Winrock Program Officer Gelsey Bennett shares an update on recent Farmer-to-Farmer activities in Mali:  

Over the last six months, Winrock’s USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) for Agriculture Education and Training (AET) Program fielded four volunteers in Mali to support the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE)-Mali program. SAFE provides leadership for building capacity in agricultural extension. SAFE-Mali works with farmer-based organizations (FBOs) to strengthen value chains through AET training for their partners and pools of trainers. The F2F assignments with SAFE-Mali covered effective teaching, business development and entrepreneurship, marketing and competiveness, and post-harvest technologies.

Dr. Assa Kanté, SAFE-Mali’s Coordinator, was very pleased with the volunteer assignments. She explained how the volunteers built the capacity of FBOs. “This is a paradigm shift,” she noted. “The volunteers raised the awareness of extension agents as well as FBO leaders on their role in the value chains. I am very happy with the interventions of the volunteers, they on target. We hope to get more.”

One of the assignments was conducted by Michael Swan, an education specialist. Dr. Kanté notes, “The faculty attending the trainings were excited and wanted to learn how to become better and more efficient teachers. They expressed the desire to change and were willing to try to become effective teachers. They were open to new ideas and assistance in making changes to become better at their jobs. They just need the tools and be given the support to make the changes.”

All the materials that the volunteers provided for the assignments have been translated into French and have been assembled in booklets to share with the FBOs through extension agents. This way, the volunteers’ trainings will be replicated, reaching many more farmers in Mali!

We will look forward to following up with SAFE-Mali and the training participants to see what changes they put into action as a result of this F2F assistance.

One of the strengths and benefits of the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program is that the volunteers and local host organizations often develop and maintain strong relationships long after the volunteer assignment ends. Our July Volunteer of the Month, Judy Moses, is a wonderful example of this.

Judy, a member of the Browse & Grass Growers Cooperative in Wisconsin, has volunteered with Winrock six times since 2010, supporting a few different farmers associations in Mali and Guinea. On subsequent trips to the same country, she builds in time to check in on her previous host organizations, and over the years she has formed a deep mutual respect and friendship with both her beneficiaries and the local Winrock staff. As a result of these connections and a deep commitment to improving the lives of African farmers, Judy recently won a small grant award to manage her own Farmer-to-Farmer program in Mali!

We asked Judy to reflect on her prior experiences as a F2F volunteer. She shares her thoughts below:

What inspired you to begin volunteering with F2F?

Another volunteer recommended and connected me to an Ethiopian assignment in about 2006. I did a sheep and goat assessment through the highlands. To have a landrover, driver, translator, and huge detailed map was just totally amazing. I still have and prize that map. It was a number of years before I had the opportunity to volunteer again, and that was in Mali.

What have been some of the most memorable moments from your various volunteer assignments?

I have raised livestock for almost three decades, and I still learn something new and amazing about sheep and goats every year. During the last several years, a significant part of my learning has involved volunteer assignments. We (cooperative members) struggle, just like other producers, with lambing deaths, balancing rations, pasture watering systems, cost controls, labor availability, implementing and maintaining appropriate conservation programs. Do these experiences transfer to such a faraway place as Africa? We have found that they do. There are more similarities between us than differences.

One of my trainees in Lofine, Mali [so beautifully] said, “The light of the sun and the light of the moon together are not as bright as the light of the knowledge you brought to this village!” 

Another trainee, in Dladie, Mali, told me, “Come back! We will show you how we listened… how we will apply this. Even if I am called in the middle of the night to attend a training, I would now hurry to do so!

How could I not come back?

What inspired you to apply for the F2F small grant?

I wanted to go beyond farmer helping farmer to cooperative helping cooperative. Information on the F2F grant came into my email box, and I noticed our cooperative actually qualified. We had a conference call discussion on whether the cooperative wanted to take on the responsibility of such a project. Being first of all farmers, none of our members have discretionary income or time, and global activities certainly aren’t in our bylaws. But our members did feel a connection to the villagers I volunteered with, so I was given the “ok” to proceed with caution. I then contacted former Winrock staff in Mali, and they were excited. The former Winrock F2F project director in Mali contacted Winrock’s Director of Volunteer Technical Assistance in the US, and she offered her support. The Winrock recruiter I worked with the most had retired, but she offered her support at no-cost. At this point, we committed. Having this critical support convinced the hesitant members that if funded, we could actually implement. It would have been not only difficult but impossible to do this project without the former Winrock F2F staff’s support and eagerness to participate. They are the heart of this project. I am only facilitating resources so they can succeed.

