A national training event focused on the requirements for better governance and member participation.
Castries, St. Lucia, September 6, 2016 (IICA). Members of six producer organizations are now equipped to improve their governance and operational procedures after receiving training from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Saint Lucia.
The training activity helped to familiarize participants with key principles of good governance, pinpoint weaknesses in their present governance structures, and highlight areas for improvement of governance within their respective organizations.
In his opening remarks, the IICA Representative in the Eastern Caribbean States, John King, explained that “the workshop targets key producer groups and associations, particularly those affiliated with CaFAN, CANROP, and CAFY. The intent is to help participants to realize the power of the organization and its role as a vehicle of sustainable development for the agricultural sector and the nation as a whole.”
Participants were drawn from the Saint Lucia Network for Rural Women Producers (SLNRWP), Saint Lucia Agriculture Forum for Youth (SLAFY), Mille Fleur Honey Producers Cooperative, Saint Lucia Floral Cooperative Society, and Saint Lucia Ruminant Cooperative Society Limited; and also featured technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives who regularly work with those groups.
The training program was supported under IICA’s Flagship Project on Competitiveness and Sustainability of Agricultural Chain, and Component 3 – Improving Market Linkages to Contribute to Agricultural Enterprise Development of the Agriculture Policy Programme (APP) of the 10th European Development Programme (EDF). One of the aims of the Component 3 of the APP project is to enhance the governance expertise of the producer groups/enterprises in the CARIFORUM countries.
An interactive training event
The participants in the two-day event are now equipped to:
- Understand the role and fundamentals of good governance within an organization;
- Understand the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Directors;
- Understand the roles and responsibilities as individual members of the organizations;
- Apply skills and knowledge for enhanced participation in/governance of their organization.
“The workshop was very telling and helped the participating groups to identify where their efforts should be placed in creating governance structures and procedures that are in keeping with their mandates for transparency, accountability and delivery of quality services to their membership. We expect that, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, we can realize significant improvements in the way these groups work,” added the IICA National Specialist in Saint Lucia, Brent Theophile.
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