Volcani International Partnerships

In February, my organization launched our Israel AgriWeb platform, which is designed to provide smallholder farmers and agri-stakeholders with a single point of access to the vast network of Israeli agricultural scientists, technologies, and extension services. Within two weeks of opening registration, 2,500+ farmers across the Caribbean had signed up. Each of the 4 episodes saw over 1,000 participants tune in to listen and interact directly with leading Israeli experts in various fields.  

Offering live webinar trainings, community forums and targeted live demonstration days, the program presents farmers with clear, concrete, and affordable solutions. It also offers a direct channel of communication through which farmers can personally engage with experts in a wide range of fields and elevates them into the role of active partners in the selection and delivery of the solutions that best fit their needs.

The Elevate Prize will allow me to exponentially scale the pilot's success, realistically growing our recipient base to tens of thousands. Israel AgriWeb can not only deliver expertise and know-how to smallholder farmers, it can foster the development of an international community of farmers and agricultural stakeholders working together to improve food security, environmental sustainability, and economic security throughout the developing world. 

I’ve always loved puzzles. There is a thrill to making order out of thousands of pieces and a comfort in knowing that each one has its place.

Global food insecurity often feels like the puzzle I have spent my adult life tackling. Whether working for Israel’s international development agency, setting up ventures to promote Israeli expertise for development, or as the head of Volcani International Partnerships (VIP), food insecurity has been a golden thread throughout my career. 

To me, it is unacceptable that agricultural superpowers such as Israel have already developed simple, affordable solutions to many of the issues driving food insecurity globally yet have failed to create sufficient frameworks for disseminating them.

AgriWeb elevates smallholder farmers into a more active role in the delivery of solutions to their own fields. I envision VIP and AgriWeb as an open gateway into Israel’s entire network of agricultural expertise, democratizing access to information and empowering agricultural stakeholders around the world (including our regional neighbors, with whom we share so many climatic issues) to proactively engage and find tailored solutions.

Put simply, my goal for VIP is to connect the “pieces” of the puzzle at hand to help eradicate hunger. 

VIP is dedicated to building and sharing Israeli agricultural expertise. Much of our work focuses on closing the massive information gap between existing solutions and those who need them. 

Israeli expertise offers a wealth of impactful solutions, many of which are neither expensive nor technological. As an Israeli researcher explained in one of our recent courses: automated drones analyzing satellite imaging through AI may help you achieve 100% efficiency, but by simply getting the basics right, you can get 90% efficiency without them. Low-hanging fruit are key to resolving the food security crisis.

Accessing all the solutions is easy, but accessing the RIGHT solution requires the capacity to navigate a labyrinth of different companies and research groups, not to mention access to an extensive network of leading agronomists and researchers. That’s where we come in.

Whether it be through regional courses we deliver to Palestinian and Jordanian farmers, agricultural extension services delivered to Emirati companies, or webinar series, we have significant experience distilling and disseminating the best of what Israel has to offer. Israel AgriWeb incorporates this broad variety of practices into a unified program designed to disseminate affordable, impactful, and applicable know-how to the largest number of stakeholders.

VIP is literally mapping out Israeli expertise and making it more accessible to the global community. By providing a free and simple gateway to the full breadth of Israeli agricultural expertise, we are working to provide access to vast amounts of knowledge that can help farming communities around the world increase their yields and lift themselves out of poverty. 

Unlike other such webinars, we work directly with local leadership to determine the challenges their communities face and the potential solutions which would be applicable, affordable, and available. This ensures that each webinar series offers concrete steps which participants can realistically employ to increase their yields and livelihoods. To further support wide application of available solutions among participants, we send teams of experts to provide live demonstrations at strategic locations throughout the target region. Whether viewed in person or online, seeing new solutions applied in real farms in the region can build participants' confidence that they can replicate the process successfully.

The AgriWeb platform also stands out because of its community building element, which allows farmers to continue learning from our experts and from each other indefinitely – providing an endless and ever-growing source of support and knowledge. 

Food and water form the very bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. There is nothing more fundamental than feeding oneself and one’s family.

Agriculture is key to ensuring that people can escape hunger and poverty. The 2008 World Development Report notes that development in agriculture does 11x more to reduce poverty than development in any other sector. According to the FAO, family farms - most of which rely on traditional farming methods - feed and employ two-thirds of the African population. In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 60% of farms are smaller than one hectare. Improving the productivity of farmers who cannot afford to implement costly agronomic solutions is central to tackling food insecurity. 

