In May 2022, volunteer Daniel Lavin was Winrock’s first volunteer to travel from the US to West Africa for the Farmer-to-Farmer program in over 2 years. Dan traveled to Senegal to assist the Fass Jom Association in Financial Farm Management. He, along with country staff, trained a group of mostly women on managing their farming practices so they could take part in the development of their community and improve living conditions. Fass Jom Association’s goal is to establish a modern micro-enterprise capable of generating sufficient income and creating sustainable and economically profitable activities for its members.

Why did you want to volunteer?

For the last few decades, my focus has been on my children and my work.  My kids have moved on and my work requires much less time.  I continually recall memories of my service in the Peace Corps and wished there was a way to get involved with international development.  When I learned about Farmer-to-Farmer and specifically saw that their mission was to teach, I knew I had to get involved.  I’ve been working independently in Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Kenya, but hoped to find organizations that had greater reach to other countries and connections to communities seeking to empower themselves.  In the United States, even big “efforts” seem to have little effect.  When serving with Farmer 2 Farmer, even small “efforts” seem to have a big effect.   The appreciation from the host organizations, from the in-country staff, and from all those I come in contact with feeds the soul.

What was the highlight of being back in the field?

One big highlight from my experience in Senegal was a response from one of the students, a Muslim woman who surprised even herself.  Our focus was on teaching financial literacy, giving the students a chance to learn how to analyze business concepts and make educated decisions to improve profitability.  This woman returned to the training with a “spring in her step,” anxious to update the others.  She had returned home to educate her husband on the concepts of tracking revenue, identifying labor and material costs, comparing financial models, and creating a budget.  Even though he ran the family business, they both realized that her new skills would serve them both and help improve their financial situation.  It wasn’t our aim to create a cultural “shift,” but the result was amazing.  The other students applauded with delight.

What advice would you give a new volunteer?

The most important skills you can bring are flexibility, respect, creativity, and humility.  The more you can encourage active participation, questions instead of answers, and the willingness to “pivot,” the more likely you are to achieve success. Don’t try and solve all problems prior to your arrival; you really need to see the issues in context and listen to the host prior to making even the most basic suggestions.

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

As I grow older, I realize how little I know, but I maintain the willingness to learn.  I believe I contribute to a shared understanding from culture to culture by having everyone become a student and a teacher.  We all have something to share, and a lot to learn.

What, if anything, has surprised you on your assignments?

The world has become very small.  In 1988 it took me 54 hours to travel to Sierra Leone.  Letters took three months to arrive, and phone calls were reserved for emergencies.  World events meant little unless you were able to hear a faint BBC broadcast.  Now, travel takes half the time.  Emails are instantaneous, pictures and videos can be shared in real-time, and news reaches even the most remote villages.  This new reality allows me to participate in amazing communities, and share events with friends and family all over the world.  When the assignment ended, friendships built are maintained.

How does your experience affect your worldview?

Americans often think that development means “how do we make the world more like us?”  That is NOT my worldview.  Everyone lives with different challenges, unique cultural approaches, and solutions that make the world interesting.  I feel fortunate that I get to witness such differences, and then share these experiences.

The Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program connects U.S.-based volunteers with our partners in developing countries to provide technical, hands-on training in communities. F2F is supported by funding through the U.S. Farm Bill which is then administered by USAID. Winrock is one of several implementing partners that sends volunteers around the world and currently works mostly in West Africa – Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal. Part of running the project successfully is having dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer recruiters. Darla, a Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteer recruiter, has placed hundreds of volunteers in countries around the world over the course of her career spanning 21 years!

Darla Emby at the beginning of her Winrock career

Darla credits learning about Winrock to a serendipitous moment when she and her husband, Jeffery, were invited to the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute which sits atop beautiful Petit Jean Mountain in Morrilton, Arkansas. At the time, Darla was completing her Bachelor of Science degree in sociology and was looking for a career in something that would give her meaning and purpose. After the visit to the Rockefeller Institute, Darla was hired as a Payroll Clerk, kickstarting her career at Winrock International.

