues, and by those women who were able to report on their work from the small-scale projects to generate additional income. The cocoa producers and representatives of the cooperative management also gave the other participants a good practical insight.

Results 2019

This year's PRO-PLANTEURS day also offered the guests a variety of impressions of the everyday project life, the progress and challenges. Dr. Herrmann Schlöder from the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Dr. Torben Erbrath from the Association of the German Confectionery Industry represented member companies of GISCO that are involved in the project implementation and co-finance it. From the Ivorian side, Koffi Prince Thibaut Aka from the Ivorian Ministry of Agriculture (MINADER), Félicien Diby and Benjamin Walker from the state authority Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) participated as representatives of the third project partner. The presence of the representatives of the German Embassy in Côte d'Ivoire and the World Cocoa Foundation as well as the implementation partners ANADER, TechnoServe, Eveil and the National Nutrition Programme (PNN) will further enhance the approaches and experiences of PRO-PLANTEURS.

Testimonials of the Project

Denise Etchiambone N'ZORE, Cooperative SCOABIA, Animatrice Rurale: "I did the training as agricultural advisor, Animatrice Rurale. I had two weeks of training in Gagnoa. In the meantime I have trained nine groups myself, each with about 50 women. I taught them a lot about nutrition."

Odile Sophie YAO GERANTE, Cooperative SEKA: "We are the children of farmers, but we did not know how to manage a plantation. Thanks to PRO-PLANTEURS I can properly manage a service unit."

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