Dr. Anna Snider traveled to Kaduna, Nigeria over the summer to work with  Winrock International host organization, Awakening Nigeria for Agro-Allied International (ANAAI),  a women’s group that promotes sustainable and smart agriculture in urban communities. Dr. Snider provided train-of-trainers in homestead vegetable gardening using sacks and containers. After the training, Yahaya Hamman, host member, commented the following “This training has opened up our mind, now some of our women who don’t have land to farm can now grow their own vegetables; above all we now know the importance of eating right and eating vegetables. We shall step down this training to other women. We are glad we had this training.” 

Last year I had a great time working with leaders of farmers’ organizations and extension workers, so I was happy to have a chance to come back to Nigeria to work with the Winrock team again.

This time I built sack gardens with members of Awakening Nigeria for Agro-Allied International, an NGO in Kaduna. The idea is that the members will spread this knowledge to people in the Internally Displaced Persons camps, adopted villages and women who are less able to get out to the fields because of cultural reasons or insecurity. Sack gardening is almost as simple as it sounds: gardening in a sack instead of a pot. But it gets interesting when we use really big sacks—100-pound rice sacks or even larger. With a sack that large you have a large space for planting on top, but you can also cut slits in the sides and plant some leafy vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, kale or even onions. That multiplies your space and allows you to plant a small vegetable garden in the space that you could normally have just one tomato. Drainage becomes a problem with such a deep sack, so we have to add a column of gravel to help the water get all the way to the bottom.

You can see in the video how we used a large metal can with both ends cut out to form the column of gravel. As the sack is filled with soil, the can is filled with gravel. The can is slowly pulled up to guide the placement of the gravel. (On a side note, I ate a lot of canned tomatoes to get enough cans for this workshop!)

Just like my last experience in Nigeria, the participants were active, curious and eager to get involved. In two weeks I worked with three groups. Each group build at least one sack garden, and one enthusiastic group built six sack gardens, experimenting with different plants and soil mixes.

But just growing more vegetables doesn’t improve nutrition. I also taught a nutrition component to help the participants improve family nutrition. Since the sack garden is perfect for growing leafy green vegetables, it is a great tool for Nigeria’s biggest nutrition problems– vitamin A and iron deficiencies.

Just a few weeks later the emails and photos are already coming in. Members of the ANAAI have already trained other members of their communities, including residents of an IDP camp in Kaduna. And the results keep multiplying!

To read more and view her video, please follow the link: http://www.annasnider.net/ to Anna’s blog.

On this Labor Day weekend, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers share their experience working with entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

The Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) team is comprised of Craig Pearson, Fungai Mandaza, and Rachel An, who are all Masters of Global Management students at Thunderbird School of Global Management. Our team was honored with the task of developing a strategy for a new business incubation center and providing relevant training to ensure its sustainability. The incubator will be for the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and Vocational Studies (CEDVS) of The Federal Polytechnic at Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria and we are working with Winrock International’s USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program. Nothing says Labor Day like a group of creative minds working together. This initiative comes well-timed as the United States and Canada celebrate the contributions its workers make.

During our first week, we discovered […]passion and hard work mixed with the determination to obtain sustainable skills to help improve their lives and those of their families as well.When we first arrived, we took a tour of the CEDVS facilities both indoors and outdoors. The center has thirteen different industries for its Enterprise Village with areas for practical application of the theoretical concepts and procedures behind the skills taught there. We were even able to meet some of the students while their classes were in session.

One class quickly caught our attention: the design and textile class with 89 part-time students, mostly female, from all over Ekiti state in Western Nigeria. We arrived just in time for their practice. The day’s assignment was to make tie and dye fabrics.

When people hear “African fashion prints,” patterns and a blast of rich colors come to mind and unlike many myths about Africa, this one is true. The history of tie and dye is deeply-rooted in African culture from the 1760s and is a skill that has been passed down for generations. Locally, it is known as adire. This process uses 100% cotton fabric to create uniquely patterned textile creations.

When the instructor told us about the challenges that the students face, what we enjoyed most about the conversation was how each issue had a solution mapped out by the students already. For example, plain 100% cotton is expensive and hard to come by. The students resolved this issue by figuring out how to make impressive designs using kente – a less expensive material pre-printed with patterns.

Another issue that the students had devised an innovative solution for was the market saturation of tie and dye in the fashion industry. These students thought to expand their target market from fashion to interior design. They created beautifully patterned, one-of-a-kind fabrics that could serve as wall hangings and coverings, tablecloths and runners, curtains, etc. in addition to clothing.

From our discussions with the faculty and students, we realized that being female in Nigeria does not only mean oppression and struggle, but it means being innovative and fighting bravely against all odds.

As the weeks of our project go on, we look forward to discovering what other skills we can learn from the Federal Polytechnic and, really, what to do with the trendy yard of material we made. We will continue to keep a close eye out for other ways in which women in Ado-Ekiti will break the norm.

