Workshop of ABC Programme launched in Hudeidah
Kicking off the start of the year, SPARK’s Yemen office launched the introduction of the Agri-business Creation (ABC) programme in the Hudeidah governorate. Yemen is a country with great opportunities for business establishments particularly in the agricultural sector. SPARK is currently implementing the ABC programme which intends to develop agricultural businesses across the country to enable locally grown produce to serve the needs of the local market and eventually meet export market demands. The programme focuses on dates value chain and includes a whopping number of 520 youth participants for the year of 2015.
Hosted by SPARK’s local partner, For All Foundation, the launching workshop was held on the 12th of February in the Zabid district with around 85 participants including municipal representatives, government authority and representatives from governmental and private sectors from different areas. The purpose of the event was to introduce the ABC programme to the local area and raise public awareness about the project’s scope and targets. In the areas the programme targets, SPARK found that a significantly large number of youth entrepreneurs were unable to read and write and therefore could not benefit from the trainings and other programme activities. In order to not lose those talented youth, SPARK took the opportunity to announce the making of a curriculum that utilizes communicative and interactive methods to teach them how to start and manage a business. The launch also aimed to encourage the motivation of potential local partners to actively participate in supporting the project as well as receiving critical feedback on the ins and outs of the programme.
The ABC programme was introduced to the 85 delegates mentioned earlier and followed by a discussion session which successfully increased motivation for active participation. The delegates were divided into 5 groups to discuss their expectations from the project and were given the opportunity to voice their comments, concerns, recommendations and readiness to participate in order to get the best possible results through the ABC programme. The discussion session delivered significant critical feedback that the project team can make use of when implementing the programme. In general, the event ran smoothly and proved to be very productive and more importantly, constructive as participants were both interested and motivated to support and facilitate the project to achieve successful results.
[flickr flickr_id=”72157651862721778″][/flickr]