A new regional website, www.canrop.com, aims at creating energy on the Internet.

This was avowed by representatives of the Caribbean Network of Rural Women Producers (CANROP), a network of women farmers and women agricultural processors working together to improve the economic, social and environmental standing of themselves, their families and their communities within the Caribbean.

Representatives of the grouping, which has Chapters in Guyana, made the promise at the end of a three-day workshop in which they learnt how to build and manage their own website.

The training was held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara last week by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), with support from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) and funding from the European Union (EU).

The participants were CANROP representatives from five Caribbean states, namely the Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

At end of the programme, members disclosed that the network produced a wide range of food products across the different country chapters; products made from natural ingredients and
traditional production processes with a focus on healthy food options for people of all ages.
Each product is priced fairly, and its sale supports local communities and sustainable development.

The CANROP webmasters said this
“brand” statement, or unique selling point, will be prominent on their new website, which will serve to showcase the products of their members throughout the Region.

The website will help the members to communicate for improved market access; for access to resources, for improved public awareness of their identity, and for improved internal communication, all of which contribute to the better prospects for their businesses.

Members who do not have access to the Internet were taught how to use text messages for mass communication.
At the end of the workshop, which marked the end of the CTA support for that particular project, Mr Kervin Stephenson, Regional Project Specialist for IICA, told the participants that he is confident that CTA will continue to support training for their further empowerment in other valuable skills, such as marketing, leadership, and value chains analyses.

The main resource persons on the training programme were David Thomas and Jessica Ball, both of the British management training company Danaqa Limited. Mr Kervin Stephenson was assisted by Ms Valerie Anne Donat, IICA Programme Secretary. (Clifford Stanley)