In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps, and 59 years later we take this week to celebrate all the ways Peace Corps has made a difference at home and abroad.  Since 1961, more than 240,000 Americans have served our country and the global community as Peace Corps Volunteers, living and working alongside local leaders to catalyze change. Under USAID’s Farmer-to-Farmer Program, Winrock has partnered with the National Peace Corps Association to tap into this network of Peace Corps alums in order to field highly skilled and experienced volunteers to West Africa. In addition, Winrock has also created connections with the Peace Corps in Guinea and Senegal to facilitate training and technical assistance. Peace Corps Volunteers and their counterparts are then able to bring the knowledge and skills they learn back to their communities, increasing the spread and impact of Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteers. In honor of Peace Corps Week, we thank all volunteers, past and present, each time you give your expertise and time you help build the future! 

“We females eat what is left.” That was just one of the many tough issues discussed on ways to reduce malnutrition during the first Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) partnership assignment between Winrock and the Peace Corps/Guinea. By all accounts, this strategy of F2F volunteers working with Peace Corps Volunteers and their volunteer counterparts in a practical skills workshop was a success.

The objective of the trip, titled Training of Trainers (TOT) in Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture and Behavior Change, required integration between multiple disciplines. The assignment challenged me to put the experience I had gained on linking agricultural resources to solving nutritional problems for the past 40 years.  The undertaking necessitated using an approach which would be a dance between the art of communication and the science of agriculture, food and nutrition.

My main task was to facilitate a TOT workshop with Peace Corps Volunteers and local volunteer counterparts from their community on how to use behavioral change communications (BCC) to help households make their agricultural investments more nutrition-sensitive (NSA) as well as more specific in order to close their identified dietary gaps.

The challenge I faced was clear in the preparation stage. Unlike some other African countries, there is little written about Guinea, especially its agriculture and nutrition situation, and this made designing a quality program even more tricky as the trainees were not experienced outreach professionals in either agriculture, nutrition or behavioral change communications.  Moreover, for most of the local participants, this was their very first experience attending a workshop so far from home. These many challenges resulted in multiple emails with draft documents going back and forth between me and the Peace Corps staff (host) as well as with Winrock/ Guinea staff.

After arriving in Guinea and holding initial briefings with F2F Winrock and Peace Corps management staff in Conakry, I proceeded with 12 people in a single-vehicle for 125 miles — an 8-hour drive — to Mamou. The road, if one could call it that, was certainly one for the record books. I nicknamed it the “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” road adventure.

The venue for the workshop was Guinea’s forestry center, Ecole Nationale des Agents Techniques des Eaux et Forets (ENATEF), just outside of Mamou City. The site was wonderful as the center was surrounded by forest with all its diverse vegetation and sounds. Its magnificent diversity served as a living laboratory for the practicum exercises.

One of the big workshop communication challenges faced right off the bat was the need to work in five languages at the same time: English, French, Malinke, Pulaar and Soussou.  Fortunately, we had with us Peace Corps staff who spoke at least one of the three local languages. Having worked in similar multiple language situations throughout my career, the workshop was designed from the start to have lots of small group work so that the participants could carry on in their language group, thus reducing the time needed for multiple translations.

Since the term “Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture” is still evolving within the global community of practice, the group decided to operationalize NSA according to their local situation. They essentially agreed that it meant practical actions that could be taken throughout a crop’s cycle to enhance and or preserve the nutrient quality of that crop.

As the workshop took shape, a distinct trend was emerging.  Some Peace Corps Volunteers were keen to learn about the technical aspects of growing certain crops, especially the ones they were introducing to their community as part of their 2-year assignment: orange-fleshed sweet potato and moringa, while their Guinean counterparts seemed more interested in exploring effective way to communicate specific behavioral changes that need to be made so that home food systems are nutrient- and nutrition-sensitive.

It became clear that while technical improvements and solutions were identified by the group for improving crop production and post-production as well as dietary intake issues, culture seems to trump every technical subject — hence the importance of identifying strategic BCC messages for each issue.

Through group discussions, a few Peace Corps Volunteers began to understand that in order to have a few “quick wins” and build credibility with their community during their two-year assignment, they should look at ways to enhance post-harvest through improvements in existing practices. Their emphasis on the introduction and acceptance of new crops by subsistence households, while important, takes longer than their assignment time.

There were four key themes that came up continuously:

• Start with what households were doing right with their food system. The good news is that households already grow a wide variety of crops consisting of a large diversity of calorie- and nutrient-dense crops and their main meal is complete as it consists of a starch (usually rice) with a sauce (oil, legume and a dark green leafy vegetable). One of the key challenges mentioned by the participants was not so much technical issues but their cultural traditions around who eats what and in what order.
• Identify gaps in their cropping system, usually more vegetable protein (peas, beans, legumes) and in their household meals, especially for the most at risk nutritionally (mothers and young children)
• Identify local solutions based on existing knowledge, skills and resources. If it is not available at the local market, forget it as a “solution.”
• Identify a range of locally acceptable behavioral change methods that a household can do with minimal disruption to their existing food consumption pattern.

