Volunteer Posts
Sharing My Passion for Bees
July 18, 2016
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 […]
Shoeless on a Mat….Understanding People’s Aspirations, Abilities and Local Culture
July 14, 2016
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 […]
My View From the Other Side: A Winrock recruiter on assignment in Guinea
July 11, 2016
I’ve worked in Winrock’s Volunteer Programs since March 2014. I have many responsibilities, but the most important one is the recruitment of volunteer experts for the USAID funded Farmer-to-Farmer program and an associate award called the Agriculture Education and Market Improvement Program (AEMIP). AEMIP operates in Guinea and its goal is to strengthen agriculture education […]
Volunteering on the 4th of July
July 5, 2016
Everyone loves hotdogs and fireworks on the 4th of July, but this year, a handful of Winrock/F2F volunteers spent their holiday a little bit differently. Below, volunteer Anil Shrestha — who is currently on assignment in Nepal — shared his reflections on why he chose to spend his holiday volunteering and how it contributes to the American values of equality, progress, […]
Celebrating American volunteerism this 4th of July
July 1, 2016
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, once stated, “let us remember the large numbers of citizens who, day in and day out, through acts of volunteerism large and small, bring hope to so many of the world’s disadvantaged. Let us ensure that this wonderful resource, available in abundance to every nation, is recognized and supported […]
One Community in the Syangja
June 15, 2016
Namaste! I just spent the last month in Nepal as a volunteer with the Farmer-to-Farmer program. My assignment was a little different than most F2F volunteers, as I did not travel to one location and provide technical training. Instead, I visited organizations around the country that hosted previous volunteers to follow up on how the […]
Entrepreneurship… A Way Forward
May 9, 2016
Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer, Michael Lowery just completed his 7th volunteer trip for Winrock since 2003, and his 3rd volunteer trip to Nigeria. This latest trip took him to Kaduna, Nigeria where he worked with the College of Agriculture and Animal Science. The Nigerian government tasked six of the agriculture colleges in the country to develop entrepreneurship […]
Lessons Learned from the Rearview of a Rickshaw
April 19, 2016
“It’s easier to see where you’ve been from the rearview mirror, but the act of looking back is an important one. Please indulge me as I reflect upon my two week experience in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Below are the lessons I’ve learned from the [figurative] rearview of a rickshaw. First, the driver matters! To say the […]
Having Truly “been there”
April 18, 2016
In September, two volunteers completed Pesticide Safety Assessments for the Farmer-to-Farmer for Agriculture Education and Training program in West Africa. Sandra McDonald traveled to Guinea, and Ples Spradley completed an assignment in Senegal. The purpose of these assessments was to ascertain and evaluate pesticide safety, regulation, training, education, and use in the countries. Both Sandra […]
Why Volunteer?
April 13, 2016
Continuing our Volunteer Week reflections, Winrock staffer Abby Phillips shares her thoughts: “As we celebrate National Volunteers Week, we often praise the volunteers and the great work they are doing at home and abroad. Their work is vital to their communities and to development across the globe. As a new Program Associate at Winrock International […]