Seven hours from the Nepalese capital city of Kathmandu, nursery owner Mr. Hari Gautam smiles, with tears in his eyes, overjoyed to see a man who helped him improve his nursery business five years prior. The man, Mr. Howard Prussack, a Winrock volunteer who has lent his time and expertise multiple times to help the Nepali people, was pleased to know that he made such a positive impact.

“I received skills and knowledge from Mr. Howard. This is what made my business a success. It was really a life ‘turning point’ for me,” Mr. Gautam proudly states.

These are the interactions that make the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program so powerful.

Volunteers are the heart of our Farmer-to-Farmer programs. The unique perspective of each volunteer, and the people-to-people exchange inherent to international volunteerism, are what make these programs successful. The stories we hear from each volunteer remind us every day why we do what we do; and we hope these stories can inspire others to get involved and embark on a rewarding -and often life-changing- opportunity abroad.

We invite our previous and current volunteers to contribute to this blog site by sending inyour stories. What was your experience as an international volunteer? What did you learn? What inspired you?

If you are interested in submitting an entry, please send an email to: jgrems@winrock.org

Thank you!

In May-June 2011, Dr. Julie Heifetz volunteered her time to provide training and guidance to a women’s cooperative in Mali, as part of Winrock’s USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program. She came to Mali to provide inspiration, and she ended up leaving inspired herself. Reflecting on her experience, Julie offers the following thoughts:

“Faso Yirwa Ton Women’s Cooperative was created in 2005 but remained a fledgling, loosely-organized group of 52 poor, non-literate women in Banamba, Mali who were struggling to deal with poverty in their communities.

In 2011, with the support and direction of Mali’s Regional Directorate of Animal Production and Industry of Koulikoro, the Faso Yiriwa Ton (“Home Welfare”) Cooperative decided to do something about their condition and sought Winrock’s Farmer-to-Farmer program’s technical assistance.  The Cooperative’s common objective is to strengthen the cooperative’s organization and management capacities in order to become a viable, self-sustaining, legal cooperative capable of income generation and engagement in the marketplace. Since its inception, the cooperative lacked training; didn’t fully understand the rationale, benefits and value of a cooperative; and knew little about board roles and responsibilities or how to run a business. In response to the Cooperative’s request to Winrock, I was asked to provide assistance and conduct a three-week cooperative capacity-building training in Banamba. (more…)