Notes From the Field

For this simple and quick project, I was paired with a local volunteer, Joseph, from Catanduanes State University to provide organization and administrative training to Pandan Association of Coconut Farmers Inc. PACOFA is a 9-year-old organization based in Barangay Catamban, Pandan, Catanduanes composed of 193 coconut farmers. The organization needed help to restart their work as well as to build skills to successfully pursue grants and manage resources from the grants.

Grameen connected me with another US volunteer who had recently completed a similar project with another farming group, and she was able to provide a number of templates such meeting minutes and business and grant letters. Based on requests from PACOFA, I created templates for tracking membership status and dues as well as meeting notices. Joseph was able to track down the organization’s constitution and by-laws which addressed a number of questions from the farming group.

Joseph and other volunteers from the University conducted a two-day training and worked with the group to create an action plan for the next few months. The feedback from the group was good, and I’m hopeful that they will continue to strengthen their organization and support their members.