Our Radio presenter Jasmin talks of the Lorna Young Foundation’s radio outreach programme and how it is trying to improve women’s lives through cocoa in the DRC.

Jasmin is 27 years old, a student in Human Resource management, and the energetic radio presenter for the LYF programme that is broadcast to 1 million listeners on Wednesdays and Saturdays on Radio Graben in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In this interview, she tells us of her love of radio, the role of women and the opportunities that cocoa could bring.

Reminiscing, Jasmin explains to us why she became a radio presenter, ‘In the DRC radio is a massive form of media. Men, women and children will huddle around a transmitter in the evenings to get their news. I’ve loved listening to radio since I was a young child, and all my life I wanted to be a journalist, someone who could paint a picture with words and spin a good tale. You know in Africa, we love telling stories.’ Read more....

The latest initiative from our Not Just a Trading Company CIC is a new tea blend and product with the aim of bringing different communities together. Inspired by the fascinating story of Victorian convert to Islam (and ancestor of Christina Longden) Robert (Reschid) Stanley, NJaTC CIC is seeking support to create packs of the new tea, to send 1,000 packs out free to faith and community groups and organisations across the country. Read more....

In March 2014, Lorna Young Foundation Project Manager Cristina Talens, Joseph Macharia and Ringtons’ Responsible Sourcing Manager spent a week in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, working with staff from the Wakulima Tea Company (WATCO) and the Rungwe Smallholder Tea Growers’ Association (RSTGA), to set up a Smallholder Support Network radio-extension programme with them.

This project, Funded primarily through the Waitrose Producer Support Fund with support from Ringtons, will use interactive radio programmes to provide farmers and their families with information and advice on issues such as good agricultural practices, sustainable land-management, markets and climate-change, as well as wider social issues affecting rural families, like HIV/AIDS. This will build upon work already done by RSTGA in creating radio production facilities. Read more.....