Israel AgriWeb shares affordable, impactful solutions at scale and for free. It also incorporates physical demonstrations which allow participants to see solutions in action in their country, thereby increasing farmer confidence and the likelihood that they will implement solutions. Finally, Israel AgriWeb offers access to a virtual community where participants can seek advice from each other and from Israeli experts. This is particularly impactful as long-term support is the hallmark of successful agricultural projects and access to extension services is notoriously difficult in many developing countries.

Direct beneficiaries of my organization 2021–1,663

This includes the distribution of scholarships [15], pilot of the Israel AgriWeb program [1,498] and impending expansion of a hydroponic program geared towards increasing food security and nutrition for underprivileged Israeli Arab communities [150]. 

**Though difficult to reflect in terms of “direct beneficiaries,” it is notable that in 2021 we also raised 4.5 million USD for agricultural research projects with our partner, the Volcani Institute.

***We were also forced to postpone the Israel Africa Pioneer Program in Malawi, (though the first cohort was fully funded) as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions. This would have added another 1,000 direct beneficiaries. 

Direct beneficiaries of Israel AgriWeb (pilot year) 2021 –1,498

• Total course participants – 1,498 

• Total alumni network participants (Facebook & WhatsApp groups) – 1,031

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Direct beneficiaries of my organization 2022 –4,865

*The total beneficiary count includes scholarships [15], Israel AgriWeb [2900], 3 cohorts of the hydroponic program [450] and the delayed launch of the Israel Africa Pioneer Program in Malawi [1,000].

Direct Beneficiaries of Israel AgriWeb in 2022–2900

• 2,000 new participants 

• 900 participants of alumni network from 2021 pilot  (assumed attrition)

Israel AgriWeb’s goal is to increase the productivity, profitability, resilience and sustainability of farmers in the developing world, creating impact around SDGs 1-2-5-6-8-12-13-15 and 17. 

It will do so by addressing the critical lack of access millions have to agricultural expertise and extension by democratizing knowledge and providing direct access to Israel’s top experts through our webinars, demonstrations and alumni network.

By 2026 we plan to host 16 webinar series (directly engaging 16,000 participants) and to facilitate 16 in-country demonstrations/trainings.

Participants will join an ever-growing alumni network for peer collaboration, continued learning, and engagement with Israel’s experts. It will provide a channel for them to ask questions and for us to disseminate new information, even years after their initial engagement with the program. We aim to realize a 90% transfer rate from the webinar to the alumni network. 

We will measure progress through a robust monitoring and evaluation framework that we will develop with professional consultants. Specifically, we will conduct:

• summative evaluation, measuring the increase in knowledge and farmer confidence, and implementation over extended periods;
• formative evaluation ensuring continuous program improvement; and 
• illuminative evaluation discovering factors that are important to the participants.

Our primary challenge is financial, preventing us from scaling to meet demand. To overcome this challenge, we will implement a dedicated fundraising strategy, continue to grow the project modularly and, if necessary, utilize the incredible volunteer base of experts and in-kind donations which allowed us to successfully launch our pilot.

Funding from the Elevate Prize would be essential in overcoming our financial barriers. Firstly, it will allow us to scale,  transforming the pilot into a fully-fledged program by hiring a dedicated project manager, developing a comprehensive M&E framework, launching live demonstrations/trainings and enriching the alumni network. Secondly, transforming this nascent pilot into a tangible, mature program, it will enable us to approach a broader donor base for additional funding.

Another key barrier is in recruiting participants for a project run by an organization without local roots. We will overcome this by continuing to cultivate strong local partnerships that develop community interest and engagement. Elevate’s networks and platform will also be critical here.

A final barrier is COVID-19 and the impact of potential future travel restrictions on live demonstrations/trainings. We are working on several creative solutions which, if successful, may ultimately be adapted as additional elements of the program.

The brand recognition, combined with the larger platform and audience will play a crucial role in enabling me to scale this project and leverage its outcomes to advance our impact. This is particularly relevant because AgriWeb is based on an inherently scalable project model which benefits from economies of scale. We can grow our audience substantially through a larger platform and publicity without adding additional program costs.  

