Adressing Youth Unemployment through Organic Farming

Monday the 16th of October, 2017, WIBDI introduced its 11th intake on the Organic Warriors Academy to the village of Satalo in Falealili, on the eastern side of Upolu.  The intake is an innovated program proudly funded by UNDP in Samoa, Cook Islands, Tokelau & Niue, Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SGDF), Civil Society Support Program - Samoa (CSSP), Ministry of Women, Community & Social Development, and the Samoa National Youth Council – SNYC.

The training is led by Women In Business Development Incorporated and aims to diminish the statistics of youth unemployment in Samoa.  This outreach is spread across villages in Upolu and Savai’i and encourages the youth to look upon Farming as an occupation.

Day 1, Registration and Opening of OWA Training in Satalo, Monday 16th October, 2017

The training in Satalo enrolled more than 50 individuals on the first day of its launch and Church Ministers from Satalo and neighbouring village, Salani, were also present during the event and opened the workshop with rhythms of praise and prayers.

Followed by this, WIBDI President and OWA training Co-ordinator, Peseta Afoa Arasi Tiotio, introduced the programme with a short and holistic speech, after delivering comforting words of advice to the youth, while also briefing all of the present individuals - participants eagerly listened and were overwhelmed with knowledge about organic farming.

WIBDI President, Peseta Afoa Arasi Tiotio, opening the training with a Speech

After overwhelming the participants with highly-relevant information to the programme, OWA supervisor Cultural and Protocol Specialist, Fuimaono Rosalia Me, and Senior Field Officer, Iti Iakopo were introduced to all of the active participants.

Supervisors of the Organic Warriors Academy are fully attentive during the workshop, and provide full added assistance for those individuals that need may need more reluctant help understanding certain units.

Supervisors during the training, Fuimaono Rosalia Me. 

Assistant OWA Trainer,  Iti Iakopo

Field trip with participants to the garden, planting herbs, while also learning about water harvesting, composting, mulching and how to build keyhole gardens from raw and organic materials from the environment

Participants thoroughly enjoyed the training and gave back very relevant and positive feedback regarding the training. They were put into five groups, the following groups were named; Mosooi, Isaraelu, Ava Samoa, Fuia and Niu.

Team Mosooi

Team Isaraelu

Team Ava Samoa       

Team Fuia      

Team Niu (Coconut)

All of the mentioned teams above enjoyed the different team building exercises, from writing original song lyrics related to the unit, presenting each assignment in unison and creating a skit/play that cheerfully made everyone present burst into laughter more than once.

During the training, supervisors pay very close attention to all of the formed groups and write down score points for each team after an assignment is complete.

Towards the end of the training, the winning team is announced and receives an award and the award winning team was Team Isaraelu.

The training ended Friday, 20th October, 2017, and everyone that took-part received a Certificate for completing units from the Organic Farm-To-Table programme under the “Engaging Youth In Samoa in Organic Farming: A Farm-to-Table Value Chain Approach”.

Organic Warriors Academy, Graduates after the completion ceremony.

There were 62 participants in total that graduated from this intake, and it is the second largest number of participants since the Vaisala Organic Warriors in Savai’i.

Article sourced from Women In Business Development and Written by;

Therese Rivers

Social Media Officer

Women in Business Development Incorporated

Agri-Processing Facility, Warehouse

Nu'u, APIA

PO Box 6591, Samoa

Posted: Wed 25 Oct 2017

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