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.

Once again, we are coming to an end of an unusual year. Though the ongoing pandemic continued to greatly affect us all, it also provided an opportunity to learn new ways to adapt and find new ways to connect. Even though we were still unable to travel, our volunteers continued to support the Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program through remote and, now, paired assignments.

This year, 56 American volunteers donated their time to conduct 52 virtual volunteer assignments supporting 27 organizations across West Africa, working in partnership with 47 national volunteers from Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Mali, and Senegal. This new “paired” assignment model was a first for Farmer-to-Farmer. The feedback from these types of assignments has been enormously positive, and for that, we are extremely grateful to you! It has been exciting to see these new partnerships form and to hear stories about how these assignments are enriching not only for our host organizations, but also for the US and national volunteers. This new model has been an exciting adaptation to our program, and we are so happy that our family of volunteers has continued to grow.

The generosity of our volunteers never ceases to amaze us. Together, Winrock volunteers donated 785 days to share their skills and knowledge with our hosts in West Africa. Thank you so much for your part!

Please keep an eye out for new volunteer opportunities, which you can find here. We’d love to engage with you again!

Have a Happy Holiday Season and Thank You once again for all you do!

-Winrock’s Volunteer Programs Team

My journey as a Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer recruiter with Winrock began about four years ago. I had discovered a knack and affinity for this kind of work when I ran a volunteer program for a veteran service organization. Essentially, my job is bridging the gap between highly qualified individuals and opportunities for them to use these skills to give back. The more I did the work the more joy it brought me. I often think about the altruism that so heavily influences a person to serve in a volunteer capacity. I think about how grateful both the beneficiaries and the volunteers are to have such a fulfilling exchange and I’m happy that I am able to help facilitate this exchange.

With the world being in such an uncertain state, I think it has become easier to forget about volunteering, with so many priorities taking up most of our time.  Everyone is understandably preoccupied. However, with the holiday seasons approaching, I wanted to encourage us all to remember the importance of volunteerism.  Remember why it’s so important to give back and think about the benefits that come from these experiences. In my line of work, feedback has become increasingly important. It’s essential that I understand what does and doesn’t work within our volunteer program, which has moved mostly to virtual spaces. The most resounding feedback that I often receive are the sentiments of both excitement and fulfillment that is brought about when a volunteer donates their time and skills to help others.

As an advocate of volunteerism I thought it might be helpful to share some tips on how to get involved if you’re interested in volunteer opportunities — and how to reignite your passion for volunteerism if you’ve gotten out of the habit and feel a bit rusty.

Ways to give back:

Virtual volunteer opportunities: COVID-19 has created a unique opportunity for virtual/remote opportunities using modern technological practices. Check out Winrock International virtual volunteer assignments here Winrock International » Volunteer

Join a board: Many non-profit organizations need member to help guide the direction of their institution and fundraise. This can be a great opportunity to elevate a budding organization and can also provide robust networking opportunities.

Volunteer abroad: Maybe you’ve done great work in your own back yard and now you want to explore how your skills can support developing countries abroad. Look no further, because Winrock offers the best international volunteer experiences. Our assignments have been paused due to COVID-19 restrictions but there will be opportunities like these in the future.

Share volunteer opportunities: If you are unable to volunteer ,that’s OK! Just remember that lending a helping hand comes in many different forms. The best way to support could be simple sharing of information about volunteer opportunities within your network.

Volunteerism is a way to practice thankfulness for all one has been given and share those gifts — whether it is your skills or your time — with others. This year, I am thankful for the people I get to work with and their generosity. It’s awe inspiring and I couldn’t see myself doing anything different at this point in my life.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving, even if it looks a bit different this year.