We would leverage the opportunity to advance our impact by engaging four key audiences: 

• Local, regional and national leaders – Working in partnership to increase awareness, webinar registrations and subsequent engagement among farmers

• Institutional Donors  – Leveraging the publicity and validation of the Elevate Prize to present our project to larger international foundations (USAID, World Development Bank, etc) to secure long-term funding. 

• Development Organizations  – We would share our findings on the efficacy of the program model to contribute to the knowledge base of our colleagues and partners in international development.

• Wider Community – Agriculture is wildly underrepresented in public philanthropic discourse, and we hope to leverage the Elevate Prize to raise awareness of global food security issues, unsustainable practices and the solutions and expertise that Israel might have to offer.

As an NGO with a very small staff (which has shrunken further since COVID-19), it is challenging for us to realize our leadership diversity goals to the extent we would like.

However, these are values that I hold deeply. They guide my work, the way I work and are embedded within our organizational values and integrated across all areas of staffing of the organization where possible. For example:

Leadership team - VIP is led by two women in an overwhelmingly male-dominated field in Israel.  Incorporating greater diversity into our governing boards, in both the US and Israel, is a goal for 2022 which we plan to realize by reaching out to our larger global network.

Volunteers - We rely on volunteer experts to design and deliver programming. Our volunteer base is intentionally diverse, incorporating Israeli Jews (white, black and of middle eastern and African descent, secular and religious) and Israeli Arabs (Christian, Muslim, Druze).

Project Leadership For every program we establish we seek partners to reflect the beneficiary target group, introducing greater diversity. For example, our Agriculture for Peace program incorporated Palestinian leadership from the West Bank and 100% of Israel AgriWeb sessions will be designed together with local leaders.

My 10+ years in international development, the chutzpah I’ve acquired by living in Israel and my natural inclination to “think big” prepared me to bring together Israel’s experts and innovation eco-system to meet the needs of farmers around the world. My experience in leadership and specifically in partnership development has helped my little NGO punch far above its weight - securing meetings with global leaders and forming partnerships with large organizations such as TBI and AGRA.

Crucially, my team and Israeli experts are 100% committed to working with our beneficiaries to identify and design the right solutions. The teams’ experience working with farmers across the world means they understand that success is wholly dependent upon adapting solutions to specific conditions.

We also are uniquely positioned, as the non-profit partner to Israel’s national agricultural research organization, in our unparalleled access to Israel’s top agricultural experts, innovations and companies. My BoD and advisory committee comprise some of Israel’s leading agri-experts, and as a small country we are only ever one phone call away from the expertise we need. 

Finally, as an NGO with no interest in promoting a particular solution, we are able to serve as an unbiased and trusted resource.

I started as a part-time consultant to the Director General of the Volcani Institute to transform their unstaffed nonprofit into a massive fundraising body. 

I quickly realized the vision was too small and the potential unlimited.

Volcani, Israel’s leading agricultural innovation hub, was constantly inundated with requests from global leaders, yet there was no mechanism through which to respond. 

I envisioned an international NGO with global programming sharing Israeli agricultural expertise with farmers around the world, while bringing in resources to strengthen Israeli agricultural innovation. My BoD did not share this vision (an understatement). I had no staff, no available funding or donor base and no support. My first year was filled with rejection, every donor or potential partner I met responded with a no.

But I refused to give up.

I persuaded the board, an army of volunteers and a wonderful core staff to join the mission.  Together we painstakingly raised money (13.3 million USD), launched 11 new programs and leveraged small wins into larger opportunities. 

We have secured impressive partnerships, opened a 501c3, and have embedded ourselves at the highest levels into the international agricultural community as sought after collaborators and speakers. 

See our impact report here.

Raising awareness about Israel’s agricultural experience and what its expertise might have to offer farmers around the world today is part of our core organizational mission. Consequently, I participate in many live speaking engagements. Some links to recordings of such events can be found below: 

• Africa Green Revolution Forum (September 2020): Speaker at an event entitled ‘Agro-Innovation: How Can We Solve Old Problems with New Ideas?’. The recording is available through this link (once signed in, the video is available via the ‘Agenda’ page under ‘7 September 2020’. The relevant section begins at 11:45): https://agrf.summit.tc/ 

• Society for International Development Washington Chapter (December 2020): Speaker at an event on ‘What makes agricultural innovation happen? Lessons from Israel and beyond’. The recording is available here (relevant section begins at 5:42): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYflnXsKN-Q&t=122s 

• Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) (July 2020): Speaker at an AGRA webinar entitled ‘How Israel became a world leader in agriculture and water management’. The webinar recording is available here (relevant section begins at 11:50): https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/2869025367858206734 

• Compete Caribbean (March 2021): Speaker at Compete Caribbean’s ‘Agri-Tech Grant and Innovation Launch Event’ webinar. The webinar recording is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R9DqKZfKMQ&t=1s 

• Caribbean Israel Leadership Coalition (March 2020): Speaker at the Caribbean Israel Technology & Agriculture 2020 Summit. Presentation recording is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qslBBtcQuV4 

• Waterline (February 2020): Interviewed on the podcast to discuss Israeli agricultural innovation. Recording is available via the following link (interview commences at 37:43): https://www.waterline.ranlevi.com/episodes/ 

I have also spoken at a range of events for which no recordings are available. Some examples of these events include:

• Milken Global Conference (May 2019): Speaker at the ‘DevTech: Meeting SDGs through Disruptive Technologies’ event. Link to event webpage available here: https://archive.milkeninstitute.org/events/conferences/global-conference/2019/panel-detail/8848 

• African Green Revolution Forum (September 2019): Speaker at the launch event of the report which I co-authored with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and AGRA. An article about the report and its launch is available here: https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/how-israel-became-a-world-leader-in-agriculture-and-water-management-618767 

• World Food Prize (October 2019): Panelist at a World Food Prize event alongside the President of AGRA and the Rwandan Minister of Agriculture (see picture below). Link to the event available here:  https://www.worldfoodprize.org/index.cfm/95383/97217/how_israel_achieved_its_agriculture_transformation_lessons_for_developing_countries 

• AIPAC Policy Conference (March 2019): Panelist at the Global AIPAC Conference where I spoke about the importance of Israel’s water innovations and how we are sharing them with partners around the world. Photo available through this link:  https://www.vipartnerships.org/post/aipac-policy-conference 

• Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP) (November 2019): Speaker at a gathering of the CoP in Jerusalem to discuss ‘Change Makers: Israeli Innovation in Social Entrepreneurship’. Photo available here:   https://www.vipartnerships.org/post/conference-of-presidents-in-jerusalem-2019 

Joy 99.7FM (June 2021): Interviewed by Nhyira Addo on Ghana’s Joy 99.7FM radio station. The recording is not yet available but will be uploaded to the following page in due course:  https://soundcloud.com/user-771908198

Funding will help us transition our pilot project into a fully-fledged program able to meet the goals we have laid out in our theory of change. Specifically, we would utilize the funds to cover costs for the first two years enabling us to:

• Hire a full time dedicated project manager and a part-time resource development director
• Run four webinars for 4,000 beneficiaries
• Facilitate four demonstration visits and training in-country
• Develop and actively curate the alumni network
• Produce and disseminate supplementary materials to support learning objectives
• Engage professional PR and communications 

These activities would dramatically increase the impact of Israel Agriweb in three ways. First, by increasing the project reach through additional webinar series. Second, by helping to build trust and greater knowledge with participants through live demonstration and training, thereby increasing the odds that solutions showcased will be implemented and implemented correctly. Third, by enabling the alumni platform to live up to its full potential. Considering the dearth of agricultural extension services across many developing countries, it is hard to overstate the impact of a platform where farmers can access resources and turn to world-class experts and each other for guidance.

Since launching Israel AgriWeb in March, we have partnerships in the Caribbean including the CILC (Directed by UN Peace Ambassador Dr. Andre Thomas), the Bahamian Ministry of Agriculture and Compete Caribbean, a project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). We worked with the Minister and CILC to identify the specific challenges addressed in the webinar and drive awareness/publicity. The webinar was featured on local news, radio and the official Ministry website. During the course of the webinar we connected with Compete Caribbean with whom we are working to offer new funding opportunities to farmers. 

We will also explore how we can work with existing partners, such as the Tony Blair Institute, the AGRA Foundation and several Israeli Ambassadors (specifically in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana) to bring Israel AgriWeb to several regions in Africa. These partnerships will help us to identify key challenges, tailor content to the specific needs of local farmers and drive awareness about the availability of our programming to ensure maximum impact. Crucially, these partnerships will facilitate new partnerships with local NGO’s that not only offer better access and understanding into the needs of our participants, but can play important roles in-long term M&E.