I have always enjoyed travel shows, and food shows, and especially travel shows about food. Watching Anthony Bourdain eating his way around the likes of Vietnam in No Reservations, I’d often think how I too would love to host a travel food show. But I am a Vietnamese–Filipino woman. Naturally, I look nothing like Anthony Bourdain. How could the food establishment ever let a face like mine speak about my own people’s cuisine to the American masses? my younger self would wonder. It’s in response to questions like these that I have felt the most conviction about entering spaces that were never made for me and claiming them for myself. I have perhaps found fertile ground to plant a flag for people of color in an unlikely place: an American government program.

Since 1985, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Farmer-to-Farmer Program has mobilized over 20,000 volunteers to help farmers and agribusiness professionals in developing countries improve their livelihoods and food security. American volunteers offer technical assistance along the entire agricultural value chain, from crop production to marketing and business development skills. Many of their beneficiaries are people of color, receiving training intended to help improve their livelihoods and food security. However, despite the program’s intentions to promote cultural exchange and represent the broad range of expertise that the U.S.’ diverse population can provide, less than 20% of volunteers have been people of color themselves.

Noting this gap in representation, USAID has partnered with Winrock International, a Farmer-to-Farmer implementer, to increase diversity and inclusion among its volunteers. More than a numbers game, the Farmer-to-Farmer DEI Initiative is focused on lessons learned, investigating what changes need to be made to attract and ensure the success of volunteers of color.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, in early attempts to bring on more people of color, Winrock recruiters have encountered a recurring question from would-be volunteers and institutional partners: “You haven’t sought our expertise up to this point, so why should we help you now?” And what a reasonable question, I thought, as a woman of color myself, starkly aware of how people of color have been excluded from government-funded programs, with farmers of color in particular having been denied support in times of need.

As a Winrock staff member searching for these answers, I have had the privilege of speaking with Winrock’s Volunteer Champions, a cohort of veteran volunteers committed to mentoring new volunteers of color. With their wisdom fresh in my mind, I encourage potential volunteers to think about the benefits our participation might bring to us, rather than the proverbial diversity checkbox.

For some, like Felicia Bell, a farmer from Brandon, Mississippi and Maurice Dawson, a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, volunteering with Farmer-to-Farmer is a way to connect with their ancestral lands and give back to their forebears. Dawson explains that many people of color in the United States have never had a chance to visit the places where their families come from. He encourages his students to take advantage of Farmer-to-Farmer as an expenses-paid opportunity to not only visit, but also give back to a place where the people look just like them. During his own volunteer assignments across West Africa, Dawson describes, “It was like being welcomed home.”

For others, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer assignments are at once an opportunity for people of color to feel appreciated for what we bring to the table, and to claim a space for ourselves––to say, here too, we belong. Winrock’s former Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Anjali Patel, explained the difference between diversity and inclusion as “being invited to the party” and “being asked to dance.” The opportunity to volunteer with Farmer-to-Farmer may at last represent professionals of color being asked to dance, and being deservedly thanked for the expertise, skill, passion, and grace with which they do so. In the words of Neelam Canto-Lugo, a professor at Yuba College, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer assignments are a space “to feel included in the American fabric.”

It should go without saying that people of color have much to offer, but I know from experience that so often it can feel for people of color as though our skills are not wanted, that we are not valued. With Farmer-to-Farmer, the hosts who receive volunteers prove otherwise time and time again. Many of the Volunteer Champions note the gratitude with which their knowledge is greeted by those who participate in their training sessions. Having had a real impact on their lives, these participants show in their outright expressions of thanks and in how they implement what they have learned, how much they appreciate what volunteers have done. People of color here in the U.S. have so much to give, and it’s high time that USAID and its implementing partners make their recognition of this fact deeply felt, because Farmer-to-Farmer hosts––people of color around the world––already have.

Investing in women’s leadership means prioritizing and centering women’s perspectives and their lived experiences of the kinds of gender bias and discrimination that drive exploitation. Women’s perspectives and profound personal knowledge of such gendered power structures are the keys to fully understanding vulnerability, preventing exploitation, and advancing sustainable change. Even more importantly, we need to promote diverse forms of leadership of women who can authentically speak with and for those most directly affected. We asked several women from across Winrock to answer in their own words why they think women’s leadership is essential in their respective areas of expertise.

