Media Team Report:

1. Event Coverage

The Media Team provided full coverage and documentation for the following key events:

1. Carbon Credits Certificates Distribution Event: 

   Location: Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development

Description: This event marked the distribution of Carbon Credit Certificates to Farmers and many important figures took place in the event that included :Dr. Mohamed Farid – Chairman of Financial Regulatory Authority Regulatory Authority

Major General Dr. Abdel Fattah Mohamed Serag -Governor of Sohag

Major General Dr. Alaa brahim Abdel Moaty – Governor of Kafr El-Sheikh

Major General Dr. Hesham Abu El Nasr – Governor of Asyut

Dr. Eng. Hazem El-Deeb – Deputy Governor of Beheiraas. 

The team captured event highlights, participant and Governor’s interviews, and key moments in both photo and video formats to support future communications and promotional use.

2. Biodynamic Preparations Workshop

   Location: SEKEM Farm

Media coverage included detailed footage of preparation processes, participant interactions, and educational sessions to promote organic and biodynamic farming techniques.

1. Video Production & Editing

The Media Team successfully produced a variety of video content designed to support educational, promotional, and engagement goals.

1. Educational Video Content

   Mandarin Crop Learning Videos:

     A series of 4 instructional videos focused on best practices for cultivating Mandarin crops. Aimed at enhancing agricultural knowledge among farmers and field staff.

   Combined Learning Videos – Moringa & Sesame Crops:

   2 detailed and combined learning videos were produced to demonstrate sustainable cultivation techniques  for both Moringa and Sesame crops.

 Total Educational Videos Produced: 6

2. Short-Form Video Content (Reels)

    A total of  8 engaging reels  were created to support outreach and education across social platforms:

     5 Reels  providing  learning tips focused on Henna and Thyme crop production.

     2 Reels  showcasing the stories of “Climate Heroes” within our community.

     1 Reel summarizing the Carbon Credits Certificates Distribution Event, created  for broad audience engagement.

3. Promotional Ad Videos

   12 short-form videos were developed specifically for digital advertising campaigns. These videos are designed for high-impact storytelling and brand visibility on social media and digital platforms.

III. Summary

This month, the Media Team focused on strengthening our agricultural education content, expanding social media engagement, and professionally covering strategic events. 

Biodynamic Preparations Workshop

Location: SEKEM Farm

Description: A comprehensive workshop focusing on biodynamic agricultural practices. Media coverage included detailed footage of preparation processes, participant interactions, and educational sessions to promote organic and biodynamic farming techniques. See full report. 

Field Missions

• Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) Updates

On April 15th, a comprehensive training session on the Kobo system for the PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) checklist was conducted by Eng. Buthaina Elhosieny for 30 engineers representing various governorates. The objective of the training was to equip these engineers with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively train peer reviewers on the PGS system and guide them through the auditing process. The session comprised both theoretical and practical components: the theoretical part covered the principles of the PGS approach, its operational framework, and its benefits to smallholder farmers; while the practical part focused on the auditing process itself, including detailed instruction on how to utilize the Kobo-based checklist during audits.

Reaching out to around 60 people from previous months:

We reviewed old cases that were not contacted before and started reaching out to update their data and include them in the current follow-up plan.

Creating a WhatsApp group for each governorate:

We set up WhatsApp groups by the governorate to enable direct communication with farmers, share important news, farming tips, and association updates.

Attending the Fairtrade meeting with Eng. Attia and Eng. Mahmoud El-Banna

EBDA Information Technology Department

The team conducted a comprehensive assessment of ERPNext v15 issues with the EBDA team and coordinated with the SEKEM IT team to identify and implement appropriate solutions on the system. Additionally, Collaborated with Mr. Mohamed Abolhasan (Eco Health Team) to share technical insights, and initiated preparation of farmer reports to support the development of a Farmer Health Insurance Card as part of the EBDA services for all registered farmers. 

Additionally, Improving the farmers’ Excel database

The team upgraded and organized the database to make it easier to use, helping the team follow up more efficiently and improve overall workflow.

Communications Team

In April, our EBDA digital presence continued to grow significantly across all platforms, marking several key achievements in outreach, engagement, and follower base expansion.

Facebook Highlights

• Total Reach: Over 3 million people
• New Followers: 30,000, bringing our total to 100,000 followers
• Video Views: 6.5 million+
• Content Interactions: Over 30,000 (Likes, shares & comments)
• Link Clicks: Over 50,000

Messages Conversion:

Communicating with around 1,000 people on social media

We carried out intensive communication on Facebook and other platforms to introduce the association’s activities and services, which helped expand the base of interested farmers.

Collecting data from about 108 farmers

We collected detailed information from interested farmers, including their names and locations, which will help us provide tailored services and effective follow-up.

Register several farmers in the association, with ongoing follow-up

Some farmers have already started the official registration process, while the engineering team continues contacting the remaining farmers to encourage them to join.

Instagram Performance

• Total Views: 6,500+
• Accounts Reached: 1,100+
• New Followers: 56, reaching a total of 1,592 followers

LinkedIn Growth

• New Followers: 100, with a total of 4,834 followers
• Page Visitors: 250 new visitors
• Reach: Over 1,700 new members

YouTube Insights

• Total Views: Nearly 13,000
• New Subscribers: Over 100
• Top Performing Video: Hibiscus and How to Store It – 7.4K views
• Traffic Source: 94.5% of YouTube traffic came from Facebook clicks

April was a strong month for the Economy of Love’s digital presence, reflecting continuous growth in reach, engagement, and community building across our social media platforms.

