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VSO - Sharing Skills, Changing Lives

Patrick Lynn

Name: Patrick Lynn
Background: Account Manager
VSO role: Management and Marketing Adviser, Sahani farmer's co-operative, Central Java

Patrick was working as an account manager for a major supplier to supermarkets in the UK. He was feeling bored and looking for something new. After watching a documentary about a fellow townsman volunteering in Rwanda with VSO, he took the plunge and applied.

One of the Make Poverty History campaign's three major calls is for fairer trade rules, and the situation faced by small-scale farmers in central Java makes the case very clearly. Cheap imports have caused the prices of locally produced rice to plummet, squeezing the profits of local producers to such an extent that their livelihoods are threatened.

Sahani is a farmers' co-operative, aiming to improve the lives of Javanese producers through marketing their products and returning to them a fair price. As well as encouraging fair trade, Sahani also focuses on organic produce. By switching to organic production, farmers can access the more profitable section of the market and charge much higher prices.

Sahani has been heavily supported by international donors, however as this funding is likely to stop in the next couple of years, they need to make the transition to becoming a self-supporting business. Patrick has been working as management and marketing adviser with the co-operative for the last year, helping them move towards their aim. He has set up a marketing team, made up of Sahani staff and farmers, to develop a strategy to grow sales and improve turnover. He's also working on improving the basic management and business skills of staff, from developing job descriptions to implementing finance systems.

The team has been successful in tapping into the growing organic market in Indonesia, with sales increasing from three to five tonnes each month. They have also increased the range of products on sale, including produce such as vegetables, fruit and eggs. By doing this, they have increased the number of farmers helped by Sahani, providing them with a secure livelihood and means to support their families. Patrick says of his work:

I can't change the world, but I can make a difference. That's what this is all about.