Meet the F2F Team in Senegal
The Senegal team is the newest member of Winrock’s Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) family! The team received its first volunteer as part of the USAID-funded F2F for Agriculture Education and Training (F2F for AET) Program in February, and since then, they have kept busy conducting baseline surveys, developing partnerships, designing volunteer assignments with local AET hosts, and welcoming volunteers to Senegal.
We asked each of the staff to share their thoughts about the F2F program and some background on themselves:
Mama Ndeye Toure, Country Director
Mama joined Winrock in June 2014, but she has known about Winrock for many years, as she is 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’sin International Agriculture Education from the University of Arizona and spent many years working for the Senegalese Ministry of Agriculture and for the Food and Agriculture Organization. Mama enjoys working with volunteers because she learns from their experiences variety of experiences and skills. She admires the volunteers’ dedication and motivation to share their knowledge with others. In her opinion, the F2F program addresses numerous development issues within the wider agricultural sector that benefits Senegal. On the weekends, Mama likes to go to her farm, where she keeps fruit trees, poultry, and livestock.
Pape Magatte Tall, Program Officer
Pape began working for Winrock in October 2014. He has a degree in Agriculture and certificates in vocational education, focusing on horticultural techniques and management. Under F2F, he writes scope of works for the volunteers, accompanies the volunteers on their assignments, and builds relationship with the hosts. Pape likes that F2F helps poor and disadvantaged people and provides them opportunities to change their life conditions. He strongly believes that by focusing on agriculture education and training, the capacity of Senegal’s people and organizations will increase. Pape enjoys the technical exchange that takes place with the volunteers. In his free time, Pape goes to his farm, where he grows ground nuts and maize, and enjoys jogging.
Bara Ndaye, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist
Bara is in charge of M&E tasks for F2F in Senegal, including tracking progress against indicators, collecting baseline data with hosts, and supporting scope of work development. He joined Winrock in October 2014, after studying project management and planning and beginning his M&E career with the Ministry of Finance. He says that 70% of Senegal’s population are involved in agriculture, and therefore it is important to gain more experience in order to feed the population; this is what F2F provides to Senegalese farmers. Bara enjoyed visiting poultry farms with a volunteer; he was able to learn about the dynamic poultry sector. On the weekends, Bara likes to visit his family in Saint Louis or watch soccer matches.
Adama Séne, Program Assistant
As a Program Assistant, Adama helps the project with many important tasks, including translation and logistics. She also attends technical meetings and accompanies the volunteers to their assignments. She enjoys meeting the volunteers. Each experience has been unique. Adama says that 6 out of 10 jobs in Senegal are not filled because people lack the right skills; therefore she thinks that education and training are important for the development of Senegal. In her free time, Adama likes to go out salsa dancing. She also grows vegetables and aromatic plants in her garden.
Demba Sidy Ba, Financial Officer
Demba has been working for Winrock since September 2009, starting as an accountant under a previous project in Senegal. Demba is in charge of all accounting functions, payroll, procurement, and travel logistics. He participated in the F2F start-up in Senegal, which was a memorable experience that allowed him to use the skills developed during his tenure with Winrock. Demba thinks that F2F is important because the training provided to farmers and organizations will bring results that will benefit his country. Demba likes to spend the weekends with his family.
Ndiamé Séne, Driver
Séne has the very important job of driving our volunteers to locations all over Senegal. He has been working for Winrock since January 2015. He learned English at a university in Dakar and is looking forward to continuing to improve his English skills by engaging with the volunteers. He has a piece of land and hopes to grow crops and poultry. When volunteer Jonathan Moyle visited Senegal for a poultry production assignment, Séne was able to learn new skills to apply to his own farm. He believes that the F2F project is important to farmers, and that it is wonderful for Senegalese people to receive the technical assistance. In his free time, he likes to jog and watch TV.
Youssouph Sane, Driver
Sane is also a driver for F2F and accompanies the volunteers on their travels throughout Senegal. He has been working for Winrock since January 2015. Sane learned English in high school, and after that he continued his English studies by attending language lessons. He learned about Winrock by coincidence: he was near the office and saw the office’s sign and decided to stop by to see if there were any openings. Sane believes that F2F can help farmers in Senegal gain more knowledge. He enjoys sharing his experiences with volunteers. In his free time, Sane likes to jog, spend time with his family, and watch TV.
The whole team is eager to welcome all of the future F2F volunteers in Senegal!