A few months into her new job, Darla had the privilege to hear Mr. David Pearce, a long-time Winrock volunteer, share his passion for the F2F program. David told Darla about the transformational influence F2F had had on his life and those he worked with abroad. According to Darla

“David was talking about getting the [Volunteer of the Year] award, and his recollection of volunteering and what all it meant to him, how much he loved it, and by that time Jeffery had done a volunteer assignment as well… it was speaking to me… I had chills, I had tears in my eyes, and I thought – You want to matter. You want what you do to matter and not just to me, but to other people as well. It all fell into place.”

Darla then transitioned to being a F2F volunteer recruiter. Darla explained she is most inspired by F2F because of the opportunities to meet different people and facilitate volunteer assignments that help people live better lives. “Everyone deserves to have food for their family and a roof over their heads”. Darla has traveled to countries in Central Asia and West Africa where over the years Winrock has placed F2F volunteers in countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Senegal. Darla’s trips abroad to visit with the Country Directors, host organizations, and volunteers gave her a deeper understanding of her work as a volunteer recruiter which further fueled her passion for F2F. Darla shared that one of the amazing aspects of the F2F program is the “person to person connection”.

Darla in West Africa with fellow Farmer-to-Farmer colleagues

The number one trait Darla looks for in a successful volunteer is compassion and empathy. Darla enjoys crafting relationships with each volunteer and has noticed those who are respectful, adaptable, and open to other cultures have the greatest level of success. Darla explained, “I want a volunteer that knows their field, but that is the easy part. It used to be the volunteer would stay in the host’s home and in some cases, they still do. There are literally no hotels in some of these areas. So, you want someone who is going to be respectful.”

During her 21 years with F2F, Darla has experienced many changes to the volunteer recruitment and mobilization process. The greatest change has been the use of cell phones. When Darla’s husband volunteered with F2F in Turkmenistan: “He didn’t have a cell phone. He had traveled once… He literally got on the plane and a day and a half later he landed in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan…It was like someone saying, ‘jump off this cliff and we are going to catch you before you hit the ground’. I didn’t hear from him for two weeks. I knew roughly when his plane got home. So, about 11 o’clock he flew in from Chicago and got off the plane [in Little Rock] and it was like, ‘what a leap of faith!’”

Now, because of cell phones, Darla can stay in more constant communication with volunteers, host organizations, and Country Directors, to more readily communicate safety information. Thinking into the future, Darla would like to see the Farm Bill and tax dollars continue to support F2F and expand volunteer support on additional Winrock projects.

In October 2021 the West Africa Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) project in Ghana was invited to present a brief statement in the Eastern Region, Koforidua; at the maiden two-day Eastern Commodity Satellite Market Fair, organized by the Regional Agricultural Department of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council on the theme: “Developing the Eastern Commodity Satellite Markets: The Role of Agro-input Dealers and Processors.” 

Country Director, Mina Lassey, gives a statement at the Eastern Commodity Satellite Market Fair

New packaging developed with help from F2F Volunteers

The Regional Agricultural Department has the mandate to foster market linkages for smallholder farmers, processors, and aggregators under the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) Program. The region adopted the development of commodity satellite markets as its main strategy to ensure that farmers have access to markets. Under this initiative, each District Agricultural Department was tasked with a responsibility to facilitate the branding and selling of at least one agricultural commodity in which they have both competitive and comparative advantage. Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers April Thompson and Molly Hamilton trained the Department of Agriculture on branding, packaging, and labeling of rice. The neatly and beautifully packed products at the fair were the results of the F2F volunteer assistance. The Country Director of the F2F project pledged their continued collaboration with the MAG secretariate and the Department of Agriculture to increase income and livelihoods of farmers, agro-processors, and support the agricultural sector in general.

