jmirakabaho@gmail.com

POSADA

Kigali

+250788303676

ToToT Training of Teams of Trainers (IFOAM), EOALC Ecological Organic Agriculture Leadership Course (IFOAM)

I am Rwandan nationality, agronomist and consultant in sustainable & organic agriculture development, certification and marketing (Rainforest Alliance, Organic Standards – EU regulations, Naturland, NOP, JAS …) and other relevant voluntary standards like Fair Trade, Fair for Life, Global GAP, Café Practices….And yet, I provide training on Price Risk Management and Marketing. With my colleagues, we successfully capacitated 35 smallholders’ cooperatives and SMEs to comply with certification requirements and market linkages. Our expertise is focused mainly on following agricultural value chains: coffee, tea, fruits and vegetables, essential oils and Macadamia.

As back ground, after one year of work as coffee production officer at RWASHOSCCO (Rwanda Smallholder Specialty Coffee Company) in 2005-2006, I spent successful 6 years at SPREAD/USAID project as Coffee Research Program Coordinator (in charge of Organic Farming Program), I became the National Program Coordinator and Trainer of Rainforest Alliance Program in Rwanda since 2012 to 2020 ( www.rainforest-alliance.org ). From 2006 up t0 2012, I worked successfully with USAID-SPREAD Project as Coffee Research Program Coordinator and M&E person. And in 2013, I worked as Consultant for World Coffee Research Organization on providing technical assistance to “Kahawa bora ya Kivu project” at Bukavu (DRC). From 2020 up to June 2021, I worked as Local Expert Consultant for FiBL (the International Center for Organic Agriculture Research) in ICS Project in Rwanda.
I am one of the founder and active member of the Rwanda Organic Agriculture Movement (ROAM) since 2007.


After that I have joined the Rwandan organic sector during the process of the establishment of the Rwanda Organic Agriculture Movement (ROAM) in 2007, I got an opportunity of attending advanced training on organic agriculture development which happened in two phases. The first phase happened in Sweden from July 25th to August 19th, 2028 and the second phase took place in Uganda from January 22nd to February 4th 2009. During the two phases of training (with some assignments done in my home country Rwanda in between), following areas within organic agriculture were covered:
 Principles of organic production,
 Markets for organic products,
 Standards, certification and regulations,
 Extension, conversion strategies and other supporting structures,
 Inspection and certification initiatives
 Agricultural policy
After that I successfully completed that advanced training on organic agriculture development, I got an opportunity to attend a “Follow up seminar on Organic Agriculture Development” which took place in South Africa from the 13th to 21st June 2009. The seminar covered the following areas within organic agriculture:
 Updates of the sector development scenarios at global and regional levels
 Study visits and case studies of selected development projects in:
 Market development
 Organic production
 Certification
 Sector organizing
 Policy and advocacy
 Development project (DP) consultations between participants and course tutors.
That process of capacity building that I benefited from during a period of 12months (from July 2008 up to June 2009) opened eyes and I decided to create my private consulting company in organic agriculture development, capacity building, certification and marketing called POSADA (Promoting Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Development in Africa) in September 2009. Since then, I have been working and still work as Consultant in organic sector.

In October 2020, I attended the Training of Trainers of Facilitators (ToToF) organized by MBZ-GIZ founded KCOA-KHEA project at Nairobi-Kenya. Following training areas were covered:
 Presentation Development and Training Skills
 Hosting and Facilitation
 Course Content Development
 Managing Knowledge Network
 Development Plan
 Planning and Budgeting a Training

From March to November 2020, I am working as consulting Capacity Building Expert of AFCI in Rwanda on training on organic certification of 11 agri-Businesses selected by the GIZ.
From July to October 2022: I have successfully concluded an assignment contracted by GIZ on conducting an assessment study on organic and Fairtrade sectors in Rwanda (July-October 2020).

Since January 2023 up to date (contract will end in December 2025): I am working as Long-term Expert for Naturland e.V. under the scope of PartnerAfrica Project funded by BMZ through sequa. This project aims to promote organic agroforestry-based coffee farming system, PGS development, advocacy for organic agriculture and strengthening the national embrella of organic sector in Rwanda.
From October 2021 to February 2022, I have been trained on Coffee Price Risk Management as a Trainer by AGROCLICK S.A. And since February 2022 up to May 2022, I successfully trained 9 coffee cooperative and SMEs on Coffee Price Risk Management through an initiative phase of project initiated by Stichting Oikocredit International Support Foundation (ISUP) in Rwanda with financial support from SSNUP and IFAD .

