In the summer of 2017, Awakening Nigeria for Agricultural and Agro-Allied International (ANAAI) participated in training held by Winrock volunteer Anna Snider, working with Farmer to Farmer’s Agricultural Education and Training Program (AET).  The training focused on homestead vegetable gardening using sacks and containers to help farmers, and others currently not engaged in farming, to embrace vegetable farming.

Volunteer Anna Snider with Members of ANAAI

ANAAI works with mostly female farmers in the Kaduna State of Nigeria and is dedicated to helping rural and urban poor boost their agricultural strengths which in turn enables them to better feed their families. In most parts of the state, lack of available land and socio-religious beliefs, some women aren’t allowed to come out in public thereby depriving such women of the opportunity to participate in food production, to receive useful and current information, and educational opportunities and technological innovations that could be of help to them and their families. This lack of opportunity put many mothers and children at risk of malnutrition.

Sack gardening allows for space maximization, water conservation, and ease of practice while keeping financial requirements low, and improving nutrition, food security, and income. Many of the at-risk women have enough space within their fenced premises to grow food to support their families as well as earn some income by sacks/container farming. This helps empower women to take an active role in feeding their family while also interrupting the cycle of malnutrition, which especially hurts children and women who are pregnant.

ANAAI took to sack gardens with great enthusiasm, establishing their own and spreading what they had learned:

“This training has opened up our mind, now some of our women who don’t have land to farm can grow their own vegetables; above all we now know the importance of eating right and eating vegetables. We shall give this training to other women. We are glad we had this training.” Yahaya Hamman, farmer.

Fast forward to January 2018, when Nigeria based Winrock International staff visited Kaduna on a routine impact survey. During the survey process, ANAAI informs the program staff that one of their member organizations, Thinkers Children Foundation (TCF), who had participated in the training on vegetable sack gardening went on to introduce and train school students and their families.

Thinkers Children Foundation (TCF) was founded in 2015, with a vision to give free primary education to children from internally displaced families, orphans, and the underprivileged. As part of TCF’s corporate contribution to national growth and development, it educates children and spreads awareness on the dangers of illiteracy. From 3 pupils in 2015, TCF has expanded to 80 pupils actively attending classes.

TCF students on the floor of their school

On that chilly morning in January, F2F staff arrived at TCF, where nearly 80 pupils were present, seated on the cold concrete floor in their makeshift school. They greeted the visitors with smiles and a chorus of ‘good morning’s. Inspired by the pupils and their enthusiasm, F2F staff pulled together their personal resources and donated 25 school desks to the foundation, complemented by 12 dozen notebooks.

Desk Delivery!

The F2F team was told that many of the pupils were practicing sack gardening at home.

TCF pupils hold up the victory sign and show off their container gardens

Of the many pupils practicing sack gardening at home, one such practitioner was 8-year old Abdulhakim and his 5 years old sibling (Abubakar), who took the message home and taught their mother. In an interview with F2F staff, Abdulhakim’s mother told the team that she is not only practicing sack culture but that she has trained three other women who are also actively practicing sack culture. She noted that adopting the sack and container culture has resulted in improved nutrition and savings in the cost of food for her and her family. She also reported that more and more women are making inquiries about how they too can grow vegetables in sacks and containers.

“I used to think that it is only when you are in the village and have land that you can farm. Sack farming is so easy to practice, requires minimal space and water, does not require rainfall; the benefits are just unthinkable. I no longer buy vegetables for my family and as a matter of fact, I give some of our daily harvest to our neighbors and will begin selling soon. This is exciting and pleases my husband so much.’ Maimuna Ibrahim, mother to Abdulhakim and Abubakar Ibrahim.

To see a video on how to make a sack garden, check out the Winrock Volunteer’s Facebook Page! 

On August 21, 2017, the team from the Thunderbird School of Global Management Emerging Markets Laboratory (TEM-Lab), Craig Pearson, Fungai Mandaza and Rachel A, arrived in Nigeria to work with the Center for Entrepreneurship Development and Vocational Studies (CEDVS), Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti. The trio went to support CEDVS’ quest to establish and manage a business incubator center.