Farmer-to-Farmer Ghana Country Director, Mina Lassey, helps cut the ribbon

The Eastern Regional Minister, Hon Seth Kwame Acheampong, officially opened the fair and commended the Department of Agriculture for the job well done. He also greatly commended the USAID-funded West Africa Farmer-to-Farmer Project for the support to the agricultural sector.

In January 2022, Adama Pouye from Senegal and Nancy Scott from the United States, came together to help the women of Cooperation of the Networks of Users of the Consular Agricultural Training and Transformation Unit (RUUFTAC) create new and improved products to sell in their communities. 

In Senegal, there is a market for bakery products made from local cereals and women are looking for ways to boost their incomes by offering high-quality baked products. Using the new paired model, created during the COVID pandemic to overcome the inability to travel, US volunteers are matched up with a Senegalese volunteer to jointly plan and offer training. Taking full advantage of available technology, Nancy and Adama met over Zoom and communicated via email and WhatsApp to create a training plan tailored for RUUFTAC. Together they helped teach the women of RUUFTAC new techniques to make nutritious baked products using local grains such as millet, corn, rice, and black eye peas. One of the training participants during the training said “We did not believe that pastry can be made from local cereals. Our cereals have more value than we expected.’’

Based on their information gathering with association members and her own experience in the US, Nancy adapted, tested, and proposed recipes. Together Adama and Nancy finalized recipes and planned the training. Adama then provided hands-on demonstrations for how to make corn cakes, millet madeleines, corn birthday cakes with buttercream and chocolate, peanut butter cookies, local cereal fritters, buns, croissants, and black eye pea and pumpkin bread. All of which were delicious according to Farmer-to-Farmer Country Directer, Abibou Diaw, who had the lucky job of being a taste tester for this assignment!

US volunteer joins via zoom to watch the participants try her recipes

Most of the participants have already taken some initiative to implement what they have learned. Some are making healthy children’s snacks from the recipes shared. “Adama and Nancy’s team gave us new and enriching baking techniques. We learned a lot from the local grains available. My little store in front of my house will have new products and attract more customers” Ndeye Seynabou Dieng, member of the cooperative. The goal of this training was to enable the women of RUUFTAC to earn extra income while also creating nutrious items for their community, as a bonus, buying local cereals also helps small-scale farmers in local communities. When women are empowered to use their skills and knowledge, everyone benefits. Thank you to Adama and Nancy for reaching across an ocean and working together to bring their knowledge to RUUFTAC!

National volunteer, Adama, tastes one of the new recipes developed by US volunteer Nancy and baked by a member of RUUFTAC

Today we bring you another installment of our local volunteer highlights! This Q&A is with Dr. Emmanuel Opoola, national volunteer for the Nigeria F2F project. Dr. Opoola worked with remote U.S. volunteer, Stephen Bullen, to develop a syllabus and training materials on-farm management and trained the host’s agricultural team on how to use the developed training materials to enable them to further the trainings to their beneficiary farmers.

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

As a national volunteer, I had the privilege to meet new people. I had the opportunity to connect to the host community, remote-based volunteer and broaden my support network, exposing me to people with common interests, neighborhood resources, and fun and fulfilling activities.  The best part was to have played my role in providing local cases to support the development of training modules and other materials and in visiting the host location to personally deliver training on strategic/tactical farm management planning and setting up a recording-keeping system.

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

Valuable connections and relationships were established with the remote US-based volunteer. The best part was that I had the chance of combining my training experience on-farm management and that of the US-based volunteer synergy for delivering a better package to the participants.

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

Developing new skills; discovering new passions, gaining insight about myself and the world around me. Now, I feel more comfortable stretching my wings at work after I have honed these skills in working with a remote US-based volunteer. There were cultural exchanges with the US-based volunteer in areas related to strategic analysis and comparing new enterprises.

What lasting impact did volunteering with Winrock have on you?

I have learned important skills to be used in my workplaces, such as teamwork, communication, problem-solving, project planning, task management, and organization.