Cultivating the Next Leaders of the African Cashew Industry

In April, the African Cashew Alliance, in collaboration with the African Cashew Initiative (ACI), organized a Master Training Program (MTP) and Cashew Workshop in Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire. ACI officially invited ACA Business Advisor Sunil Dahiya to deliver an intensive training session on cashew processing potential in Africa, global cashew processing trends and techniques, corporate social responsibility, processing challenges in Africa, and the way forward.

This event was organized by the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) and was attended by 62 participants from both private and public sector organizations representing Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The primary focus of this five-day training session was to develop a pool of expertise in the cashew value chain by deepening industry knowledge.

The Master Training Program was divided into three distinct parts, each part taking place in a different country. The inauguration of the program was held in Bobo, Burkina Faso in December of last year, followed by a five-day session in Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire. The final session will be held in Accra, Ghana in July.

The African Cashew Alliance and the African Cashew Initiative aim to propagate knowledge regarding agricultural practices from one country to another through a process of collective exchange. This program will help different producers share their experience-based knowledge, and learn different processing techniques practiced across West Africa.

Upon completion of the training period, participants from all seven participating African countries will receive a certificate recognizing them as Master Trainers. After the final session, scheduled for July 2014, the MTP participants will be classified as ACA Certified Local Experts and will be qualified to implement a range of projects, drawing from their new variety of expertise.