Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Product Development Training - Nairobi
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) product development, operations management and marketing training and support were one of the livelihood development interventions offered to refugees and host communities in Nairobi. DRC’s livelihood activities focus on improving self-reliance through building economic capacities in businesses and trade. DRC promotes and advocates for the protection of the right to livelihood and the right to protection for refugees residing in camps and urban areas.
This project aimed at enhancing beneficiaries’ skills and knowledge in product development, operations management and marketing, covering a wide range of topics in value addition that included product design, quality, branding, packaging, labeling, productivity and the setting of efficient management systems, marketing and promotion. It was expected that after the training, refugees and the host community would utilize skills and the knowledge acquired to meet customer needs, market standards and competitiveness of their products.
Our work on this assignment was to design, develop and deliver the training in Nairobi. We produced a customized training manual covering the thematic areas, informed by research; Conducted market studies and global trend mapping to inform the product development intervention and, delivered the training. This resulted in acquisition of new knowledge and skills, realized quality, new and branded products. These products were successfully market tested in Nairobi, resulting in instant orders from supermarkets such as Chandarana.