Disadvantaged Urban Youth Entrepreneurship, Organic Vegetable Production, Food Processing and Marketing Project

Disadvantaged Urban Youth Entrepreneurship, Organic Vegetable Production, Food Processing and Marketing Project

Overall long-term goal

Entrepreneurship among disadvantaged youths focusing on producing vegetables using vermi-compost, simple hydrophonics and containers, food processing and marketing the product and then organizing the beneficiaries so that they are able to manage, sustain and expand the best practices with the objective of locally empowering   them so they are able to chart their destinies via improved entrepreneurial and personal competencies, resilient food security and organization development.

Summary

Promoting entrepreneurship among youths in urban slums in Dipolog City using the Competency-based Economies Formation of Entrepreneurs or CEFE and focus on producing organically-grown vegetables using vermi-compost as fertilizer and then food processing and marketing for neighborhood markets.  CEFE is highly adaptable, action-oriented and experiential approach combining enterprise development and adult training activities aimed at income generation, job creation and business growth and most useful for people with low schooling.  Vegetables will be grown using simple hydrophonics or soil-less cultivation and containers and in available spaces and using recycled materials as growing medium. Fertilizer will come from household wastes which comprises 90% organic. Aside from vegetables raising of animals such as pigs and chickens in cages will be done. ALEY-NM will produce the seeds and seedlings to be grown and distribute this depending on available areas, capabilities and agri-technical requirements. We will provide high-valued vegetables such as beans, moringa, eggplants, bitter gourds, etc. Vegetable production will be staggered so harvest can be done regularly. The vegetables produced will be processed by women for marketing. Urban slum families have no access to vegetables and are deficient in micro-nutrients such as Vitamin A, iron and iodine and this is a move to improve nutrition and well-being.  Vegetables have shorter cycles, fast growing, require little space and very dependable and are resilient food security option for vulnerable urban populations.  We will provide support in food products presentation and marketing. We will target 400 youth beneficiaries who will participate in the project and aside from direct entrepreneurial support, they will be organized into neighborhood clusters and trained on organization-building and development so that they are able to network, lobby, expand, sustain and chart their own destinies.

Problem analysis

Unschooled youths in slums in Dipolog City are socially-excluded and they are prone to exploitation and criminal activities. Work and gainful employment is difficult to come by and they are seen mostly in street corners engaged in various nefarious activities.  They are fragmented, have no voice and lack concern of issues concerning themselves and society in general. Young women usually go to big cities such as Manila with promises of a better future but without relevant life skills they end-up prey to criminals. Vegetables in urban slums are expensive and difficult to procure and this cheap source of micro-nutrients like Vitamin A, iodine and iron  is often absent in the diet, leading to poor mental and physical development especially among the young crippling local communities further.  Moringa for example is touted as a nutrient powerhouse and this can be grown in small, open spaces or in containers and hydrophonics with available sunlight.

Outcomes

The overall outcome will be “locally-empowered disadvantaged youths charting their destinies via improved entrepreneurial and personal competencies, resilient food security and organization development.”  The beneficiaries will be trained on personal and entrepreneurial competencies and apply the learning directly in their own vegetable-based livelihood projects which will involve the growing of vegetables and marketing vegetable-based food products.  The beneficiaries will be organized into functional neighborhood clusters for strength, solidarity and purpose of advocacy and promotion of their cause and so that their voice will be heard and social fragmentation minimized.

Activities

Activity 1: Start-up and briefing of those who will be involved and separate accounting books established; Activity 2: Social marketing and information drive. The staff will conduct meetings and information campaigns in order to drum-up support and interest for the project. Potential leaders and champions will also be identified and youth clusters identified; Activity 3: Identification of beneficiaries and conduct of series of community formation (clustering) and capacity-building activities. A shortlist of eligible beneficiaries will be made; 4: Release of inputs comprising vegetable seedlings, organic fertilizer and gardening tools. Releasing will be done on a per need basis; 5: Processing and marketing of vegetables and allied produce, eg. small animals; 6: Management, monitoring and evaluation. A project management team and area volunteers will handle this; 7: End of project reporting to include narrative, financial and photo-video documentation.

Outputs

The outputs of the project are; a. improving entrepreneurial skills of 400 youths via the CEFE approach. At least 400 youths will be able to demonstrate various entrepreneurial skills in actual home-based setting. To evaluate this, a pre and post training evaluation will be conducted using a questionnaire; b. at least 300 youths will undergo vegetable gardening utilizing available spaces, containers or simple hydrophonics. Actual site visits and ocular inspection will be done in order to measure this. A vegetable gardening contest will also be held in order to spice the whole activity and to take measurements in harvest volumes; c. at least 70 youths will undertake food processing and marketing of vegetable-based food products. Actual ocular inspection and sales recording will be done to monitor this; d. at least 10 youth neighborhood clusters will be organized and functioning.  Organizational development tools will be used to measure growth of these clusters.

Innovation

One innovation is the use of CEFE in building business and personal competencies using adult education techniques effective among the less educated. Another innovation is the provision of vegetable seedlings on a per need basis, rather than distributing shotgun style, disregarding need, capacities and agri-tech requirement. Urban slums lack spaces and our innovation will be to grow vegetables in simple hydrophonics and in recycled containers such as tires and plastic bags. We will also produce own fertilizer from organic waste. Another innovation is in organizing the youth and forming a youth federation so that they are able to network, lobby, develop partnerships, learn from each other and sustain their activities. Support and nurturing from partner NGO’s such as the WAND means high degree of sustainability and replication.  Finally, rather than depend on seed companies, we will produce our own open-pollinated seeds in our Living Museum, ensuring continuous indigenous supply.

Sustainability

The seeds and seedlings to be provided will be on loan basis to be paid during harvest then the repayment to be used for expansion. The ALEY-NM will produce own vegetable seeds using indigenous open, pollinated varieties rather than depending on multinational companies ensuring continuous, cheap and dependable supply. The native varieties are hardy, drought-tolerant, pest resistant and more resilient.  The youths will be formed into local associations with these associations organized into a single federation and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission for legal purposes. The federation will be the self-management team for their initiative. Other funding support after the project will be the annual Ten Outstanding Youth Organizations (TAYO) competitions, the Japan Fund for Water, WAND Foundation, Rotary Clubs and other supporters. We will also link-up with the Asian Vegetable Center in Bangkok for capacity-building and technical support.

Description of ALEY-NM

Our organization were able to successfully implement the following projects; Biodiversity and Youth Rural Improvement implemented in 2010 and part funded by the Idea Wild, USA; Conserving Water, Promote Ecological Sanitation and Improve Food Security in 2010 funded by the Japan Fund for Water; EcoPee, Rain and Grey-water Conservation and Vegetable Gardening Initiative in 2009 and funded by the WAND. These projects involve transparent funds management and project implementation. Aside from these, we also participate in volunteer work such as tree planting, peace-building and coastal resource management. I am a Fellow, Philippines 21 Young Leaders Initiative in 2010 and the Asia-Pacific Future 100 Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs and Social Change-makers in 2009 and my learning during these fellowships I can use for this project. I am also a Municipal Councilor of Libertad Municipality and my exposure to local governance and local policy-making will be an advantage.