Every year in March, we celebrate women, their achievements, and their tremendous contributions to our society, and what better way to celebrate than by highlighting a woman who is making a significant impact in her field? Mina H. Lassey, Winrock International’s Farmer-to-Farmer Country Director, is one such woman dedicated to empowering women in the agricultural sector in Ghana. Mina Lassey boasts over two decades of experience in the development sector, with a particular focus on managing projects to improve the lives of individuals and communities. She has held various roles during her career, including serving as the F2F Program Manager for nine years. Mina’s expertise lies in project management, monitoring and evaluation, agribusiness, and natural resource management, which she has leveraged to implement impactful development projects. Presently, Mina is the Country Director of The Farmer to Farmer Program in Ghana, where she continues to make significant contributions towards empowering local communities and promoting sustainable development.

According to studies, 62% of economically active women in Africa work in agriculture as producers, traders, and processors. Unfortunately, despite their high representation in the sector, rural women still lag behind men in terms of productivity and earnings. Mina recognized this problem and has worked tirelessly to empower women to thrive in the agricultural sector. Mina leads the West Africa F2F Country Project, which supports post-harvest, predominantly female-dominated areas. Through this project, Mina aims to empower women-owned agribusinesses with technical support, business training, and access to high-value markets and resources. She believes empowering these women will transform Ghana’s agricultural sector’s productivity and prosperity.

Mina’s work has already yielded positive results. For example, Meannan Foods, a woman-led agribusiness, received an award for being the best agribusiness in which the owners are under 40 years old. The F2F project provided support in online marketing skills to help increase sales and access international markets. Another success story is Hendy Farms, another woman-led agribusiness that received support from F2F to build a processing facility and diversify its product lines. Hendy Farms was also awarded during a Hortifresh Fair for having the best-packaged products.
These organizations are a testament to the power of women’s leadership in the agricultural sector. With the proper support, women-led businesses can thrive, impacting their livelihoods and the agricultural sector as a whole. Mina’s work gives us hope for the future and inspires us to support women’s leadership in our respective fields. Mina’s dedication to empowering women in the agricultural sector exemplifies what can be achieved when women are given the support they need to succeed. Her work inspires us all, and we can learn from her example to empower more women in our communities and fields of work.

What was the best part about contributing to Farmer-to-Farmer as a national volunteer in your country/region?

The best part was to have played my part in moving the beekeeping industry forward despite Covid 19 which made it impossible for the international volunteer to be on ground.

What was the best part about working with a remote US based volunteer?

The best part was that I had the chances of combining my training experience on African methodology and that of the volunteer synergy for delivering a better package for the farmers purposes

What did you learn/were there any cultural exchanges with the US volunteer and/or your host?

Despite the fact that am a Northern Nigerian and having the same dialect with the host — We have different cultures most especially in the having different  names of equipment and language gestures that made me understood what approaches were needed in making impacts during the training.

What lasting impact did volunteering with Winrock have on you?

The lasting impact is that working as a Winrock International volunteer has raised my status from National to International which is presently boosting my activities with large scale farmers. An example was that immediately after the training , I was called to evaluate the beekeeping activities of former President Abdulsalam Abubakar.

Bangladesh Field Team reflects on the successful impacts F2F has had on the Bangladesh Association for Social Advancement (BASA).

“F2F assistance helped with specialty knowledge related to beekeeping including honey, pollen and royal jelly production. It has been immensely beneficial. The benefits continue as the trained people have trained others.” – AKM Shirajul Islam, Executive Director

Pollen production can be an excellent opportunity for the beekeepers of Bangladesh to maximize profitability and obtain sustainability, however, given the lack of knowledge and skills to produce high-value bee-products including, high-quality honey, the potential benefit of beekeeping as a business has not realized.

