Mama Toure, Farmer-to-Farmer Senegal Country Director, Retires
Bradie Schulz, Program Associate
After 6 years at the helm of the Farmer-to-Farmer team in Senegal, our beloved Mama Toure retires today.
Before she started with Winrock in June 2014, Mama became a member of the Africa Women Leaders in Agriculture and Environment (AWLAE) network that Winrock helped form and strengthen in the 1980s. She received her Master’s in International Agriculture Education from the University of Arizona and spent several years working for the Senegalese Ministry of Agriculture and for the Food and Agriculture Organization. Mama’s leadership and spirit has led one of our largest West Africa Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) teams and she will be very much missed! Her work with volunteers and host organizations have helped shape the program in Senegal and left a lasting impact. During her tenure, she has overseen 124 volunteer assignments that dedicated 2,330 days to F2F. These volunteer assignments resulted in 7,936 hectares under improved technology, $2,130,983 in host income, and nearly 5,000 people trained! Mama retires to her farm where she keeps fruit trees, poultry, and livestock. A genuine, warm, and dedicated leader, Mama will truly be missed!
I learned from Mama that working as a team makes you succeed and sharing responsibility makes the job easier. I miss her already! Patrick, Ndiame Sene, F2F driver, SenegalMama has been a role model to staff, program beneficiaries and our volunteers. I appreciate how much she believed in her team members and invested in building their capacity. DeAnn McGrew, Director of Global ProgramsMama has been a great colleague and we are sad to see her go. I hope she works as hard at relaxing as she did during her working life! Mike Bassey, Country Director F2F NigeriaHer warm spirit, passion for the work we do, and keen expertise in the field will be sorely missed. Jennifer Robinson, F2F RecruiterI will especially remember Mama taking me to her pride and joy – her farm. Her retirement is well deserved but sad for me. But I shall return to Senegal at some point in the future and look forward to seeing her then. Monica Norley, F2F VolunteerMama was so welcoming and helpful to me during my two volunteer assignments in Senegal. The staff under her direction took better care of me than I could have ever imagined. I could not have asked for a better country director and host. She invited me to her family’s celebration of Tabaski and it was like being a member of a wonderful family. She is a true professional and has provided tremendous service to her country through her work with Winrock. Something tells me there are a lot of volunteers that can share the same sentiments about Mama. Ples Spradley, F2F VolunteerMama is an open and friendly person who cares about others. I will miss her morning greetings and bright smile. Abibou Diaw, our new Country Director F2F SenegalMama with Winrock HQ team and her fellow Country Directors from Nigeria, Guinea, Nepal, Myanmar, and BangladeshI’m so grateful for Mama’s spirit, leadership, and care that she has put in to building the Senegal team. After so much hard work, I hope she enjoys her retirement – it is well deserved. Jen Snow, F2F Program Director
