April 18^th to the 24^th is National Volunteer Week in the United States which gives us all a chance to stop, reflect, and shine a light on the people and causes that inspire us to serve. As North America awakens to spring and the sense of a renewed optimism, what better time to take a moment and recognize the volunteers who share their time, talent, and treasure to build a more connected global community.

Over a year ago now, the world entered into a profoundly challenging, unforeseen, and tumultuous moment in time. The rise and eventual spread of COVID-19 across the globe profoundly impacted every nation, industry, and way of living. Many people have referred to 2020 as a “dark” or “lost” year. We cannot deny the immense struggle or burden felt by people from every walk of life. And yet, that truth only makes the efforts of Winrock’s volunteers during the past year that much more remarkable.

As airports around the world shut their doors, American volunteers did something amazing- they adapted and continued to support international communities. At Winrock International, technical expert volunteers, primarily through the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program, raised their hands and offered their effort to find a new way to help those in need. Through the use of real-time video-conferencing technology and partnerships with local experts, American volunteers put proof to the quote that “all failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.” Demonstrating a remarkable resilience and creativity in the face of difficulty, Winrock volunteers successfully blazed new pathways to connect and collaborate, directly improving the lives of thousands of individuals in rural communities across the world.

One such beneficiary, Mr. Karamo Fofana, a member of a community development group in Guinea, West Africa, noted that: Today, I am 1,000 kilometers from the capital where the Winrock training is being held, the American trainer is in the United States, his Guinean counterpart is in a room with a group in the capital, there are others are all over Guinea joining, learning, and participating; We work as if we were all together in the same room. Really, this is a first and an innovation for us. To this end, we are very grateful to Winrock Farmer-to-Farmer and the U.S. Government, which is sparing no effort to accompany us during this period of COVID19. Thanks to new technologies, we can be everywhere and work together”.

This week, we take a moment to stop and say thank you to the volunteers who brighten the world.  Despite the personal and professional setbacks, we all faced over the past year, so many have lifted their light and showed us that all challenge is really just a hidden opportunity.

Here are some of our volunteers in action over the past year. If you feel a calling to serve in a similar capacity, there are many opportunities listed at www.winrock.org/volunteer.

Its National Volunteer Week! This week we celebrate all the great work volunteers do around the world to build up communities by dedicating their skills, time and energy. We are also taking the time to look towards the future and all the great opportunities that can still be met. 

Since 1991, Winrock has fielded over 6,200 skilled professionals as volunteers on development programs in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eurasia, impacting thousands of people worldwide. Winrock continues to seek volunteers with a wide range of experience, including but not limited to:

Technical areas: agribusiness, entrepreneurship, marketing, international trade, food processing, access to credit, farming, agricultural sciences, nutrition, livestock development, natural resource management, community development, renewable energy, gender, education and training, engineering, and information communications technologies.

General capacity building: business planning, organizational development, management, finance and administration, human resource development, and fundraising.

Under our current West Africa Farmer to Farmer program the following countries have open opportunities:

Guinea

Business Planning to Secure Financing

ToT on Leadership and Organizational Development

Nigeria

AET Institutional Assessment and Action Plan Development- FCAHPT Ibadan

Building Faculty Pedagogical Skills to Effectively Deliver AET Curricula

Training-the-Trainers Workshop in Self-Assessment and Improvement for Universities

Building Capacity to Monitor and Evaluate Learner Success and Institutional Effectiveness

Senegal

Enriched Flour Production and Value-Added Flour Product Development

ToT on Soap Making with Agriculture products for ANAMO

Packaging, Labeling and Marketing of Processed Products

With many more to come over the next five years!

If you are interested in gaining new cultural experiences, sharing your expertise with an international audience and creating lifelong memories and friends please visit our website https://winrock.org/volunteer-application/ to apply.

You, too, can volunteer to make a difference.

Winrock International is known for our work across the globe and throughout the United States, but we maintain strong roots in Arkansas, where our work began.

Along with our headquarters, Winrock Initiatives like Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub are still based out of Arkansas. Our U.S. Programs division continues work in Arkansas as well like our work with Lake Village, Arkansas over the past decade, leading to community revitalization.