Currently, Bangladeshi beekeepers are extracting only honey and wax from their beehives, whereas they can easily collect other high-value bee-products, like pollen. Pollen is an important high-value bee-product for its nutritional and medicinal benefit to human health and more importantly, for its use as nutritious bee feed. Bees feed on honey and pollen during the flowering seasons of nectar-bearing plants, usually eight months out of the year in Bangladesh.  The beekeepers suffer high costs to feed their bees in the flowering offseason. In that period, they use sugar syrup and pollen substitute, which do not provide good nourishment for their bees. As a result, the beekeepers lose a significant number of bees, ultimately affecting their honey production and profitability. When the bees collect nectar from flowers, they bring along pollen trapped on their legs which they use inside the hives to make their food. Pollen can be collected easily using traps at the entrance of beehives. Collection of these pollen grains using a pollen trap can help the beekeepers gain additional benefits from beekeeping which will lead to better sustainability for their business. Beekeepers can use a portion of the collected pollen to feed the bees in the offseason and sell the rest to earn additional income.

Having worked a long time to improve beekeeping and organize beekeepers in order to develop a strong apiary industry, the NGO, Bangladesh Association for Social Advancement (BASA), realized the potential of collecting and processing pollen to help strengthen beekeeping as a profitable business. As part of this initiative, and with the funding support of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), BASA worked with the Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteer, Michael Embrey, to train 64 BASA staff and their beneficiary beekeepers on the potential, collection and processing of pollen, making pollen traps, and the different uses of pollen. The volunteer brought three different types of pollen trap as samples from the US for demonstration and helped design and build pollen traps applicable for local beehives utilizing local materials and expertise. During the training, the volunteer demonstrated how to collect pollen using a locally made trap and how to process the collected pollen. In addition, the volunteer conducted training on the improved beekeeping, marketing and partnership development for enhancing beekeeping in Bangladesh.

After the F2F training, BASA built 118 pollen traps and distributed them among 118 beekeepers. BASA staff helped the beekeepers install the traps in their beehives and demonstrated the techniques of collection and processing pollen using F2F training information. Because of the endeavor, the beekeepers were able to collect 98 Kg pollen in the recent mustard flowering season from December 2017 to February 2018. The production level ranged from 0.65 to 1.5 Kg per beekeeper. This type of pollen production success is a first for the beekeepers in Bangladesh.  With this success, the beekeepers are relieved from having to pay to feed their bees in the offseason and they are planning to expand their facility of pollen collection as well as explore access to local and export markets with the assistance of BASA in the next season. Mr. Jagadish Chandra Saha, an experienced Beekeeping Expert in the country and Consultant at BASA stated, “Based on F2F training we provided pollen traps and technical support to our beneficiary beekeepers and have had tremendous results from them in producing pollen. We hope to disseminate these techniques to a wider section of beekeepers. We’re confident that this will add a new dimension and help flourish the beekeeping industry in Bangladesh.”

According to Mr. Rezaul Karim, Value Chain Facilitator, BASA, the beekeepers who observed or heard about this success are very excited to install pollen traps in their beehives to collect pollen. BASA is planning to disseminate F2F volunteer techniques of pollen production to their 314 beneficiary beekeepers with special emphasis on young men and women in collaboration with PKSF, two other beekeepers welfare associations: Bangladesh Beekeepers Foundation and Mouchashi Kallyan Samities. Meanwhile, the Government of Bangladesh has emphasized to the Department of Agriculture Extension the desire to introduce beekeeping all over the country in order to increase oilseed production through bee pollination, as well as increase honey production to help increase food security. In this current context, the noble initiative of BASA is expected to expand beekeeping as a profitable and sustainable business and help create entrepreneurial opportunities for young, unemployed, rural men and women.

Osun State in southwestern Nigeria is lush, its rolling hills clad in low forests, cacao stands, and fields of corn, yam, pepper and cassava. Oil palms dot the landscape, and the bright reddish oil extracted from the palm’s pulp can be bought at any roadside stand. It also happens to be a great area for raising bees, which is why I was there.

For 10 days in late June, I worked with faculty from Osun State Polytechnic (OSPoly) and community members from the nearby town of Iree as a volunteer for the USAID John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program. OSPoly is in the opening stages of establishing an agriculture program, so I came to teach a short beekeeping course, establish an apiary and help the staff develop a curriculum.

We learned about bee behavior and hive management, practiced rendering wax and making secondary hive products, built a smoker, stalked bees and talked honey.

It was wonderful to share my passion for bees and beekeeping with such an interested and excited group of staff, students and community members. And the assistance and friendship of Winrock International’s Nigeria staff made the trip a true pleasure. I look forward to keeping in touch with the staff at OSPoly as they continue to get their beekeeping program up and running.