By the end of the five-day exercise, the workshop participants had designed their own location-specific illustrated communication materials for use with their community as well as a clear roadmap of activities for closing dietary gaps from existing crops. Clearly, they valued the experiential learning approach and could see that their malnutrition issues were solvable by tweaking the use of the resources they have now.

A bonus from the training was the Peace Corps staff indicated that their own capacity had been built as a result of this exercise, especially regarding behavioral change messaging. One long term outcome of this assignment is that the Peace Corps staff will be presenting this NSA/BCC workshop to its Peace Corps Volunteers going forward.

In sum, it was my pleasure to work with this group of volunteers who live in hardship conditions and yet showed so much dedicated to finding solutions together.

To read about a Peace Corps Volunteers experience you can go here:

https://winrock.org/volunteer_blog/voices-from-the-field/

We were fortunate to spend two weeks in Nepal working with Professor Binayak Rajbhandri and HICAST University, helping them to enhance their Masters in Agribusiness curriculum that will help develop entrepreneurship skills in their students.  We were both drawn to the program due to our collective experiences in entrepreneurship, higher education, and agribusiness.  Over the two weeks, we met with HICAST students, faculty, and staff as well as local business leaders to discover the gaps in the current curriculum and make recommendations on new courses and content that would help to develop a spirit of entrepreneurship within the institution and student body.

Kate and Frieda consulting with HICAST Agri-business students

Through the assistance of Winrock staff, Chhan Bhattachan and Dr. Vrigu Duwadi, we were able to speak with several students within the program to hear their opinions and discover ways they thought the program could be more applicable to the real-world business environment and not solely on theory delivered via textbook and lecture.  Since most students work full time and appreciate the idea of applied learning their feedback was helpful in understanding the gaps in the current curriculum.

Kate and Frieda final presentation to HICAST senior team

We were also lucky to meet with members of Kathmandu’s agribusiness community to better understand the knowledge and skills students traditionally lack when entering the workforce.  Business owners believe that graduates lack real-world experience and struggle to convert the theories they learn in school to the applications needed in the workplace. They want to see graduates come out with more real-world experience and applicable knowledge.

Kate and Frieda with Dr. Binayak in assignment planning meeting

Lastly, we met with several members of the HICAST faculty to comprehend the courses they taught as well as the delivery method of the content.  We learned that faculty in Nepal universities are not full time, rather they work in full-time jobs and often teach classes on the side.  As a result, they rarely have time to make curriculum changes, spend time on paperwork or facilitate educational opportunities outside the classroom.  These time constraints pose a considerable barrier to implementing a more robust curriculum dependent on experiential learning, which we deemed necessary to create a more entrepreneurial system.

We presented our findings to the HICAST leadership during a lively discussion. We acknowledged that some of our recommendations could be implemented immediately and that some would involve a much “bigger lift”, including cultural change and a new way of doing things throughout the institution. On the more immediate side, we recommended focusing on class discussion, using real-world case studies, and including current technology in the classroom. We also suggested including course content such as leadership, creativity, value chain analysis and a regional business environment class.  All of which would help to develop the critical thinking skills that are necessary for an entrepreneur. On the longer-term side, we recommended the creation of two applied to learn courses, one that would involve students creating and running their own businesses and one that would involve students solving real business issues for real clients.

Dr. Binayak (middle of Kate and Frieda) in group picture with HICAST team

Since Nepal is a relatively risk adverse country when it comes to business, we hope that our recommendations can help students become more comfortable with risk and consider starting their own businesses.  At the center of economic development in any country is the development of new business which creates jobs and in turn puts more money back into the local economy. For the right individual, Nepal has a lot of entrepreneurial opportunity within the agribusiness industry.  We hope that our recommendations can help HICAST develop a curriculum that gives students the skills and confidence to create their own business which will contribute to the development of Nepal’s economy.

Julie Albrecht was nominated by the Senegal Farmer to Farmer team because of her dedication to knowledge sharing and ability to adapt to local conditions. During her training, she was able to put the participants at ease and engage them with hands-on training. In addition, Julie also demonstrates great creativity in using local equipment and ingredients to come up with products that the women’s group likes.

Country Director, Mama Ndeye, said: “Julie is spending retirement sharing her years of experience and accumulated knowledge with the needy ones in our country to open ways for better lives.” Julie has worked with 2 groups of women (COFLEC and AMIDEF), teaching them how to preserve fruit and vegetable. The COFLEC group sold their products at an annual agriculture fair in Dakar demonstrating Julie’s training has helped them build their capacity and opportunity for income-generating activities. 

