For over 50 years, TechnoServe has helped hardworking women and men in the developing world gain the skills, connections, and confidence to create self-sustaining businesses and build a path out of poverty. In part two of this series, we ask a few of these farmers and entrepreneurs to share how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their lives and how they are coping with its effects.
Technology has the potential to address many of the world’s most pressing development challenges. But some of the biggest failures incorporating technology in development contexts result from solutions that don’t fit the target users’ needs and capabilities. In his first regular column on applying technology to solve development problems, Director of TechnoServe Labs Dave Hale discusses the first step for developing technology solutions: understanding the end user.
In the Indian tradition and culture, it is common for parents to be highly involved in their children’s decision-making processes, particularly regarding career choices. However, parental involvement can also sometimes be a barrier to youth employment. TechnoServe is engaging both youth and their parents to ensure that young people can pursue formal sector jobs with their parents’ support.
From launching a new program to help small shops respond to COVID-19, to using remote sensing technology to map cashew production in Benin, here are some of the highlights of an eventful year.
In a year filled with challenges, TechnoServe has remained committed to helping farmers and small businesses fight the impact of COVID-19. While some of our methods may have looked a bit different this year, our mission has remained the same. Our five most-read stories from 2020 illustrate just a few of the ways that TechnoServe has helped women and men in the developing world overcome obstacles to build brighter futures.
In Uttar Pradesh, India, wheat farmers like Manoj Kumar are working to achieve better lives for their families but face countless obstacles. TechnoServe is helping local farmer organizations strengthen business operations, enabling thousands of their members to access better markets and earn higher incomes.
TechnoServe programs in 10 countries interviewed smallholder farmers to see how they have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and how they are responding to the crisis.
In India, TechnoServe is working to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers like Mottadam Jogiraju by strengthening farmer producer organizations and transforming them into sustainable enterprises that link producers to stable, profitable markets for their crops.
When Rubi Devi first started growing mint on her small farm in Uttar Pradesh, she was barely making enough money to cover basic expenses and cover the high costs of mint cultivation. However, after joining a TechnoServe program, she gained a better understanding of mint testing and marketing and now has the skills and confidence she needs to improve her livelihood.
TechnoServe is helping farming families in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia restore their income, boost food security, and build resilience to future threats. Learn a few of the ways smallholder farmers have been impacted by COVID-19 and what they are doing to adapt.
