From theory to practice
After five consecutive days of theoretical training, the participants put into practice all the acquired notions through five modules. Some of the topics focused on good hygiene practices such as hand washing, the wearing of gowns and headdresses as well as the cutting of nails, hygiene in milking and monitoring of dairy cows, knowledge on the composition of cow's milk and the processing of fresh cow's milk into plain yogurt, yogurt stirred, yogurt flavored with vanilla, banana and strawberry. These modules allowed the participants to deepen their knowledge of the different techniques. The participants packaged the yoghurt themselves and put the labels with the new Translait branding on the first yoghurts produced during the training.
Mama Ziza Haïdara is a young milk seller who participated in this training. For more than 10 years, Mama Ziza has been selling milk, having learnt the activity from her mother. Today, she has her own kiosk and plans to develop her market by supplying several stores and supermarkets in her neighborhood. The training on yogurt making has allowed her to diversify her offerings and increase her clientele. She said:
Another benefit of making yogurt for Mama Ziza is the increase in the number of customers who, while buying yogurt, discover other milk-based products in her kiosk.
Cascading the training
Coming from different cooperatives regrouping nearly 200 people, the 35 participants had the heavy task of transferring the acquired knowledge to the other members of their association who did not participate. Mrs. Massitan Minta was one of the best students identified during the training. Having already acquired some knowledge on yogurt production during a training organized by the Business support services (BSS) CAB-DEMESSO, she claims to have improved her knowledge through this second training organized by Translait and 2SCALE. Thus, to enable other women in her group to understand the techniques, she trained some of them on the good yogurt making practices with local milk. She explained:
During the training, five new products were developed instead of three that were initially planned. This demonstrates the value of the training for these ambitious women to take their business to the next level.
More focus on hygiene
Milk, by its color and content, is a naturally healthy product. Thus, throughout the training, the trainers did not fail to emphasize the strict observance of good hygiene practices during the handling of milk. Hand washing, wearing of gowns and headdresses, nail cutting, the hygiene of premises, and stock management are among the main points that were emphasized to participants.
At the end of the training, a notebook and a bag of yogurt lactic ferment and flavors (vanilla, strawberry and banana) were given to each participant for their first self practice after the training. These tokens were greatly appreciated by the participants who promised to make good use of them for the development of their business.