We asked Julie to reflect on her volunteer experiences. Read on to see what she had to say! 

Why did you want to volunteer?

I enjoyed my first volunteer experience in Senegal and I thought the new assignment would be just as rewarding. To me, volunteering helps me use my expertise to help others make a difference in their lives.

What was the highlight of your most recent volunteer assignment abroad?

I was able to meet the organization COEFLEC – that I worked with in 2016 and provide them with additional training. The new group – AMIDEF was very receptive to the training also.  I enjoyed making a picture recipe book of the food processes that we did during the training.

What made your Winrock volunteer trip distinctive?

I enjoy working with the Winrock Staff in Senegal. They are very helpful and select organizations that use the training to help improve the standard of living of women in Senegal.

How does your experience affect your worldview?

I have been to many countries throughout the world. For Africa, Senegal has a stable government which helps organizations such as Winrock International be effective in providing educational programs that are put to use (practice) by the organizations who receive the training.

What advice would you give a new volunteer?

Ndeye Mama Toure, the country director, is great to work with. She provides volunteers with the information needed to deliver a successful program.

Why should people consider volunteering?

These volunteer assignments are examples of citizen diplomacy. For world peace to occur, people to people (not government officials) need to happen to gain an understanding of our similarities and differences (of which there are not many).

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

Sometimes they worry about my safety. I feel that Winrock International is great to work with and assures me of my safety.

What do you do when you’re not volunteering?

I am a professor emerita at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and these experiences help me use my expertise.  I am retired and enjoying it!

Does anyone in your life play a role in supporting your involvement? In providing inspiration?

I wanted to volunteer for the Peace Corps ages ago and these short-term experiences help me fulfill my “Peace Corps” one assignment at a time!

What keeps you going back to volunteer?

The positive experiences!

In May of 2018, I was very fortunate to be selected by Winrock International to lead a GIS and GPS workshop in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.  Below are excerpts from my journal I kept during the two weeks I was in-country:

Flying into Conakry

I flew into hot and steamy Conakry, the capital of Guinea, located on the Atlantic coast, and about 1000km (660miles) north of the equator.  Almost 2 million people live in Conakry, which is located on a peninsula, and there are apparently only a couple main highways so the traffic is unbelievable.  I only saw a few traffic lights – cars, motorcycles, and scooters navigate by constantly changing lanes, zipping in and out, cutting off other drivers, nearly continuously honking their horns.  There seems to be no limit as to how many people a moving vehicle can carry.  Cars and vans are packed full, usually with people standing on the back bumper or riding on top, casually holding on while they speed along, even at high speeds.  I saw as many as 5 adults on a single motorcycle, and many times I saw two women and their children taking a single motorcycle taxi.

The first day I have orientation at the Winrock Headquarters.  Everyone is very cordial and smiles kindly at my awkward, slow French (the national language).  Winrock staff spend time with me so that I am comfortable with what to expect for accommodations and cultural norms.  We had something like yogurt mixed with ground corn for lunch.  Add sugar to taste – it was quite good – then we had out of this world fresh pineapple.

Bailo, F2F Guinea’s driver

My assignment location is actually in the city of Mamou, about 250km inland from Conakry.  Winrock has provided a driver, Baillo, and a second escort, Souleymane.  Both are warm, wonderful people, who help me with my French and patiently answer my constant questions with smiles, and sometimes amusement.  I am very lucky to be accompanied by two fun, fabulous people.  (In retrospect, I cannot say enough about these two great guys.  Back in the States, I do miss them and their warm smiles and easy laughter).

Alpha Souleymane Balde, F2F Guinea’s Logistician

The only road to Mamou is a bit crowded with very slow moving, large trucks, and no real traffic rules or speed limits.  So we had an exciting ride and I took pictures of the landscape.  Parts of the drive showed me quite beautiful vistas, large trees (including huge mango trees), as we climbed in elevation.  Other areas were clear-cut of all trees and showed nothing but tree stumps and very little vegetation.  We also passed through villages and many dozens of people selling goods along the busy road.  Sheep, goats, cattle, and chickens roam freely along the roadside and in the towns.  Apparently, there are virtually no natural predators, and I think probably very little wildlife at all, in this part of Guinea.

The next day Baillo, Souley, and I head out to the forestry school, Ecole Nationale des Agents Techniques des Eaux et Forets (ENATEF).  I met my highly skilled and experienced interpreter, Damba -who helped me in so many ways besides simply translating my English into French.  Besides explaining Guinean culture and customs, Damba provided many useful suggestions throughout the workshop, as well as encouragement and always maintaining his sense of humor even after a long day in a hot classroom.  He was wonderful.

