As an Assistant Professor at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I am always interested in meaningful research that complements my teachings. I enjoy the pragmatic approach of gathering data from relevant settings like educational classrooms. I have also found this to be an effective method to improve my teaching. Collecting and analyzing data both inside and outside of the classroom allows me to identify new, important topics to introduce to students, as well as improve future embodiments of entrepreneurship curricula that I deliver.

I adopted this approach during my recent assignment as a Winrock Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer supporting the USAID Bangladesh Counter-Trafficking In-Persons (BC/TIP) program. On this assignment, I taught two 5-day workshops teaching entrepreneurship to Bangladeshi youth (aged 18-35). This trip had many milestones for me – it was my first time in Bangladesh; my first time working with USAID and Winrock; and the first time I have taught in a foreign language. While things mostly turned out better than expected, I knew there would be many opportunities where research data could help improve my teaching. Additionally, I hope this trip is the first of many volunteer assignments, and I plan to use this data-driven approach to improve my future teaching efforts.

While in Bangladesh, I had many meetings with youth, NGO personnel, and community leaders focused on creating new businesses and economic opportunities. I asked everyone I interacted with about what was needed to promote additional entrepreneurship, and recorded the results. While informative on their own, these findings were also used to design a survey for educational workshop participants as well as other methods to measure entrepreneur sentiment. Winrock personnel in Bangladesh were critical to these efforts, and assisted with translating, distribution of surveys and other research materials, and providing additional insight on local Bangladeshi conditions.

Now that I have returned to the US, I am currently analyzing this raw data in depth, to gain a better understanding of future challenges and opportunities for Bangladeshi entrepreneurship. I also hope to publish these findings in an academic journal, so that others can utilize this information as well. Finally, I will use results to further improve curriculum during my next volunteer assignment. My recent travels with Winrock gave me access to great teaching and research opportunities, and I hope to apply this model to future volunteer assignments.

Zimbroff uses his data-driven approach in a workshop with Bangladeshi teens.

Winrock International’s Volunteer Program Recruiters participated in the Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference (AMPIC) of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) held recently in Little Rock. The NACAA have been holding their yearly conference since 1916. This year’s conference was attended by more than 1,000 people and allowed the recruiting staff to share with these agents, and other industry actors, information on current volunteer programs in West Africa and Asia. Winrock implements Farmer-to- Farmer(F2F) programs in Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, Nepal, Bangladesh and Burma. We send volunteers on short term assignments to provide technical assistance to farmers, agribusinesses, and public and private education and extension providers in order to promote sustainable improvements in the agriculture sector. Our Program Recruiters share their thoughts and experiences about the conference below. (more…)

Winrock International Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer, Robin Vora, recently retired from the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon and traveled to Burma (also known as Myanmar) in February 2016 to provide training to local, non-profit staff with FREDA (Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association). The objective was to improve knowledge and capacity of FREDA members and field staff on environmental conservation and climate change so they could:

• train local communities and reach more beneficiaries (train the trainer approach)
• apply the new knowledge effectively during project identification, design, and implementation to improve environmental sustainability

Vora was accompanied by FREDA and Winrock staff on a 3-day trip to the Ayeyarwaddy River Delta and a 3-day visit to the “Dry Zone” near Mindon. Following the field visits, he conducted a workshop in Yangon on environmental conservation and climate change, and related topics including an introduction to land-use and project planning, biosphere reserves, environmental education, and disaster response. (more…)

Osun State in southwestern Nigeria is lush, its rolling hills clad in low forests, cacao stands, and fields of corn, yam, pepper and cassava. Oil palms dot the landscape, and the bright reddish oil extracted from the palm’s pulp can be bought at any roadside stand. It also happens to be a great area for raising bees, which is why I was there.

For 10 days in late June, I worked with faculty from Osun State Polytechnic (OSPoly) and community members from the nearby town of Iree as a volunteer for the USAID John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program. OSPoly is in the opening stages of establishing an agriculture program, so I came to teach a short beekeeping course, establish an apiary and help the staff develop a curriculum.

We learned about bee behavior and hive management, practiced rendering wax and making secondary hive products, built a smoker, stalked bees and talked honey.

It was wonderful to share my passion for bees and beekeeping with such an interested and excited group of staff, students and community members. And the assistance and friendship of Winrock International’s Nigeria staff made the trip a true pleasure. I look forward to keeping in touch with the staff at OSPoly as they continue to get their beekeeping program up and running.

Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer, Alan Robinson, shares his reflections from his ecotourism assignment in Cambodia working with the USAID-funded Supporting Forest and Biodiversity (SFB) Project.

“Critical to evaluating potential for developing community-based ecotourism is understanding people’s aspirations, abilities and local cultural or natural features which might be of interest to visitors. [My] very professional Winrock counterparts had already spent weeks or months in that process but our own short visits always began with a meeting with a local committee to get a sense of wants and needs. Inevitably this takes place shoeless on a mat on the ground or in a traditional stilted wooden home where we might have been the first foreigners to set foot in their remote village. At the end of the five-week project [I and my] colleagues hosted a workshop in which 20 representatives of these villages and provincial officials and conservation groups jointly developed ecotourism frameworks for the next several years of development. (more…)