We have named the project Common Pastures: Sustaining Flocks, Farms, and Families. As with our cooperative in the US, it is devoted to the art and science of integrating animals, trees, shrubs, crops, and pasture.

—

All of us at Winrock are so inspired by Judy. We are very excited to see what this new project will achieve! Learn more at www.commonpastures.org orhttps://www.facebook.com/CommonPastures

We are continuously inspired by the excellent technical work and the lasting people-to-people connections forged by Winrock’s Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers. What better day to celebrate their efforts than today, National Agriculture Day!

Since 1991, Winrock volunteers have completed more than 5,400 assignments in 56 countries. Each of our volunteers has played an important part in strengthening international agriculture, and essentially, helping to feed the world.

Special thanks to the 16 American volunteers who are currently on assignment today! These brilliant and dedicated women and men are sharing their expertise to:

• develop new, demand-driven courses at Guinea’s agriculture university
• train trainers and service providers to support youth entrepreneurship in Bangladesh and Nepal
• strengthen farmer and fishers associations in Myanmar
• develop new agriculture curriculum in Bangladesh
• improve technical skills and service delivery to support dairy and goat production in Nepal
• train lead farmers on drip irrigation in Senegal
• introduce improved teaching methods for university-level agriculture courses in Mali

Check out our Facebook page to see photos of recent volunteers in action!https://www.facebook.com/pages/Winrock-Volunteers/267409859955100

Happy Agriculture Day!

This article is a contribution to a week-long blog carnival on USAID’s John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program. From July 14-18, F2F program partners and American volunteers are sharing their knowledge and experience of providing technical assistance to farmers, farm groups, agribusinesses, service providers, and other agriculture sector institutions in developing and transitional countries. This blog carnival aims to capture and share this program experience. You can find all contributions on Agrilinks.

We loved volunteer Joe Sullivan’s statement below. Let’s start the day inspired! (more…)

Last week we ended a five-year phase of our Farmer-to-Farmer program in Mali and Nigeria. During this time of transition, F2F staff and volunteers are all reflective of the work that we have done in the last five years and of the relationships formed and lives transformed, both for the developing country beneficiaries as well as for the volunteers.

Here are some poignant reflections from our volunteers and local organizations:

• “I have enjoyed working with the whole staff [in Mali]. I think you all can be proud of the development progress you have made in Mali. It is my feeling that Mali has moved forward in food security and agricultural with help from F2F volunteers.” volunteer Jerry Nolte
• “We at Tee Ess Integrated Farms Nigeria Limited cannot thank the entire Winrock family for the unquantifiable knowledge you and the volunteers impacted. We are not only now successfully registered with USA FDA to export smoked fish to the US,
  but I am currently in Canada on my way to Atlanta tomorrow and Houston next week
  to meet with some smoked fish distributors on business collaboration. You made
  all of this happen. Thanks a million.” –Tuned Sanni, F2F host organization in Nigeria
• “It is always a privilege and an honor to work with Winrock and people in Nigeria and other developing nations to help you put food on your table and feed the world. I can’t think of anything else I would rather do. Thanks for the opportunity to serve in the past, and I hope there will be other opportunities in the future.” –volunteer Joe Sullivan
• “A heartfelt congratulations on your 5 year effort and achieving such great results for the people of Mali! From the time I spent with your [Winrock] staff in Bamako as a volunteer, you and your group are one of the best in all my travels. It is a difficult political and operating environment, still you accomplished much. In my view, programs like Winrock and F2F are far and away the best use of American foreign aid dollars and the best way to bring prosperity to countries like Mali.” –volunteer Michael Lowery

Each volunteer has left a lasting legacy in these countries. We are grateful for the service and committment each one has given!

Stay tuned for updates Winrock’s new focus areas and country programs for the next five years of F2F…