Partners currently has no more Flex Opportunities available for the 2008-2013 Farmer to Farmer Program. Check back in late 2013 for updates!

In addition to the primary country projects in each of the four core countries (Nicaragua, Haiti, Guyana, and the Dominican Republic), Farmer to Farmer also has the opportunity to work in countries throughout the hemisphere by means of flex assignments.

“Flexible” Assignment Opportunities
The 2008 – 2013 Program has introduced flexible (“flex”) assignments, which allow Farmer to Farmer to send small numbers of volunteers to support ongoing agricultural projects, explore new project areas, respond to USAID requests, and take advantage of opportunities outside of the core projects. Volunteers can be sent on flex assignments to explore new project areas and activities or support on-going projects in the four core countries mentioned above or any country worldwide that expresses an interest in working with the Farmer to Farmer program.

Flex Activities
Partners’ Chapters can be involved by work together with in-country agriculture organizations to identify their technical needs and develop specific volunteer assignment requests. Volunteers whose expertise matches these requests travel for 2 to 3 weeks to work with their counterparts in the Caribbean and Latin America. Volunteer assignments may focus on specific interventions that improve farm or agribusiness operations, assist with production or marketing, strengthen agricultural cooperatives, improve environmental conditions or farm safety, improve access to rural finance, or similar activities.

Timing
Flex volunteers can be fielded at any time through the end of the Farmer to Farmer Program in September 2013.

Roles and Responsibilities
Sending volunteers on flex assignments involves collaboration between several groups. Ideally both sides of a partnership would coordinate on flex assignment activities but it is also possible for just one chapter to participate, together with a local host organization or project. 

Partners’ Chapters: If a Partnership or Chapter would like to participate, they must fill out a Volunteer Assignment Request Form together with the local organization(s) whom the volunteer will assist. This involves planning and providing information on the purpose of the assignment, the volunteers’ activities, expected results, etc. US Chapters can nominate a volunteer for the assignment by submitting the volunteer’s resume to the southern Chapter and/or local organization, with a copy to Partners’ Farmer to Farmer Program in Washington, for approval. Before the trip, US Chapters provide an orientation to the volunteer on Partners and on the destination country and work together with the southern Chapter and local (host) organization to develop an itinerary for the volunteer. Upon return, US Chapters debrief the volunteer and may become involved in public outreach.

Host organization(s): Host organization(s) are the groups that will benefit directly from the volunteer visit, such as farmers cooperatives, agribusinesses, communities or others engaged in agriculture and economic growth activities. In some cases, the host organization may be the southern Chapter themselves but in most case, hosts are agriculture organizations who will work together with Chapters to ensure a successful assignment. Support from host organizations may include assistance with transportation, homestays, some meals, meeting space, equipment, information, etc. Host organizations help fill out the volunteer request form and plan the itinerary.

Partners’ Farmer to Farmer Program Staff: Partners’ Headquarters staff provides flex volunteers with a complete orientation to the Program and support Chapters as needed. The Farmer to Farmer Program funds the volunteers’ travel and related expenses and arranges the volunteers’ flights and travel insurance.

Volunteer: The volunteer is responsible for submitting his/her resume to the local organization and Partners’ Farmer to Farmer Program to ensure a good match of skills and experience. In order to travel, volunteers fill out a travel grant application. Upon return, volunteers submit a trip report, debrief their local Chapter, and help spread the word about Partners of the Americas and the Farmer to Farmer Program.

Examples
Some examples of potential flex assignment activities (these are examples only):

• A US-South American Partnership has been working together on a project that teaches small scale vegetable production techniques to at-risk communities. The chapters have been funding seeds, tools and equipment through their own budgets. They can request a flex volunteer to travel from the US Chapter to the South American one to help with some of the training.
  
• A chapter in Brazil has an environmental project where they have teamed up with a local organization teaching forest management in rural communities. They would like a volunteer to come down from their US counterpart chapter to work with the local organization and the chapter to develop new training materials. The Chapters can request a flex volunteer to can travel and provide assistance.
  
• A Caribbean chapter is implementing a food processing project, teaming up with the YWCA to teach new skills to local women’s groups. Their US counterpart chapter does not have the interest or expertise in this area. The Caribbean chapter can request a flex volunteer via Partners’ Washington office and a volunteer can be recruited from any state to travel and provide the needed assistance.

If you or your Chapter/organization are interesting in learning more details about flex assignments, please contact Chrissy McCurdy, cmccurdy@partners.net

Read volunteer stories on the Farmer to Farmer Blog!

Links to Agriculture and Environment Websites and Agricultural Funding Resources
Donate to the Farmer to Farmer Program
Farmer to Farmer Flex Program

This webpage is made possible in part by the generous support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Partners and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.