Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Drying coffee beans around Zeneida and Rafael's house. As you can imagine, some of our assignments take place in very vulnerable communities: rural settlements that are far away from large cities and mechanized agricultural processes. This is exactly the case of the community of Sabaneta, in the heart of the Central Mountain range of the Dominican Republic. The Sabaneta women’s club, formed by 12 female farmers has already received three volunteers that focused on strawberry production, value-added products and agro/ecotourism. Being four hours away from the capital, Santo Domingo, and only reachable by 4x4 vehicles, the volunteers that participate in Sabaneta’s Adventure are able to enjoy one of the most special parts of volunteering: Homestays. Rafael is ready for a real Dominican lunch Volunteers stay at Zeneida and Rafael’s house, a beautiful couple that have lived their entire life in the town, and that are alway...

Smallholder farmers in Colombia are transitioning out of the informal economy and are partnering to grow and sell together so they can take advantage of economies of scale and expand their range of buyers. In order to reinforce this process, CorpoValle is working with 54 smallholder agricultural associations, some of which have been particularly struck by violence, by strengthening their business and technical capabilities. Corpovalle is a non-profit, development agency, focused on planning, evaluating and implementing agricultural development projects in Colombia’s Valle del Cauca department. They focus on nine fruit and vegetable value chains: lulo, blackberry, pineapple, citrus fruits, avocado, grape, guava, plantain, and chontaduro (peach palm fruit). CorpoValle reaches 1,700 fruit and vegetable growers in 29 municipalities, impacting 3,400 households or approximately 12,000 people.  F2F partnered with CorpoValle from the beginning of the...

The National Agricultural Research & Extension Institute (NAREI) in Guyana is the premier organization responsible for spearheading agricultural research and extension activities for productivity enhancement and diversification. NAREI’s vision is “to ensure food security, prosperity, and livelihoods for all, using technological innovations in agriculture.” NAREI was interested in building its capacity in composting and soil fertility management after hosting their first F2F volunteer assignment in August 2019. As a result, NAREI requested a F2F volunteer to meet with groups of beneficiaries from the last assignment to: i) assess the status of their composting skills and provide further guidance as required, and ii) provide training in advanced thermophilic aerobic composting to selected groups of farmers. Dr. Hwei Yiing Johnson was chosen to fulfill this assignment. She holds a B.S. in Agronomy, an M.S. in Crop Physiology, and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology. She...

Gabriela Villamizar, the field officer from our Colombia office, made a vegan meal of p asta with homemade pesto, mushrooms, and toast with beets and guacamole. Just like a third of the world’s population , our staff at the Washington DC office and in our six field offices around the world (Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, and Myanmar) are currently working from home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, today, April 22, we wanted to make sure that we can all commemorate and celebrate the 50 th anniversary of Earth Day, even if it is from the safety of our homes. Therefore, we have compiled a list of different ways in which you can be environmentally friendly without leaving your house: Reduce your consumption of plastics: When you are tired of cooking (aren’t we all?) and decide to order delivery, ask the restaurant not to send you disposable straws, cutlery, or wrapping if possible. Other ideas to cut down on plastic use ...

Alexis  selecting local herbs such as  oregano, mint, peppermint,  and  rosemary at  a local  plant  nursery .   Huehuetenango is  the  department with the highest levels of malnutrition in  Guatemala  due to several factors, such as climate change, migration, drug cartels,  pests and diseases,  etc. Project Concern International –PCI- , a global development organization ,  is  carrying out various projects and activities  in  vulnerable  communities   to improve the livelihoods and resilience of its inhabitants. PCI’s project “ANIMO”  uses  a comprehensive package of cash transfers, training, and  capacity  building  to reduce malnutrition, improve health and increase income. To  support  this  project , a F2F volunteer  train ed  technicians  and smallholder farmers  on ways to  increase  the  ...