A few of Winrock’s home office staff traveled to Mali to work with our Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) staff for a week. It is always nice to spend time face-to-face and to see first-hand how our programs are progressing and making an impact in country. We asked our field staff to reflect on their jobs and their experiences working with American volunteers. Their responses were thoughtful and are good examples of the field team’s spirit and dedication.

With a big smile, Bara, the Farmer-to-Farmer Mali Country Director, exclaims, “Each assignment is a new adventure! The volunteers are very kind and very courageous. In their kindness is a real committment to help and learn, not only to just provide information. All of the volunteers are very skilled. All of the field staff learn a lot by accompanying the volunteers. It’s so exciting!”

 

 

“Since I have been here, I have met volunteers who are very kind. If a volunteer needs something, they ask me, and I do it. I like my job!” –Aminata Ouattara, office secretary

Bourama, F2F Training & Outreach Coordinator, says “My job is important because it contributes to the economic development of my own country. I enjoy working with American volunteers because working with them allows me to better understand the American culture and people. It has helped me understand that Americans are all professionals, very focused, disciplined, and willing to help.”

“It’s like this program was designed for me. First, it’s helping me to meet my dream of working with farmers, which reminds me of when I was a child working in the field with my parents. I am now able to analyze why our productivity was low. Working with volunteers helps me because this is my first work experience. This is a huge foundation for me.” –Alfousseni Sidibe, Program Assistant

 

 

Winrock’s accountant and gender coordinator, Lala, explains, “Since being at Winrock, I have met wonderful people. I am really happy to work with the volunteers. It’s like a family for me. The nice moments are when we share lunch with the volunteers. It’s really fantastic!” –Lala, accountant and gender coordinator

Today is October 16, World Food Day. A reminder for each of us to consider the daunting task of making sure that the world’s 7 billion men, women, and children can eat. On this day in particular, we ask ourselves, “how can I make a difference?” One answer is to volunteer.

Over the last 21 years, Winrock’s volunteers have impacted 8.2 million individuals in 56 countries around the world, contributing to the global effort to increase availability, access, and quality of food. We are proud to see how these efforts are making a difference.

In Kenya, volunteers worked with several different women’s poultry groups that were struggling to maintain healthy, disease-free chicken flocks. For example, members of the Kyemole Poultry Keepers Group received training on biosecurity and safe poultry production, as well as assistance with improved feed, financing, and linkages with buyers. As a result, members have increased their income and, in turn, improved household food security. One member, Alice Pius Makau, proudly states, “I am not afraid of my children sleeping hungry anymore, because I have enough food for them, all of the time. The money I get from chicken sales helps me to buy the food that I do not grow on the farm. I also have a constant supply of meat and eggs for my family’s protein nutrition.”

In El Salvador, volunteer Alejandro Segarra-Carmona (right) shows local farmers how to apply sustainable pest control techniques to their crops. Segarra-Carmona came here to provide good agricultural practice training, integrated pest management and quality standards. Trainees will apply these techniques to increase production and improve quality.

In Mali, volunteer Poul Hansen worked with the Women’s Local Milk Stockist Cooperative in Oulessebougou to help ensure that many more Malian families had access to quality milk. At the end of the training session, the president of the Cooperative proclaimed, “This is what we’ve been talking about – some new ideas to make a difference! Now the nutrition and health status of our children in need will change for the better, as will the income of women processors.”

In Bangladesh, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers have trained women farmers on improved vegetable production techniques. As a result, women (like the woman pictured) have been able to successfully grow bitter gourds and vegetables in fallow lands. Their families have reaped the benefits of improved nutrition and increased income.

In Nepal, volunteer Howard Prussack trained low-income vegetable producers to improve vegetable production and processing. Mrs. Sharada Sharma, an agro-vet owner and farmer who participated in Howard’s trainings, stated, “These [techniques] look so simple and we can do it easily, but we didn’t do it before. This training is eye opening for me and many other rural women producers.”

These efforts -and many others- have helped our beneficiaries increase sales by $52 million and increase income by over $9 million (combined).

This is tremendous impact, though there is still more work to be done. Check out Winrock’s website , if you want to be a part of the effort to help increase food security around the world!

Mark Sieffert from Winrock’s agriculture unit recently traveled to Nepal to visit Winrock agriculture programs. During his trip, he also met staff and hosts that have worked with Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers. Below, he shares his first impressions of the Farmer-to-Farmer program and how it has worked in Nepal:

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When American experts decide to volunteer with Farmer-to-Farmer, they need to know that they will be taken care of in an unfamiliar nation. Knowing that everyday details have been taken care of, a volunteer can quickly acclimate and get to work.

In Nepal, Winrock has a small, but dedicated and highly experienced team committed to supporting a volunteer before, during, and after his or her placement so that the volunteer can focus on the most important aspects of the visit: imparting as much information as possible to project beneficiaries.

Winrock employees Amar Thing and Ajaya Bajracharya lead the effort to welcome volunteers and coordinate their efforts. They understand the challenges of traveling in Nepal’s many remote agricultural areas with visiting foreign guests. Just as important, both are seasoned agricultural professionals who possess the broad range of technological abilities needed to translate instruction in a way that local learners will understand. Both are fluent in English, Nepali, and a handful of other local languages.

Ajaya (Second from Right)

When the volunteer touches down, the details, including lodging, food, itinerary, and contacts have been taken care of. The volunteer can immediately get down to work. (That’s not to say complications don’t emerge. But when they do, Amar and Ajaya have the experience to nimbly respond.) At the close of the volunteer’s engagement, Amar and Ajaya help him or her prepare an end of assignment report. Not only does this document justify the resources USAID has spent on the placement, it also recommends metrics to evaluate outcomes and suggests areas for future work. The Winrock-Nepal team always incorporates volunteer placements in larger projects underway throughout the country.

While the welcome extended to volunteers is a natural extension of Nepali hospitality, Amar and Ajaya pay special attention to make their guests feel at ease. In part, they do so because of the tremendous value they see in volunteer placements for the projects they work on. For Amar, the impacts on local people are almost always immediately apparent. Referring to agro-entrepreneurs trained by visiting Americans: “One thing I can assure you: all these people trained by Americans have been able to increase their prestige, their clients, and their incomes. Their confidence grows, now that they have been trained by an international expert.”

Amar in the field with a volunteer and trainees

According to Ajaya, “When an American expert provides training, it adds prestige. The beneficiaries listen very carefully because they know that these new practices are [of] an international standard.”

Because of the unquestioned value added by volunteers, Amar and Ajaya do all they can to keep a stream of American volunteers coming to Nepal by supporting those volunteers from the moment they set foot in Kathmandu.

A suite at the Marriott and drive-thru hamburgers may not be in the cards for a Winrock Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer in Nepal, but a visiting American couldn’t ask to be in better hands.