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Marcella Villareal’s visit to Junior Farmers Field and Life School (JFFLS) programme – November 2006

13 November 2006, Maputo/Mozambique – Between the 1st and the 7th of November Ms. Marcela Villareal, Director of Gender and Population Division of FAO, paid a visit to Mozambique. The main objective was to visit some of the JFFLS sites and conduct discussions with partners, including government officials.  

The JFFLS were first established jointly by FAO and WFP in Manica and Sofala in 2003. At present there are now 8 in Sofala and 20 in Manica. Of these 4 are run by civil society organizations. FAO’s and WFP’s JFFLS’s partners include Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Social Affairs and the National AIDS Council.

Each JFFLS is comprised of 30 Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), who go through a one year learning cycle. A new activity, aiming at creating a sustainable exit strategy for those who already graduated is being piloted at present. This will entail the identification (by the children together with the community) of income generating activities, training, as well as initial support to carry out such activities.

The two days field visit was made in Manica province. Ms. Joana Mangueira, the National AIDS Council Executive Secretary, participated in the first day of the visit. Her presence was of extreme importance, because although she has shown interest in the program, she had never had an opportunity to visit one of the JFFLS sites. Additionally, the presence of Mrs. Mangueira was of extreme importance for the fact that FAO and the National AIDS Council (CNCS) are currently discussing the possibility of CNCS funding the JFFLS. The mission was accompanied by Mr. Peter Vandor, FAO Representative and technical staff both from FAO’s Maputo as well as Chimoio Office.

Day 1 – 03/11/06

The first site visited was Nhamuale School in Catandica district. After almost six hours of travelling by car from Beira, the team arrived at the school and was warmly greeted by the students and community members, who had been patiently waiting for the visitors.

The children explained the activities they learned by doing, starting from how they have build the livestock structures, how they take care of the animals (goats, chickens), as well as how they built a store to keep the harvested maize. Following this, the group was invited to go to the field and receive an explanation as to how they had planted their crops. Part of this exercise consisted of children explaining how and why they use different techniques (conservation of soil moisture, mixing crops, etc). It was evident that they were very confident of the information they provided and knew how to share such information.

Following the visit et the filed the visitors were invited to see the cultural activities performed by the JFFLS children. These consisted of a play making reference to HIV AIDS, which was followed by songs and dances. The school director then presented a summary of the JFFLS activities to date. This was followed by speeches from the guests. At the end a member of the community also spoke and thanked FAO for the wonderful job being performed at the school.

Day 2 – 03/11/06

The second field trip day was initiated with two courtesy visits, one to the Agricultural Provincial Director in Manica and a second one with the Provincial Governor. The Governor stated the importance of the JFFLS and also mentioned the interest from the Provincial Government to see this program being extended and continuing to contribute for the well being of OVCs.

The team then went to visit a school, located in Chimoio. The name of the school is EP1 Trangapasso, and although the children where visibly younger than the ones from the previous school, they where equally competent explaining their activities as well as the new technique learned in the JFFLS. Cultural activities (songs and dance) closed the visit

The last visited site was an open Centre, which is run by Pastor Madeira. Here we started with an introduction of the children who had recently traveled to the United States of America , to make the JFFLS program known there. Cultural activities (songs and dance) was the next activity o f the day. In the end the group invited guest to accompany them to the field so that they could explain what they have been learning in the area of agriculture

Although the approach is the same in all schools, visiting three different sites proved to be an interesting experience as each had its specificities.

In the first site, it was evident that there is a strong link between the activities of the JFFLS and the agricultural activities performed by other children at the school. The JFFLS children are used as resource persons for the rest of the school children as they teach them the innovative techniques applied in the field, in order for school children to apply such techniques in the larger school field.

At the last visited site we found a third generation of JFFLs, who are already training the new children. The centre is already self funded and has developed other income generating activities. Apart from cultivating the land, children produce oil from sunflowers by using a oil pressing machine. Additionally some of the children are involved in artisanal activities (stone sculpture carving), which is thought by a promising young man who was part of the first generation FFLS graduates. This young man has recently sold 1000 pieces during a visit held by some of the JFFLS children to the USA . He is currently busy making new pieces, which were ordered by clients from the USA and also locally in Chimoio.

In all sites there is a strong link between the community and the JFFLS. This was evident, first through their presence during the visit, but also, it was directly expressed by the community members that they are satisfied with the initiative because they are able to learn new techniques from the children. One community member stated “I am very happy with the JFFLS initiative, because nowadays I know that I need to plant my seed in rows”.

During the filed visit, Ms. VIkllarreal had the opportunity to discuss future endeavors regarding the JFFLS with Ms Mangueira. Additionally she had the opportunity to talk with Ms. Petra Lance the UNFPA representative, and agree on next steps in the discussion of a possible partnership involving FAO and UNFPA.

In Maputo , Ms. Villareal paid a courtesy visit to the Ministry of Agriculture, and the issue of institutionalization of the JFFLS was discussed.

A further meeting was scheduled with the World Bank to understand more about the procedures in view of signing an agreement with the national AIDS Council, to support the JFFLS initiative.

For further information contact:

Ms. Hanise Sumbana
Programme Officer, FAO