Team Ubuntu’s first day tour of the CEDVS

Incubation centers offer business creation and income generating opportunities to young and aspiring people and provide them with facilities and services that most business start-ups have difficulty in procuring – spaces, electricity, communication, start-up (inception kits), advisory support, training, information and access to external resources (finance and markets).

Soon, the team realized that nearly all the CEDVS faculty misunderstood what a business incubator is.  Many faculty members when asked, gave answers describing business accelerators, workshops to practice classwork and practical skills, libraries, or lounges.  Faculty could name some characteristics of an incubator but only a few truly had grasped the entire concept. Both the trio and the hosts remained flexible as the original scope of the project changed to address this issue.  Everyone realized a business incubator would not be successful if the people running didn’t understand what it was.

After recognizing this crucial knowledge gap, the team came up with some creative activities to inform, as well as change mindsets. Demonstrating great professionalism, team spirit and cultural sensitivity the team formatted a group discussion style training session. The students were asked questions about entrepreneurial challenges they have faced, then taught how an incubator may ease these challenges.  The initial discussion was very abstract and theoretical, so the team performed a role-playing exercise to better demonstrate what it would be like to be an incubatee in an incubator at the CEDVS.

The incubator role-playing exercise did a very effective job of conveying to the students what an incubator would be to them and how they may use it as a resource.  In an exit survey of the 62 participants, 100% of the students said that they had a better understanding of what a business incubator is now that they did at the start. 100% of the students that responded also said that they would be interested in becoming an incubatee in an incubator at the CEDVS.

Volunteers survey students who attended the training session on business incubators.

The team also took the faculty on a study visit to an existing incubator. The faculty was able to speak with the leadership of these facilities at length and tour the incubation space.  They developed a much deeper understanding of what business incubation is. This experience spawned many new ideas on how to apply such a concept at CEDVS.

Team Ubuntu learning about the Design and Textile class at CEDVS

The assignment left a lasting personal impression on the team.

“It was a fulfilling experience to see the understanding blossom across the faces of the CEDVS staff members we worked with. Once the initial barrier of unfamiliarity with the concept was breached, confusion gave way to enthusiasm for the new idea that holds much promise for the institution. It was both fun and educational to learn about the Nigerian culture spanning weddings, dancing, and gender, in addition to what we gained out of the work.”

Follow the links to read more about the teams’ experiences with Nigerian culture!

The Farmer to Farmer team in Nigeria nominated this team of volunteers because of their professionalism, excellent team spirit and cultural sensitivity to the many diverse facets of the Nigerian people. Also commendable was their ability to combine the project tasks provided by the F2F Program with their group reporting as well as individual assignments submitted to their home institution faculty – they coordinated these so well that the F2F assignment did not suffer in any way and all deadlines were met to the satisfaction of everyone involved.

Winrock F2F Nigeria Director Mike Bassey, CEDVS coordinator of Textiles Oyebode, and Team Ubuntu’s Craig Pearson

Happy 4th of July!

As we celebrate Independence Day in the US, Winrock’s Volunteer Programs team is thinking about one of the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans: the freedom to give back.

Volunteerism is not a requirement, yet many Americans actively choose to serve in their own communities, by tutoring local schoolchildren, participating in city clean-ups, mentoring young professionals, volunteering at community events, delivering food to the elderly, and much more. Volunteer service brings people together. Some US citizens even employ their skills to volunteer in other countries, lending their technical expertise to a variety of beneficiaries, from smallholder farmers to agricultural training centers, women’s cooperatives, and youth groups.

In addition to promoting sustainable economic growth and agricultural development worldwide, the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program that Winrock very proudly implements also encourages people-to-people exchange. So far this year, Winrock has sent 108 F2F volunteers to Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. By connecting with people across borders, F2F volunteers have the opportunity to promote international goodwill and spread American values like liberty, equality, and determination.

“In the end, service binds us to each other — and to our communities and our country — in a way that nothing else can. That’s how we become more fully American. That’s what it means to be American. That’s the essence of our liberty — that we give back, freely.”  –Barack Obama

We are grateful to all of our volunteers, including those who have chosen to spend this 4th of July giving back around the world.