For this month’s Volunteer of the Month, we honor Dr. Mathew Baker (pictured above center), Professor at the Department of Agricultural Education and Communications at Texas Tech University. Dr. Baker is recognized in particular as an outstanding agriculture education and training (AET) volunteer, having provided important assistance to the formal AET sector in Nigeria.

In June 2014, Dr. Baker conducted an institutional assessment of Center for Entrepreneurship Development & Vocation Studies (CEDVS), Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti in Nigeria. He presented a program assessment report and worked with CEDVS administration to develop an institutional assessment and development plan, which provides a framework for CEDVS’  efforts to improve their effectiveness as an AET provider.

As a result of Dr. Baker’s volunteer assignment with CEDVS, Texas Tech University and CEDVS subsequently signed a Letter of Intent to establish a more formal linkage between the two schools.

Dr. Baker and the F2F Nigeria Country Director Mike Bassey, along with co-authors A. A. Jimoh (CEDVS Director) and Taiwo Akande (Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti), wrote a paper titled: “An Expertise-Oriented Evaluation of the Center for Entrepreneurship Development and Vocational Studies, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria: Implications for Assessing and Improving the Federal Polytechnic System in Nigeria.” This paper was accepted for publication in the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education. Furthermore, an abstract was accepted for presentation at the 2015 annual meeting at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

Dr. Baker and Mr. Bassey presented this paper at the Conference on Agricultural Extension and Food Security in Africa at Ohio State University in October 2014. When Mr. Bassey came to the United States to present the paper, Dr. Baker hosted a dinner at Texas Tech that assisted in showcasing volunteerism and the F2F program and to other extension professionals.

Dr. Baker has continued his support of CEDVS. In November 2014, he presented a paper (via video) entitled “Entrepreneurship & Leadership Education: An Inseparable Duo,” at two events hosted by CEDVS. This enabled 7,025 faculty and students to benefit from his ongoing support!

Reflecting on his initial assignment with CEDVS, Dr. Baker notes,

“Professionally, the assignment has contributed to my knowledge on post-secondary education in Nigeria, which I am already using. I am teaching a graduate online program evaluation course, and I have used the contexts of this trip to teach principles and concepts to my students in New Mexico and west Texas. Personally, I have grown and developed as well. It has been a great growth opportunity.”

Dr. Baker is a recipient of the 2014 President’s Volunteer Service Award, having completed more than 100 hours of volunteer service. He will return to Nigeria in May to continue to support CEDVS and the formal AET sector, assessing the how outcome assessment data affects curriculum improvements.

Thank you for your great work, commitment, and service, Dr. Baker!

Darla Embry, Program Associate/Recruiter for the Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) for Agriculture Education and Training Program, just returned from a trip to visit our F2F offices in Nigeria and Senegal and fondly shares some favorite memories from the trip:

April 2015 brought me back to Abuja, Nigeria. What a great staff in the Farmer-to-Farmer office. Gelsey Bennett is the new Program Manager for the F2F programs in Nigeria, Guinea, and Senegal. Gelsey worked on several necessary trainings for our staff. After the trainings and just prior to our departure to Dakar, Senegal, we had a dinner to celebrate our new boss, Gelsey, our new office, and our best year yet!

As we sat there waiting on dinner, one of our Nigerian staff, Blessing, was singing along with the music that was playing. After a few minutes, I asked him if he liked the music. And without missing a beat, he started singing what was playing… “Under the board walk, down by the sea…”

Good times with good people in Abuja! I hope to see them all again soon.

Winrock’s F2F team in Nigeria

Volunteer Jeremy Elliot-Engel recently completed a youth entrepreneurship assignment with Winrock’s F2F program in Nepal. His blog post, below, offers candid insights from his trip:

Entrepreneurship is not only something you learn, but something you must do.

Namaste from Nepal.  If Nepal is one thing, it is a country of smiles, optimism and positivity.

This was my first time volunteering with the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) project.  It has been an incredible privilege to work with the Nepal country team and the students in Chitwan district.  This was not my first time traveling abroad providing education or training.  What I have valued throughout this experience has been that it has been asset based and has supported the strengths of the local individuals and hosts.

My project was training university agriculture majors on entrepreneurship.  The hosts were the Eco Minions and Prikiti Prahawa, both different organizations that have organized around agricultural and environmental concerns.  After talking with the youth leadership, I quickly, was able to identify the training needs to the fundamentals of business. I am confident these exceptional students (all 108 of them) will be able to recreate this training and spread the material, throughout the University but also into the community.

As agriculture majors at the local public agriculture university, they had content knowledge, but needed help to identify business concepts and how to create business plans.  We also spent significant time on writing and practicing SMART goals, so that the training would be valuable to their personal lives as well as in business.

During the intensive 20 hour training, students often had their first taste of experiential learning, following the 4-H motto “learning by doing.”  On numerous occasions on the first day or two, I heard “when will we start learning” or “we have so much to cover, let’s do less activities and more learning.”  By the end of the training, the students were saying “That was the best training I have had, it was so much fun and I have learned so much.”  The learning had crept up on them, while they were busy making marketing portfolios or playing Telephone to experience what marketing message diffusion appears like. Because the content was interactive and student driven, it was able to be relevant to the challenges and issues that occur locally.

Most of these students still have years of University studying to complete before they are able to go into the world and start a new entrepreneurship business. However, I am confident that their exposure to entrepreneurial thinking, understanding the importance of goals, maintaining personal, organization and business financial records and the many other concepts we covered will be utilized as they continue through their schooling.

I was energized by the can-do attitude and desire for improvement by every one of my learners during the training. There was a practical recognition of the challenges ahead and a willingness to tackle it.  I made the students promise me that if they made it BIG, then I expected an invitation back to Nepal.  They all promised, and one day, I am sure I will be returning to Nepal.  Dhanyabad (Thank You).

Here are some photos of Jeremy in action:   

Points of Light, which spearheads National Volunteer Week, asks, “What’s your story?”…

… so we asked our Volunteer Technical Assistance (VTA) team this very question. The VTA team is responsible for recruiting qualified volunteers and implementing Winrock’s volunteer programs around the world. What we confirmed was that volunteerism is a value and a focus in the team’s professional AND personal lives. And it’s fun!

Program Associate/Recruiter Jennifer Robinson volunteers with Rock City Rescue as a foster mom for dogs and a volunteer at Rock City’s fundraising events. She also raised over $1700 for Puppy Up!, to raise awareness about canine cancer. “I volunteer because it makes me feel good. I’m honestly happy knowing that I continue to make a difference,”she explains. “I think volunteering, making the world a little better, is absolutely the right thing!”

Program Manager Melanie Berman has volunteered for the Little Rock Sister Cities Commission since 2013, and is the commission’s secretary and co-liaison to the sister city of Hanam City, South Korea this year. “I volunteer to stay involved in my community,”she explains. Melanie is looking forward to chaperoning a youth leadership delegation on a trip to Hanam City later this year.

Program Associate/Recruiter Angela Kraszewski volunteers with the Uganda Village Project, which promotes public health in villages in rural Uganda. Angela says, “I volunteer with UVP because I believe in and support their mission to facilitate community health and well-being. My involvement with the internship program was a wonderful and eye-opening experience, and I really enjoy sharing my knowledge with future interns.”

M&E/Outreach Director Jen Snow volunteered the last two years as a host family and mentor for international students participating in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship program. She volunteers because “what better way is there to make a meaningful connection with others?” 

What’s your story? #NVW2015