Winrock’s August Volunteer of the Month is Ms. Erin Riley, a Rio Puerco Field Office Rangeland Management Specialist for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Albuquerque, NM. Erin took a different kind of trip to do a volunteer assignment with Winrock International and USAID. Erin traveled to Zaria, Nigeria, for two weeks to assist in a farmer-to-farmer program teaching local teachers, researchers, and ranchers techniques in assessment, rangeland management monitoring, and agriculture pedagogy that can be used in developing countries. Erin commented, “Flying into Kaduna, Nigeria, the smoke was like a fog and the smell of charred earth wafted in the air”. The locals burn the fields to put nutrients back into the soil. She could see thatched roof huts in rural communities and herds of white Fulani cattle congregating under large acacia trees trying to keep cool as the airplane descended in its final approach.

In Zaria, numerous herdsmen move their cattle from Niger through Nigeria to other countries in Africa. This is a traditional migration following seasonal patterns of weather. It is done to avoid conflicts in the northeastern part of the country that causes local farmers’ crops to be sacrificed due to lack of fencing. Taking knowledge that she has learned from the BLM and explaining how the United States dealt with similar grazing issues in the 1930s was an amazing opportunity for Erin as well as the agriculture community in Zaria, Nigeria.

One of the highlights from Erin’s volunteer assignment was in Zaria was when she was talking and working with the women there. They were very interested in the differences in the USA such as it is cheaper to buy dresses already made than cloth and make your own and it was cheaper to buy drapes from the store than to make them. This was something that was difficult for them to comprehend.

Erin is hopeful that more opportunities will arise for BLM employees to share the wealth of knowledge they have, not only locally, but also to other countries through important outreach opportunities. Finding solutions to conflicts, ideas of how to sustain cattle in the dry season, and economic opportunities for agriculture professionals proved to be mutually beneficial in this instance.

We asked Erin to reflect on her experience as a first time Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer. She shares her thoughts below:

Why did you want to volunteer and why should people consider volunteering?

In 1999 I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Serving underserved communities is an important part of being a good global community member. The best part of volunteering is the personal growth you get from it. Sometimes you question if you really did any good or you were effective in your teaching. But if you ask yourself “did I learn anything from that experience that will make me a better citizen” most of the time the answer would be yes. You will never regret visiting this amazing place.

What made your Winrock volunteer trip distinctive? How do you feel about the support from Winrock, whether before, during or after your assignments?

The Winrock volunteer trip was distinctive to me because I have never traveled to a West African country before. The food, people, culture, landscape and most everything was very different, yet lots of things were similar. Winrock was AMAZING. From the time that I was selected for the position till the time I returned home and finished my end of assignment write up, the Winrock staff was exceptional. I would work with any of these people again.

How have your assignments made a difference in your own life? Has your assignment caused you to do anything differently once you returned?

This assignment has helped me to grow professionally. Currently, I have taken on extra assignments that deal with conflicts between cattle ranchers. This experience has given me the confidence that I can handle most any situations when dealing with difficulties at work and at home.

When your friends/family find out that your volunteer assignment aboard, what do they say or ask?

They were amazed at first. Then they wanted to know how the food was, what animals I saw, was it safe, what were people like, what was the living conditions like and many other questions. Many of my friends and family were unaware of what life was like in Nigeria as was I.

How do you feel that your volunteer assignment has contributed to creating a shared understanding across different cultures through person-to-person interactions?

This interaction has helped immensely with sharing cultures. I think both of us understood that we have more things in common than things that are different. We also were able to see people in real life and how kind, joyous and thoughtful we were. All in all, this experience was amazing and really brought out the humanity in humans and me.

In May of this year, I traveled to Nigeria for the first time. Dr. Scott Haskell accompanied me as a Winrock volunteer. Our task for this travel was to offer pedagogical training and workshops on curriculum development training to the faculty of Enugu State Polytechnic College. I was a little apprehensive; I wasn’t sure if I would have a positive impact on the participants since many of them were highly educated and experienced members of the faculty. That apprehension vanished within the first hour of meeting the participants!

Since there were more than 50 faculty members attending our workshops, we had decided to divide them into two groups- senior professors, and junior professors and lecturers.

We began our training with the senior faculty first. I was overwhelmed and touched by their sincerity and desire to learn new teaching techniques and strategies even though many of them had been working with students for decades. They posed very thoughtful questions and shared concerns about discipline and lack of motivation among students. They eagerly participated in group activities to seek collaborative solutions.

We engaged in spirited discussions on modern teaching techniques and they were very responsive to the ideas and concepts we discussed regarding curriculum development starting from student, course, and program assessment to establishing course objectives, updating syllabi, creating student learning outcomes, designing multiple measures for evaluating student success, and designing and developing effective instructional techniques which don’t rely entirely on lectures. The junior faculty and lecturers were equally enthusiastic to ‘Get it right’ at the beginning of their teaching careers.

I was deeply impressed by the knowledge and passion of the Enugu State Polytechnic College faculty to examine their own skills and capacity as teachers rather than placing all the responsibility and burden of learning on their students. I also had an opportunity to discuss some of the challenges faced by female faculty members. Once again, their knowledge, commitment to their students, and desire for lifelong learning were outstanding.

