This post was written by Sarah Thompson, writer for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety (FSIL).

In Cambodia, a multinational research team has piloted a leadership and food safety workshop that empowers female farmers to collaborate and take collective action to strengthen food safety in their communities.

In August, two dozen female vegetable farmers and staff members from Banteay Srei, a local nonprofit focused on women’s self-empowerment, participated in trainings held in the Cambodian provinces of Siem Reap and Battambang. During the day-long workshops, women worked together to identify their personal strengths and conduct risk assessments of the vegetable value chain, learning how their leadership and collective action can improve food safety in their communities.

The workshop is part of a four-year project funded by the FSIL to develop and implement strategies to reduce foodborne illness from the consumption of fresh produce in Cambodia. Project co-principal investigator (PI) Jessie Vipham, associate professor of food safety and security at Kansas State University (KSU), is working with Cambodian colleagues to identify where contamination is occurring and how to prevent it. Raising awareness of food safety across the country’s stakeholders, including female farmers and market vendors, is a key part of the project’s strategy.

In previous projects, Vipham noticed that although women in Cambodia play vital roles in the vegetable value chain, their sense of belonging and leadership opportunities within their communities could be improved. Vannith Hay, project team member and a graduate student in Vipham’s lab, noted that community- and women-focused approaches have untapped potential for shaping the food safety landscape in his native Cambodia.

“To have a voice, women need to be able to work together and collaborate to loudly present their concern and commitment to government and stakeholders,” Hay said. “It has to start from that angle in order for women to make a contribution to their mission of strengthening food safety in their community.”

To close the gap, researchers developed a workshop to build female farmers’ capacity in leadership skills, collaboration and food safety knowledge. For the curriculum, program coordinator Katheryn Gregerson tapped experts from KSU’s Staley School of Leadership, but researchers also wanted to ensure the content and language connected with the women’s lives and experiences. Utilizing a “train the trainer” approach, they mentored in-country co-trainers for the workshops through a month-long virtual leadership training. Participants included 20 Cambodian university students majoring in food science and technology at the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) and the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC). Researchers then selected five outstanding students to be co-trainers for the in-person workshops.

The organizers attributed much of the workshops’ success to these students, who were able to lead the second day’s workshop without assistance from the KSU team. Hay also credited the students’ talents with raising the women’s level of engagement and interaction in Khmer, Cambodia’s official language.

“By knowing my strengths, I gained the confidence to stand up in front of people and present,” said Kokyoeng Chao, a co-trainer and third-year student at ITC. “And by helping women improve their strengths and realize what they can do to improve food safety, I also get to learn so I can improve myself.”

Gregerson noted that for workshop participants, the session on food safety risks in the vegetable value chain drove the biggest realizations. It was evident that the women feel great responsibility for producing safe vegetables; however, this was the first time they were exposed to this type of interactive training where self-discovery and leadership were used to emphasize their role in producing safe vegetables for their communities. Banteay Srei asked for extra value chain cards — with images depicting the various actors involved in the vegetable value chain — to replicate the session and share learnings with other female producers.

“The workshop gave the women a bit of a charge to consider food safety moving forward,” Gregerson said. “These producers came away with a better understanding of the vital role they play in collaborating with downstream value chain actors to ensure consumers receive a safe end-product. That was exciting.”