Kenya: Digital collective training on COVID-19 for SMEs

COLEACP organised a remote training course on “COVID-19” for partner companies of the NExT Kenya programme in July 2021. The target audience for this two-week digital training included quality and production managers of Kenyan horticultural SMEs.
The training aimed at ensuring that people working throughout the value chain, from the field to the market, are able to work in complete safety in the context of the pandemic, thus allowing them to maintain a sufficient level of food production and affordable prices for all.

For participants who had implemented a scheme under the British Retail Consortium Global Standards (BRCGS) and/or the GLOBALG.A.P. (a set of standards for Good Agricultural Practices), the following objectives have been achieved.

• Awareness of how private voluntary standards can be adapted to the pandemic situation and understand the impact this has on companies and cooperatives.
• Knowledge of the new BRCGS requirements and being able to adapt company practices accordingly.
• Knowledge of the GLOBALG.A.P. requirements and being able to adapt company practices accordingly.

Sixteen participants successfully completed the training. The participants were from six Kenyan horticultural SMEs: Frigoken, Kenya Horticultural Exporters (KHE), Flamingo, Cathy Safe Foods, Vert Ltd and Elmas Greens.

This activity is implemented by COLEACP and supported by the NExT Kenya (New Export Trade) programme, established in collaboration with the EU Delegation in Nairobi and Kenyan stakeholders.