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Coffee, birds, honey and food security in CESMACH

Sumary

Theme: Communication and Marketing for organic agriculture and community development at CESMACH Placement At the CESMACH offices at Jaltenango on the Chiapas State, Mexico. Requeriments: This is a great opportunity for people with e-marketing with interest on the organic agriculture´s community-based enterprises marketing as well to get a deeply understanding on small farming livelihoods. Fluency on Spanish language is an asset. Project language: Mainly Spanish and very limited English Highlights: Visiting the CESMACH members’ organic coffee farms and backyard gardens is an amazing experience in fair trade, organic farming and food security challenges in today’s globalized world, in a biologically and culturally diverse region, which presents many challenges for overcoming marginalization. Short description: Campesinos Ecológicos de la Sierra Madre de Chiapas (CESMACH) is an inspiring organic coffee cooperative. Established in 1994, it currently has more than 350 partners in 24 communities. During its first years, it has focused successfully on the transformation of its production methods; its organic production efforts have been widely recognized due to its success in adapting hundreds of hectares to incorporate organic production methods that are socially and environmentally responsible. Recently, CESMACH has focused on implementing a marketing strategy. Although it has made significant progress in positioning its high quality coffee on the international market, there is still much to be done to achieve the goals that have been proposed. Also, recently CESMACH launched its food security project to diversify production and improve the standard of living for the members’ families and for the community in general. It provides technical assistance and biological material to start vegetable gardens and backyard gardens. Volunteers can participate in activities such as growing coffee, vegetables or on family farms.

Date of start Spring March 28th through April the 9th 2010 Summer June 11th through 23th 2010 Volunteers needed 6 Duration Minumum 2 weeks Prices (In US dollars) 2 Weeks $ 1,200 Additional week $ 600 Book online    Other projects Biomonitoring at El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve Teach English and inistitutional development

 

Detailed information

Example of a week’s work:

Day 1. After arriving to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the volunteers will travel by ground transportation to Jaltenango, where they will have dinner and rest.

Day 2. On Monday they will have breakfast with staff from El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve and with CESMACH’s leadership team, made up of the Marketing, Production, and Community Development Coordinators, the General Management and the members of the Board to learn about the organization’s history, vision and plans, and the conservation efforts and local development. At noon and in the afternoon, volunteers will visit some of the organization’s projects to take photographs and record testimonials that can be used in the materials they will design for marketing and planning.

Day 3 and 4. The volunteers will work on the design of the corporate identity, choosing the colour palette, defining the formats for the website and the site map to be developed. Also, they will define some marketing collateral formats that can be used by CESMACH. All drafts will be presented to the members of the leadership team for feedback.

Day 5 and 6. On Thursday and Friday they will work on the production of the first examples of marketing collateral and websites and prepare sessions to teach staff from the organization how to update the website.

Day 7 and 8. On the weekend, they will visit some of the coffee farms and communities where CESMACH projects are, to take photographs, record testimonials and learn about the organization’s success stories. On Sunday afternoon they will have free time in Jaltenango.

Day 9. In the morning, the material collected during the weekend will be incorporated in the design materials. In the afternoon, they will work with staff from CESMACH to teach them how to use the new materials and give them exercises to make using them easier.

Day 10. Final adjustments are made to the communication materials and in the afternoon we spend three hours transferring the organization’s staff.

Day 11. Farewell lunch in Jaltenango and transfer to Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Dinner in a typical restaurant to assess the service followed by a rest in a hotel in the city.

Day 12. Depart from Tuxtla Gutiérrez airport.