Per USAID grant guidelines, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers must hold US citizenship or permanent residency.
CRS will pay for your expenses with Farmer-to-Farmer grant funds. We will cover the cost of your travel vaccinations and malaria pills, airfare, in country travel, visa, meals, lodging, supplemental medical and evacuation insurance, and allowable costs.
The assignments are 2-4 weeks long, with the average assignment lasting between 2-3 weeks. In rare cases, a volunteer may stay beyond 4 weeks.
The majority of CRS’ Farmer-to-Farmer assignments are based in East Africa, in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania. However, occasionally flex assignments may arise where volunteers are sent to other countries.
You may certainly express a preference for a particular country. However, we encourage applicants to be open to an assignment in a country where their skills sets are needed most.
When staying in a capital city your lodging will be mid-level. In a rural setting lodging will be simple, but adequate. All volunteers will have their own rooms, with access to a bathroom. You might stay in a local hotel, guest house, or other lodging that our country partners provide. All volunteer lodging adheres to CRS safety standards.
Yes, the Farmer-to-Farmer program often clusters volunteers in a region, so it may be possible to place you with a friend or spouse, depending on the project needs and your companion’s skill set.
Program applicants need not hold degrees or have technical certifications in order to be chosen as volunteers. We can’t place every applicant, but we recommend that those interested register in our database for consideration. If you’d like to discuss your qualifications for the program further, please contact Maria Figueroa at maria.figueroa@crs.org.
Yes, it is still possible for you to volunteer as your skill set is needed. While most of our projects reply on agricultural expertise, we will also have assignments for areas such as finance, management, leadership, nutrition, food processing, etc.
No, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers do not need to speak a language other than English. Field interpreters will be provided by the program as needed.
Yes, our online form requires applicants to attach resumes before submitting. We like to have basic information in a format that is easy to share with our country programs. If you don’t have a resume, you can find a simple template here, and modify it to meet your needs.
12) WHEN/HOW WILL I KNOW IF I HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR AN ASSIGNMENT?
If you are selected for an assignment, a member of the Farmer-to-Farmer team will reach out to you via phone or email. As we are continually searching for volunteers on a rolling basis, we retain all applications for future use. We encourage you to monitor the assignments page for assignments that match your skills sets and reach out to Maria Figueroa (maria.figueroa@crs.org) to express your interest.
The Farmer-to-Farmer program has a monitoring and evaluation system to monitor assignment impacts. We strive to arrange impactful assignments through a three step process:
1. addressing real needs: Farmer-to-Farmer identifies current gaps in agricultural value chains that are not being fully met by local organizations in each country
2. volunteer selection and support: Farmer-to-Farmer selects volunteers who are qualified to address these gaps and ensures that they have an accurate assessment and proper tools to complete their assignments
3. assignment follow-up: Farmer-to-Farmer collects assignment write-ups and recommended action plans to help build on successes achieved.
CRS takes volunteer safety and security very seriously. We have staff dedicated to continual assessment of current conditions and events in our country programs. Each volunteer will learn about staff safety before departure and will be briefed upon arrival. We have developed safety protocol for each country and are committed to maintaining a robust security for volunteers.