Ferme-école SAIN is an agricultural organisation that promotes sustainable farming practices such as argoecology and agroforestry. It is also a school; providing training to people who would otherwise lack the means to have a qualitative education. SAIN invests in the valorisation of local resources to reinforce the economic power of rural communities.

Crop yields become increasingly unpredictable due to the effects of climate change, causing farmers to sometimes lose almost entire harvests. Having multiple sources of income can help these farmers to bridge difficult periods. For this purpose, SAIN wants to gain expertise in beekeeping, an activity for which there is a lot of potential but lack of resources and knowledge.

SAIN aims to expand their educational program by the addition of an apicultural branch. Offering students the possibility of diversifying their income streams and strengthen their livelihoods by means of beekeeping. Mouvement Miel is a second-year project and the first trainings have already been organised. This year the project will focus on strengthening the apiary-school.

If you apply for this project and get accepted for the team, the following would be, amongst others, your challenges and goals:

– Development of a sustainable economic model around the honey value chain

– Setting up of a processing room

– Continuation training of new beekeepers + strengthening existing network

– Zero waste: development of value-adding products with honey by-products

During the preparation months in Belgium you will mainly concentrate on the development of the beekeeping activities and the market study, while during the implantation phase of 6 weeks in July and August, you will help the organisation with the installation and marketing strategy.