What do volunteers do?
Volunteers work on a wide range of activities to provide assistance requested by host-organizations such as: private farmers, cooperatives, community groups, credit institutions, extension services, input supply firms, agribusinesses, and others. Assignments involve technology transfer, business planning, organizational strengthening, marketing, and environmental conservation. Local Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) offices identify and work with hosts to design demand-driven assignments, provide logistics and translation services as needed, and follow up on implementation of volunteer recommendations. In the ALOFT program, we are focused on engaging Southeast Asian youth in agriculture through extension, training, education, and business development. ALOFT is recruiting volunteers for assignments in three countries: Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Why should I volunteer?
Volunteers are generally individuals who have domestic careers, farms, and agribusinesses, or are retirees who want to participate in development efforts; they do not have to be overseas development professionals. The ALOFT program is particularly interested in engaging more university and extension employees to participate in F2F assignments. Volunteers help individuals and organizations build local institutions and address local problems. Volunteers also benefit from these exchanges, including experiencing new cultures, learning new approaches, and building their professional network. Many of the connections made by volunteers and their hosts go on to become longer-term collaborations.
What are the expectation of volunteers?
Volunteers typically travel to the host country for 10-15 days. They are provided with a scope of work detailing their assignment and travel itinerary. Volunteers meet with their local hosts, assess their needs, and develop training and recommendations to address specific challenges. Volunteers are supported during each stage of their assignments by program staff and hosts: from pre-trip orientation, to arrival and travel in Southeast Asia, to their re-entry to the U.S. The F2F ALOFT program covers all of the volunteer’s travel expenses, including airfare, ground transportation, international insurance, meals and lodging.
How do I sign-up?
Please complete this interest form. This provides us with your expertise, experience, and availability to participate in volunteer assignments. We will use this information to match applicants with scopes of work as they are developed by our teams in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Questions?
Contact Morgan Owens, F2F ALOFT Volunteer Recruiter at mowens48@utk.edu.