“If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.” — Kofi Annan

This quote from Kofi Annan really resonates, given everything that our world is facing these days. AND – it’s National Volunteer Week! Now, more than ever, I think we can all benefit from inspirational examples of American volunteers making an impact around the world.

In the last year, Winrock engaged 70 volunteers on assignments in nine countries, primarily through the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program. These volunteers donated a collective 1,400 days of time to 59 host organizations, lending their skills and expertise on topics ranging from agricultural production and processing to curriculum development and pedagogy, to business planning and financial management. They have empowered farmers and entrepreneurs; strengthened training institutions and schools; improved quality, diversity, and safety of food products; and directly improved the lives of thousands of individuals in rural Africa and Asia.

This week, in particular, we celebrate these noble and meaningful efforts.

Here are some of our volunteers in action in the last year:

Volunteer, Dr. Hameed, shows off the mushroom pizza the Mushroom Producers Association made together in Ghana

Volunteer Kerry Richards and a local farmer practice plant transplanting in Guinea

Volunteer Gary Wingenbach visits demonstration plots and research project on the campus of Adeyemi College of Education in Nigeria

Volunteer Olumide Mitchelle Makanjuola poses with the women of AFSM and AWLAE in Mali after her workshop on building successful business practices

Volunteer Dr. Kassama works with CLCOP women to create enriched flour to sell in Senegal

In addition to imparting valuable – and oftentimes, critical – technical knowledge to enable people to improve their livelihoods, our volunteers also contribute to increased cross-cultural understanding, building a bridge between our countries and reinforcing human connections.

Many of our volunteers stay in touch with their host organizations and field staff after the end of their assignment. It’s been heartwarming to see an increase in this outreach during the coronavirus crisis, with volunteers and field staff reaching out to each other with concern and solidarity and to deepen the bonds that they formed over the course of their assignments. Especially now, these are such important reminders that we are all in this together.

THANK YOU, volunteers, for your generosity, kindness, hard work, expertise, and perseverance. You have made a difference, in more ways than one.

And though we are currently pausing international volunteer travel due to the global coronavirus pandemic, we are anxious to continue to serve our beneficiary communities around the world. We hope to resume travel later this year – and as always, open volunteer opportunities will be posted on our website: www.winrock.org/volunteer.

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/

My name is Chelsey Corliss, I’m 24 years old and I’m an Agroforestry Peace Corps Volunteer serving in the Kindia Region of Guinea. I have been living in Guinea for seven months. Environmental conservation and organic farming are two of my interests for my service but I have trouble talking and teaching about organic farming because using chemicals makes farming so much faster and easier, right?

The Farmer-to-Farmer training in Kondoya at Fabik Ferem Ecole was wonderful. I honestly didn’t know what to expect before going. I was actually uneasy about how difficult it was to get to the farm because taxis don’t go out there, but once I got there I realized how perfect Fabik Farm School was for an organic farming training. The school director had so many dreams and aspirations that were so inspirational and motivating. I invited two members of my community who rely on farming for the majority of their income. The trainer, Tom Sebranek did a great job of explaining the topics and engaging his students. I enjoyed seeing my counterparts so engaged, asking questions and becoming excited to implement some of the new techniques they were learning.

I learned new techniques for composting, pest management and seed collection as well as how to teach them. I plan to start composting in my village with many of the farmers who are interested in going organic. With the help of my counterparts, I think that we can gain more interest in organic farming and help our community become healthier and greener. I can not wait to get started!

“Si vous prenez soin du sol, le sol pendra soin du vous!” – “If you take care of the soil the soil will take care of you.”

As part of the ongoing and growing relationship between Winrock Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) in Guinea and the Peace Corps, Winrock’s Guinea County Director, Ibrahima Diallo, and Program Assistant, Ousmane Diallo attended and presented at the Peace Corps Partners’ Fair in May 2019. They shared information about F2F in Guinea, as well as the benefits of a partnership with Peace Corps, including having Peace Corps volunteers bring information back to the villages they are volunteering in, and through replication, expanding the best practices from F2F training more broadly throughout Guinea.