Winrock also ensures that our roots stay deeply planted by engaging people from across the state of Arkansas in our Volunteer Programs. We have had a multitude of Arkansas farmers and professionals volunteer, but another way we have engaged is through University Partnerships, which have included volunteers from University of Central Arkansas, University of Arkansas, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and University of Arkansas at Monticello, in addition to our 11-year partnership with University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. According to Tiffany Jacob, Director of International Programs and Outreach at the Clinton School, “Clinton School students have partnered with Winrock International on all three types of field service projects required: Practicum, International Public Service Projects, and Capstone.”

Partnerships began with Class 1 at the Clinton School with student Nancy Mancilla completing her Capstone Project with Winrock International’s Rural Energy Program in 2008. Jacob stated, “A more formal partnership between Winrock International and the Clinton School’s Office of Community Engagement began in 2016 thanks to Jen Snow, Associate Director of Agriculture & Volunteer Programs and F2F Director, and former Clinton School Assistant Director of Field Service, James Mitchell (now Senior Program Associate, Agriculture & Volunteer Programs at Winrock). Together they developed a clear process for placing students with Winrock teams in the field to complete projects. The placements are highly competitive among students and, based on student feedback, have proven to be some of the most rewarding projects academically, professionally, and personally.” Many of these projects through the formal partnership are USAID funded Farmer to Farmer Program projects.

Following are some experiences from Clinton School students in their own words:

Sara Swisher – Practicum (2017-2018)

“I was on a practicum team with three other Clinton School students (Wesley Manus, Wesley Prewett, John Mensah) at the Wallace Center at Winrock International. Our project was to create a recommendations report for how the Wallace Center can engage with community food and agriculture organizations in Arkansas. The biggest lesson I took away from the experience was learning how to work on a team. My favorite part of that project was being able to interview different organizations and learn more about Arkansas and its rich agricultural history. These takeaways helped me in my other field projects in Peru and Little Rock.”

Click here for a Clinton School Blog on this Project

Kirby Richardson – International Public Service Project (2018)

Kirby Richardson

“I was lucky enough to be accepted for a position with Winrock International as part of a project in Yangon, Myanmar. My job over the summer was to support the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team with the Value Chains for Rural Development project.”

“Something that I learned from this experience is that, while I have traveled extensively for pleasure and for study, no experience can adequately prepare you for working abroad besides the actual act of working abroad. It did not seem like it would be such a different experience from studying abroad for a semester, but it certainly is. Life moves differently within the professional context, and I suspect that that is true regardless of where you are. Interpersonal relationships matter in different ways. Communication takes on a different form, often more practical than cerebral. Consequences for mistakes can be more severe. Expectations are often higher, and time is often in much shorter supply. Add those stresses to the stress of having to engage with a new culture, a new context, and a new set of expectations; that is what it is challenging about working abroad. Luckily, the VC-RD staff are excellent mentors, and each of them taught me a great deal about the joys, and the challenges, of international work.”

After graduation from Clinton School, Kirby will be completing an additional volunteer assignment in Myanmar with VC-RD.

Wes Manus – International Public Service Project (2018)

“Working with Winrock International on USAID’s Asia Farmer-to-Farmer Program was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The geography, people, and cultures broadened my horizons and allowed me to conduct final impact surveys of Winrock’s work in Bangladesh and Nepal. The experience gave me the opportunity to interact with young entrepreneurs, farmers, and university students focused on improving the lives of women and youth to develop a new generation of leaders.”

“In Nepal, young entrepreneurs are starting new businesses and disseminating agricultural technologies. In Bangladesh, women-led initiatives are supplementing family incomes with small-scale agriculture and improving their self-determination. In both countries, agricultural universities are implementing water efficiency methods and advanced breeding techniques to reduce environmental impact and improve yields for fish farmers.”

“Winrock’s cadre of expert volunteers, with deep knowledge in everything from business development and public speaking to goat rearing and advanced breeding, are the heart of these improvements in people’s lives. In the short-term, people are able to better help themselves and improve their livelihoods. In the long-term, the literal and figurative seeds planted by Winrock’s volunteers are being cultivated by future leaders who will guide their countries through a new generation of prosperity.”