Facebook Highlights

• Page Views: Over 470,000
• Reach: Over 255,000 new accounts
• Content Interactions: 845+
• Link Clicks: Nearly 490
• Page Visits: 3,600+
• New Followers: 2,200+, bringing the total to 16,000 followers/likes
• Organic Messages Received: 9

Instagram Performance

• Total Views: Over 18,000
• Accounts Reached: 3,500+
• Content Interactions: 346
• Profile Visits: 203
• New Followers: 58, with a total of 1,980 followers

LinkedIn Growth

• Page Views: 118
• New Followers: 62, bringing the total to 1,935 followers

Conclusion

This month’s performance across both EBDA and EoL channels reflects the effectiveness of platform-specific strategies and the importance of audience behavior in guiding our content planning.

For EBDA, Facebook and YouTube remain the most effective platforms, consistently delivering high reach, engagement, and follower growth. This aligns with our target audience’s media consumption habits, which are primarily concentrated on these two platforms. In the upcoming quarter, we plan to run more structured tests on Instagram to explore its potential for expanding our reach and engaging younger audiences.

On the other hand, EoL continues to grow steadily as we experiment with ongoing campaigns tailored to both Egyptian and European audiences. While Facebook remains the leading platform for engagement and reach, Instagram testing is also scheduled for the next quarter to diversify our performance insights and reach new demographics.

These learnings will guide our next steps in refining platform strategies, optimizing campaign targeting, and expanding the impact of both EBDA and EoL’s communications efforts.

As part of the Women’s Empowerment in Rural Egypt Project, a one-day training session for moderators was successfully conducted on April 13, 2025. This important initiative, jointly implemented by the Egyptian Biodynamic Association (EBDA) and the Rural Development Center (RDC), represents a key milestone in our collective efforts to enhance the health, wellbeing, and economic empowerment of women living in rural communities.

The training session gathered a total of 12 moderators:

• Three moderators representing EBDA.
• Nine moderators affiliated with RDC.

The day’s activities were supervised by Nana, a holistic health coach specializing in women’s health, supported by two representatives from Women’s Empowerment in Rural Egypt Project and EBDA.

Training Objectives and Activities:

The primary focus of the training was to provide moderators with a comprehensive understanding of the current working conditions of women employed in the SEKEM factories. Through site visits and direct observation, moderators were able to assess the environments in which these women operate. The experience highlighted the urgent need for tailored information sessions addressing health and wellbeing, reinforcing the project’s core objective.

Planning for Upcoming Activities:

In addition to training content, the day included practical planning for the upcoming sessions. Moderators and supervisors jointly scouted potential locations for future gatherings and successfully compiled a preliminary list of women who will form the first participant group. The training concluded on a positive note, laying a strong foundation for the sessions to come. It was a productive and engaging day that energized the team and brought clarity to the project’s next steps. Further training and follow-up sessions are planned as the project progresses, with the goal of fostering meaningful, long-term empowerment for women across rural Egypt.

DoPay & NBE Projects Progress 

• DoPay updates

Batch Completion: The first batch of payments, involving 1,114 farm owners, has successfully been sent to the bank, initiating the process of creating Visa cards for them and The number this month has reached 1246.

A number of 650 activated cards were distributed to the owner farmers.

The team works together to solve existing issues.

Meeting Highlights: On 23/4/2025 a meeting was held with Do-pay team 

And our team to discuss plans for improve incoming data transmissions, and solve issues that we may encounter

We discussed how to speed up the interaction while taking into account timings to know the time needed to send the cards to the farmers.

A new batch will be created to be sent to Dopay in the coming period.

DoPay

•  Farmers can withdraw their funds without any deductions
• They have the benefit of up to five transactions per month with no deductions.
•  Farmers can purchase their needs from BOS methodologies, the next step to access their cards to be available for any transactions through InstaPay online app. 
•  The service allows withdrawals via Wireless

NBE

• The total number of cards distributed to farmers from the National Bank of Egypt is 1,384 cards
• The current updates include reaching 1,349 active cards
• The remaining 44 cards will be activated in the coming days.
• The team continues to solve the existing problems, numbering 12, and is preparing to close the stage soon In cooperation with engineers of Ebda and the bank.

Economy of Love (EoL)

During an event with SEKEM suppliers, the EoL carbon credits were purchased, distributed among the participants, and used to offset their individual carbon footprints. 

• As part of our partnership with Concrete fashion house, the Economy of Love (EoL) has developed a custom hang tag for their new clothing collection. This tag communicates that Concrete has offset its emissions through EoL-certified carbon credits. The company purchased 1,000 carbon credits via the Egyptian Stock Exchange, covering emissions under Scope 1 and Scope 2.

• In addition to carbon offsetting, Concrete has launched a dedicated impactTrace webpage, now hosted on the EoL website. Consumers can access this page by scanning the QR code printed on the hang tag, allowing them to learn about the brand’s environmental impact and trace their clothing back to the farmers who cultivated the cotton.

• Further supporting environmental restoration, Concrete has also planted trees as part of the afforestation and reforestation efforts in Wahat. The team is currently working on installing a sign on-site to mark the area where the trees have been planted. Additionally, we are in the process of filming a video to document and share the tree planting initiative as a call to action to other local Egyptian brands.

EBDA achievements 

EBDA Farmers’ Growth

EBDA Farmers’ Training (April 2025)

EBDA extension engineers successfully registered 532 new farms in April that included 2,105 farmers with a total area of 9,600 acres.

EBDA total registered information  in the until April, 2025 as follows:

• Total farms: 5,477farms registered
• Total farmers: 24,245 farmers registered
• Total area in acres: 105,157 Feddan

The EBDA Monthly Training 

The EBDA responsible team Coordinated the agricultural engineers’ monthly training SEKEM El Sharqia. This month includes lectures by Dr. Saber, Dr. Refaat Allam (Principles of Organic MAP Production and Post-Harvest Treatments), and on Organic Field Crop Production.