Teaching the class how to increase accuracy in GIS and GPS

ENATEF has a small campus surrounded by large trees, many of which were flowering or heavy with guava or mangos.  There are also many more birds than I had seen or heard anywhere else. One I think is a sunbird – a beautiful bright blue-green active individual drinking nectar from flowers, and another I later identified as a pied crow.  There are several buildings with classrooms and offices, a nursery with native plants, and houses (where I assume some staff lives with their families).

There were almost 20 workshop participants – students, instructors, and technicians.  The school wanted to train staff so that they, in turn, could train others and incorporate GIS and GPS into their classrooms.  (I have now learned that this Training of Trainers, or TOT, is a common, very efficient and successful strategy used by Winrock).

This first day of training passed in a blur.  Lots of time taken for introductions, speeches by the school and regional directors.  I could immediately tell that the participants are very, very serious about learning.  The participants set some ground rules, such as turning off cell phones – and people were teased good-naturedly the few times that a cell phone did go off.  Eventually, we launched into the actual workshop.  It was a bit chaotic because of the different languages, but we managed and had a few good laughs at the literal vs. figurative translations between English and French.

On the second day, the participants were given a GPS (lent by another organization) to use and they were like little kids with brand new toys – impatient and excited to get outside and start collecting GPS data.  Finally, they were allowed to go outside and collect data, then came back to download and process.

The other days passed quickly.  By the last day of the workshop, most of the students were no longer shy around me and there were lots of smiles and easy conversation.  The regional director of schools and the director of ENATEF both gave speeches and then we all handed out certificates of completion.  “Merci” was probably said 1000 times in just a few hours.  Each student wanted a picture with both directors and me (I was really quite honored).  The school wanted to give me a gift and requested that I choose something from a local vendor who would often sell his wares in the school parking lot.  I returned to my hotel with two beautiful clothes made in Guinea, completely overwhelmed and touched by the kindness and generosity of my gift from the school.

Then the next day it is back to Conakry, to complete a final report.  Also trying hard to find something uniquely “Guinean” for gifts, but at the markets, local products are almost entirely fruit (bananas, pineapple, mango, avocado), meat, or fresh-baked, delicious bread (my breakfast each day).  Most of the manufactured items in the markets are made in China.  Eventually, Souley triumphed and helped me locate a couple of gifts.  (My young nephews went crazy when I gave them football outfits that say “Guinean football”).  On Sunday I have to say goodbye to my new friends, Souley and Baillo, and then I fly back to the States.

This trip was a wonderful experience for me – besides learning a lot, it was so satisfying and fulfilling, and just a whole lot of fun.  I always smile when I think of Souley and Baillo and the people at ENATEF.  I hope I will have more opportunities like this, in the future.

Family Photo with the students of Ecole Nationale des Agents Techniques des Eaux et Forets (ENATEF)

At the request of Samaru College of Agriculture, Nigeria Jolene spent 17 days in Zaria Kaduna State assisting the college developing training and training materials for integrated pest management and pesticide safety. She also helped them develop a curriculum for a certification class that the host will offer its students. 

My second Winrock assignment to Zaria, Nigeria to work with the Samaru College of Agriculture in pesticide safety and integrated pest management was as eventful as my first with the bonus of working with the same wonderful staff as before. I felt like I made friends during my first visit and it was nice to catch up, update each other on the past few months, discuss families and home life, and of course how the projects were going. My second assignment built upon my first and I used it as a chance to evaluate the progress that was made and provide some valuable feedback. I am impressed by their willingness to learn from us, volunteers. While it can be challenging to adapt certain first-world practices to their environment, the participants are always seeking better solutions and are willing to adjust practices. Sadly, some of the efforts are stalled by lack of infrastructure, goods, and resources, and manpower. Nonetheless, the participants view new knowledge as an opportunity to set new standards and find solutions. Pest management and pesticide use, which are worldwide problems, is an ongoing discussion. I have found that while there can be some unique environments, they face the same challenges as other countries and they are just as concerned about human and livestock health, environmental impacts, and sustainable farming practices. I was impressed with the amount of information they retained from my last visit and we were able to continue some of the large conversations we had last time. I feel their increased knowledge is being put to good use and they will continue to grow. My time with them has also given me a new perspective on pesticide education in my own community as well an introspective evaluation of my own life. Having worked with farmers that have so little, I can better understand how to work with limited resources in my own community, how to find solutions in strained situations, and how to guide people to protect themselves with limited support. I feel an increase in energy, creativeness, ingenuity, and determination to solve challenging issues that benefit my family and community. For that, I am very thankful. 

Jolene in discussion with faculty of Samaru College of Agriculture