Andrea Zekis – International Public Service Project (2019)

The 10^th collaborative project between Winrock International and Clinton School is scheduled for this summer. Student Andrea Zekis will be working with Winrock in Nepal to support the USAID-funded Feed the Future Knowledge-based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture in Nepal (KISAN) II project with a variety of research and writing activities.

Andrea stated, “I chose Winrock International for my summer International Public Service Project because I felt our interests aligned. I have a background and passion in geographic information systems, I wanted to expand my skill and experience set into matters involving environmental and agricultural issues. The project requires someone with some professional experience in journalism, which is something I possess. Meantime, I get to work in a country which has expanded its civil rights protections to respect the lives of LGBTQ persons like myself. I see the experience working with Winrock International this summer as an opportunity to bring my entire skill set and self into the work, while working with an organization with clearly defined project and professional expectations in areas which I would like to gain experience. When I learned they would allow me the chance to meet and learn from their own GIS specialists as well, I could not pass the opportunity up.”

Patrick McBride – Internship (2019)

I guess it wouldn’t be fair to leave myself out. I am currently a graduate assistant and student at Clinton School, graduating in May. I was attracted to Winrock based on their commitment domestically and internationally, and what I saw as a strong commitment to effective strategies of helping some of the most vulnerable populations. I started an internship at Winrock International in January working with our Agriculture & Volunteer Programs team to mobilize our USAID Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers and help them in the transition from home to their overseas assignments. Since starting, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to engage with passionate volunteers and help connect them with international opportunities.

Here is a list of some other projects Clinton School students have worked on:

2011, Bangladesh (IPSP) – Moksheda Thapa

This project focused on two distinct programs: the Farmer to Farmer project and Rural Enterprise for Alleviating Poverty. For the FTF program, this project produced guidelines for impact monitoring. For the REAP program, this project conducted primary data collection which informed a list of recommendations for increasing the participation of women in the program

2016, Nepal (IPSP) – Sarah Fowlkes

Conducted a mid-term impact assessment to analyze the impact of Training-of-Trainers (TOT) assignments with youth-serving host organizations and informal agriculture education and training (AET) providers in Nepal and Bangladesh.

2017, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal (IPSP) – Caroline Dunlap

Developed an internship model for in-country young adults enrolled in agricultural programs in Nigeria, Senegal, and Guinea. Dunlap developed a framework that will help educational institutions prepare their students to successfully complete internships and help private sector hosts mentor and prepare them for the workforce.

Since graduation Caroline has completed an additional volunteer assignment in Senegal.

2010, Uganda (Capstone) – Elrina Frost

This project provided recommendations for how GIS could be used with socio-economic data from NUDEIL’s monitoring and evaluation department.

2017, Little Rock (Capstone) – Darlynton Adegor

Developed an Evaluation Framework for the Wallace Center’s Community Based Food Systems Project (CBFSP).

On June 1st Mary and Bob Albrecht arrived in Guinea for their fifth joint volunteer trip with Winrock. This married couple has completed assignments together in Nigeria, Turkmenistan, and Guinea. Mary and Bob have volunteered separately in several other countries, but confess that they most enjoy working and training together. “It just works well for us,” says Mary. The Albrechts wrapped up their sessions in Coyah, Guinea this week. The assignments are part of Winrock’s Farmer to Farmer Program for Agriculture Education and Training. The Albrechts worked with the National Association of Poultry Farmers of Guinea (ANAVIG) and the National Union of Poultry Farmers of Guinea (UNAG.) (more…)

As the world recognizes this Earth Day, Winrock International‘s Agriculture Education and Market Improvement Program (AEMIP) is mobilizing a major initiative to integrate climate change concerns into Guinea’s national agriculture education and training (AET) system as a part of USAID’s Global Climate Change (GCC) initiative. With the support of volunteer technical assistance, AEMIP is developing technical and institutional leadership on climate change within the agriculture sector at Guinea’s AET institutions. “Now with climate change as a ‘hot topic,’ if we can better understand this, we can disseminate the information to others and contribute to global level efforts to protect the environment.” – student at the national forestry institution in Guinea, the École Nationale des Agents Téchniques des Eaux et Forêts (ENATEF), which has received previous Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) support in climate change-related topics. (more…)