As a testament to the deepening relationship between both organizations, Peace Corps Guinea Country Director requested two F2F volunteers to support their Food Security Training, focusing on beekeeping and nutrition. Scopes of work are currently being developed with the dual purpose of training both Peace Corps volunteers and their beneficiaries, as well as other hosts in Guinea.

Volunteer Andrew Tonks works with Peace Corp and GAIN members.

By deepening the relationship with Peace Corps, Winrock is achieving the F2F goals in Guinea of improving rural livelihood development and agriculture education and training, as well as promoting agricultural growth and cross-cultural understanding through technical assistance from skilled F2F volunteers.

Volunteer Janet Buresh looks on as Peace Corp and COJDAGUI member work together during training.

For about 5 years, the USAID Value Chains for Rural Development (VC-RD) project, implemented by Winrock International, has been supporting the melon value chain in Myanmar along with grantee Myanmar Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Producer and Exporter Association (MFVP). In 2016 and 2017, VC-RD and MFVP hosted various melon production volunteers, including Dr. Timothy Coolong, to assess the melon value chain and train melon farmers. These volunteers found significant issues affecting the melon value chain: Bacteria Fruit Blotch (BFB) disease and high postharvest losses at the packaging and handling stage.

MFVP decided that exposure to best practices from US farmers would be beneficial for Myanmar farmers. In October 2017, MFVP members and avocado farmers successfully learned from California avocado producers and decided to replicate that fruitful experience for melon farmers by organizing the Myanmar Melon Mission to the US. To get advice on how to proceed, Winrock staff contacted Dr. Tim Coolong, past volunteer and Associate Professor at the University of Georgia-Extension. Dr. Coolong kindly offered to help plan and reach out to his contacts in the US melon industry. Southern Georgia was selected as the primary visit site since this region is the largest producer of watermelons in the US. The visit was planned for mid-June, as this is the prime watermelon harvesting and shipping season, in advance of the July 4^th holiday when US watermelon consumption is at its highest.

Ten representatives participated in the Myanmar Melon Mission to the US. The group included MFVP’s General Secretary, six members of the Myanmar Melon Producer and Exporter Association, two members of the Myanmar Fruit Commodity Center, and one VC-RD staff. The main objectives of the trip were to observe best practices implemented by US melon farmers, from farm to market, highlighting pest and disease control and packaging at the farm level.

Given the participation of members of the Myanmar Melon Producer and Exporter Association, the group was also interested in learning about the role of a producer association. On the first day of the tour, the group visited the National Watermelon Promotion Board. Representatives of the Board presented their organization’s history and structure for the sustainability of the watermelon industry in the US. The group met with the Board’s Communications and Marketing Director and learned about marketing and the importance of increasing consumer demand for watermelon through promotion, research, and educational programs.

The following days were dedicated to field visits to learn about production, shipping, and disease control of melons. The group met with several nationally recognized family farms such as Border Melons East and Lewis Taylor Farms. The group observed the best examples of farm to packaging in Southern Georgia. Their stringent adherence to Food and Drug Administration safety measures was an excellent example to showcase to the Myanmar melon producers.

The group also visited the University of Georgia-Tifton campus. Dr. Bhabesh Dutta, Assistant Professor, and Extension Vegetable Disease Specialist gave a lecture on melon diseases. Dr. Dutta pointed out how critical it is to remain diligent in the pursuit of disease control for all melons grown and shipped.

Two Myanmar melon farmers with the watermelon queen in Georgia

The group concluded their Georgia visit with a trip to the Watermelon Festival in Cordele. Here they were introduced to a traditional, Americana small-town celebration in all its glory! They were treated to live music, a watermelon eating contest, arts and crafts, local food, and free watermelon! They met the festival’s Watermelon Queen and saw hot air balloons and antique cars. Before departing the US, the group will also attend the California Watermelon Festival.

The Myanmar melon group at the University of Georgia

Mr. Zaw Min, Chairman of Financing of the Myanmar Melon Producer and Exporters Association, felt the examples of packaging and shipping would greatly benefit the group when they returned home to Myanmar. The group noted that they learned a lot and are excited to return to Myanmar and begin implementing those practices and disseminating them to their peers.

The Myanmar Melon Mission would not have been possible without Dr. Tim Coolong’s support with planning. Thank you!