23 Feb 2010

MSUWADZI ASSOCIATION GETS A VSO VOLUNTEER

Finally Smallholder Tea growers have been given permission to engage a VSO Volunteer thanks to the hard-working spirit of Mr. Kasitomu - Association President. It took him courage and time to travel up and down to Lilongwe trying to convince those concerned.

When the first volunteer couple (Mike and Penny) left without prospects for their replacement, life became uncertain as to how the Smallholder Tea Farmers were going to manage the Fairtrade Premium and their projects.

Matthew Strickland (VSO) is now settling in and we strongly hope the Msuwadzi Association will now have the capacity to manage its projects as well as having the ability to link up with other agents in order to leverage their financial base.

In addition, he will also be assisting the Satemwa Joint Body in areas of project identification and management as this happens to be his area of specialisation.

For more log onto: www.satemwa.com

11 Feb 2010

FAIRTRADE MEDIA PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR VISITS SATEMWA ESTATE

On Wenesday 27th January 2010, we received visitors from the Fairtrade Foundation who were on a fact finding mission with regards to the Fairtrade Media Project.
Annette Muller (Video and Digital Project Co-ordinator and team leader) was accompanied by Richard.
They met with Smallholder Tea growers and Joint Body members.
Among other issues, they advised us of the objective behind the project - To do stories and or capture clips that will give fairtrade consumers out there a true picture of the impact fairtrde is making towards changing people's lives.
Annette and Richard were stunned to note that Satemwa Joint Body is a step ahead in terms of communicating with the customers and other interested parties - by way of a blog onto which stories are posted.
They promised to link this blog with the Fairtrade facebook .

Photo: Annete Muller demonstrating to JB women members
on how to take video clips using a cellphone
For more info, visitthe website: www.satemwa.com