As the Managing Director of POSADA Ltd. has approached us for a reference to acknowledge the satisfactory execution of the activities the company has undertaken under the Price Risk Management Program from November 2021 to December 2023. Throughout the course of the project this project POSADA has demonstrated their commitment to ensuring the effective implementation of the Price Rik Management Program in Rwanda. They played a pivotal role in supporting nine (9) smallholder coffee cooperatives and two (2) coffee trading companies in:
1) Facilitating the baseline assessment to establish the knowledge level of these organizations;
2) Facilitating and delivering the trainings of these organizations in Price Risk Management;
3) Following up individually with each organization to guarantee that the knowledge gained in the trainings is applied into the day-to-day activities of the organizations;
4) Organizing peer-to-peer meetings between the organizations in order to facilitate the exchange of learnings;
5) Assuring that the Price Risk Management Dashboard is tailored to the reality of every organization;
6) Facilitating the evaluation of the program. Posada’s expertise and dedication has been important in the success of the program.

For Rwanda, Jean-Marie Irakabaho with POSADA LTD adjusted the training materials to the specific context and culture, language and knowledge level of the participants based on the Sector & Local Market Analysis as well as the baseline assessments. In the region where the preselected SPOs were located the predominant languages are English and Kinyarwanda. Therefor to secure a successful transfer of knowledge during the trainings, sessions of training were offered in English, Kinyarwanda and where necessary in French. The role of Posada has been key in the knowledge transfer to the SPOs as the consultant (Mr. Jean-Marie Irakabaho) has extensive experience in training Smallholder Farmers in the coffee sector specially and other agricultural value chains.
To make sure that the trainings will be replicable in other parts of Rwanda and Sub Saharan Africa, all training materials has been translated to French too with technical contribution of POSADA LTD, as requested by IFAD.

In the course of implementation of the CACHET project, Mr. Jean-Marie IRAKABAHO of POSADA LTD attended the following training sessions:
 Introduction Training focused on PRM Due Diligence elements for Financial Sector Stakeholders in East Africa (CSAF members and regional affiliates)
 In-depth training on PRM analysis for Financial Sector Stakeholders in East Africa (CSAF members and regional affiliates)

In the scope of the contract signed by WE Effect organization (www.weeffect.org) in the scope of the project “Innovative Finance for Improved Livelihood – IFIL” funded by SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency), act-church of Sweden and Oikocredit International, Mr. JEAN-MARIE IRAKABAHO, Consultant of POSADA LTD, has successfully conducted 6 training workshops of 5days each on Coffee Price Risk Management (PRM) to the leadership and management of the beneficiaries’ coffee producers’ groups and companies in Uganda (Kasese and Kampala) and Kenya (Nakuru and in September 2022 and then in February-March 2024. The following training topics (among others) have been covered: introduction to the Coffee Price Risk management, sales contracts and price fixation, Open Position, Governance, Monitoring & Control, and Commercial Policies.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE PERIOD:
 B. Sc. Degree in Agriculture - Crop & Hort. Productions (1998 – 2002)
 2004 – 2024: Working experience of 20years in agriculture and rural communities’ development.
 2021-2024: almost 4 years experience in Agricultural products’ Price Risk Management capacity building in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.

ADVANCED TRAININGS/SEMINARS
 2022 – 2023: Training on Naturland standards, certification requirements and conversion strategies.
 2012 - 2022: Training on Coffee Price Risk Management by AGROCLICK S.A.
 February 2022: Training on the new EU Organic Regulations by DES ENJEUX ET DES HOMMES and AFCI (with support from GIZ)
 August 2021: Updating Trainings on the New RA-2020 Program on ATN Training and Online delivering training & Zoom skills.
 October 2020: Training of Teams of Facilitators organized by IFOAM in collaboration with Biovision Africa Trust (topics covered: Presentation Development and Training Skills, Hosting and Facilitation, Course Content Development, Managing Knowledge Network, Development Plan, Planning and Budgeting a Training).
 February 2019: Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Auditor, organized by NEPCon (Topics covered: RA Sustainable Agriculture Standard -2017, version 1.2, RA Certification Rules – version 1.2, and Applicable Policies)
 June 2011: Follow up seminar on Organic Agriculture Development in South Africa (organized by Swedish International Development Agency with Grolink);
 September 2010: Organic Certification Inspector Training in Kenya (organized by ECOCERT)
 2008-2009: Advanced training on Organic Agriculture Development in Sweden and Uganda (organized by Swedish International Development Agency with Grolink);