By the conclusion of the training, participants were already sharing alternative methods of instruction and planning steps for implementation. One group decided to start a Toastmasters chapter in Enugu in order to enhance their own and their students’ confidence and communication skills. In addition, Dr. Okonkwo created a planning committee to update the instructional curriculum based on our recommendations. This committee was comprised of faculty participants. As on previous assignments, I was deeply touched by the warm hospitality of our hosts.

Dr. Ajibo and his office staff fed us tea and lunch every day. They ensured that we were provided with everything we needed to succeed in our work. At the conclusion of the training, Dr. Moses Okonkwo, the Regent of the college and his wife, Lady Okonkwo organized a magical ceremony with cultural dances (performed by students) accompanied with refreshments, and farewells.

At present, I remain in touch with participants and they keep me informed of their progress resulting from the training Dr. Haskell and I provided them. More than that, I am gratified that there are committed and hardworking teachers who are taking proactive steps to shape the future of their students and their country.

Finally, A heartfelt “Thank You” to Michael Bassey, Country Director, Winrock International F2F and AET Nigeria, and to Darla Embry, Program Associate, Winrock International, Little Rock, Arkansas. Without them, none of these rewarding experiences where I have gained more from the trainees than have given them would be possible.

Constrained by a lack of resources, public extension services in Nigeria fall far short of the goal of one extension agent for every 800 farmers. In this context, agribusinesses and social enterprises like Babban Gona play a key role in expanding small-scale farmers’ access to training. Babban Gona (“Great Farm” in Hausa), an innovative agricultural franchise. uses an outgrower model, partnering with farmers to increase maize, soybean, and rice production in their own fields. The organization works with groups of smallholders to achieve economies of scale, providing access to low-cost and high-quality inputs and production materials and facilitating marketing of harvests. Babban Gona has built a corps of local extension agents to offer one-on-one support and production advice to over 5,000 farmers.

USAID Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer John Moulton worked with Babban Gona to improve its training and extension services. With volunteer support, staff revised their annual trainings and created systems for supporting extension agents. Community extension agents learned to assess farmers’ level of knowledge and training needs. They also created annual work plans with checklists to allow them to monitor their progress. In order to better serve farmers, agents now visit farms on a more regular basis and are available to answer any immediate questions by phone. Babban Gona also started using demonstration plots to share best practices with the broader communities in which their farmers live. Finally, Babban Gona streamlined service delivery by creating special service units responsible for managing distribution and post-harvest processes. The new system is much more convenient for farmers, reducing wait times for inputs and payment.

Other volunteer assignments provided support on soil management and marketing techniques. Based on volunteer recommendations, the majority of Babban Gona’s farmers now use crop rotation to maintain soil fertility and prevent damage from crop disease and pests. Extension agents were also taught to work with farmers to identify optimal plant spacing and fertilizer application rates. Farmers have noticed significant benefits, with many able to decrease the amount they spend on fertilizer each year. As a result of F2F assistance, Babban Gona farmers increased yields by 56% (from 3.5 to 4.6 tons) per hectare.

Improvements in Babban Gona’s ability to serve female farmers has been one of the most significant impacts of F2F support. Tolu Owolabi, Babban Gona’s Director of Human Resources, described how a simple idea resulted in a dramatic increase in women’s engagement: “The advice given to us by Winrock F2F volunteers to recruit more female extension agents to serve as role models and attract women farmers really helped a lot. It has never happened before that we have this huge number of female farmers applying to be Babban Gona farmers considering the environment where we work. But with the application of this idea, we now have 100 women applying to be part of the Babban Gona project.”

In addition, the knowledge acquired from these trainings assisted Babban Gona in making improvements necessary to win the 2017 Skoll Award. The Skoll Foundation presents the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship each year to a select group of social entrepreneurs whose innovations have already had significant, proven impact on some of the world’s most pressing problems, and invests directly in the promise of even greater impact at scale.  Kola Masha, Babban Gona’s Managing Director, made the following remarks

“Babban Gona farmers service limited wishes to appreciate Winrock for her diligence and cooperation in ensuring that both Babban Gona staff and member farmers get the best of up-to-date trainings through well-equipped and passionate volunteer trainers who have at several times of assignment given themselves to the training, improvement, and equipment of both our staff and member farmers for increased productivity. Your efforts have yielded great success, as your trainings did not only improve staff knowledge on agriculture but also improved both staff and member farmers development, thereby equipping them to face greater challenges and reducing crime rates to the greatest minimal.

 

Your excellent teaching skills and the admirable personalities of your volunteers has tremendously helped us through our journeys. Team Members were excited to learn new skills for seed production at our last training. The knowledge acquired from the trainings which were introduced into our activities has also provided our organization with the honor of acquiring the 2017 Skoll Award.

 

We greatly appreciate every form of impact you have made on us as an organization. We have learnt so much from you and we look forward to learning more, also kindly let us know how we may be of assistance to you at any time.”