A representative from Senegal's Ministry of Agriculture, Mamadou Ndiaye, visited Mboro on March 27 and led several composting trainings. He is in contact with Mboro's newly trained Master Farmer, Cheikh Senghor, and Volunteer Rita Weiss. Ndiaye led a training of compost at Senghor’s field as well as in five other pilot farmer's fields in the greater Mboro area. During the trainings, Ndiaye, Senghor and the other farmers, and Weiss had the opportunity to exchange ideas about different ways to compost. Ndiaye is interested in keeping in contact with Senghor and the other farmers in order to exchange more ideas regarding farming. Senghor and Weiss will follow up with the farmers trained by leading another training in two weeks, when it is time to turn the first pile of compost. They plan to expand the farmers trained during that training by inviting more Mboro-based farmers.

Agroforestry APCD Demba and PCVL Curtis McCoy visited first year Agroforestry Volunteers in Kaolack, Richard Toll, and Ndioum from March 21-29. During that same time, Agroforestry PTA Cherif Djitte and PCVL Minnie Martin visited first year Volunteers in Kaolack, Tambacounda, Kedougou, and Kolda. During these site visits, staff and PCVLs provided technical assistance to Volunteers, particularly in regards to tree nurseries. During the months of March and April, Agroforestry Volunteers assist community members in their area start tree nurseries for many different activities, such as implementing a live fence, alley cropping, a windbreak, a fruit orchard, or fruit trees in a compound, school, or garden. During these visits, they also assisted with several trainings. 

All Agroforestry Volunteers in Senegal convened in Thies from April 8-9 for their annual Summit. During the training event, Volunteers learned about different types of grafting and mango pest identification and control. Volunteer Ashley Burgess shared about what she, Sidibe, and Volunteer Lisa Riggs learned when they attended the recent cashew conference in Ghana. Participants also took field trips: first year Volunteers visited a beekeeping site in Bandia and second years visited an orchard in Sindia. Second year Volunteers also had the opportunity to share about some of the activities they are doing, including success stories and lessons learned. Finally, CED Volunteers Greg Porter and Anthony Scavone shared their production, planning, and sales data collection guides as the field tests are gradually being rolled out. 

On March 7, 41 Peace Corps Trainees arrived in Senegal. They are spending their first 2 months in Senegal in intense language, technical, medical, and safety and security training. These trainees are part of the Health sector, so they will assist their host communities to improve their food security in several different ways. For example, they will assist them in improving child and maternal health through nutrition trainings, through promoting nutritious food like Moringa and ceramine, a mixture of several grain and legume flours, and through hand-washing and sanitation campaigns. They will also work to promote the use of bed-nets to protect against malaria and the use of rapid diagnostic testing and treatment for malaria, among many other activities. Such activities promote healthy communities, and healthy communities are more likely to prosper and be food secure. 

All Community Economic Development (CED) Volunteers in Senegal will meet in Kaolack from March 18-20 for their annual Summit. Food security will be a major topic discussed during the training. For example, Volunteers will share their experiences and best practices related to food transformation, such as fruit and vegetable drying and Moringa transformation, such as Moringa powder and oil. Volunteers will also discuss waste management systems and how to incorporate composting into the process. In addition, Volunteers will discuss agribusiness and expand the support system that CED Volunteers will provide for Agriculture and Agroforestry Volunteers this rainy season as they implement their field test for the production, planning, and sales data collection guides that two CED Volunteers recently developed. 

On April 2nd, Afrang Sadio (Agriculture PTA) and Amar Sall (CED APCD) led a composting training in Tivauane Peuhl (Dakar). The training took place for the waste management organization, Dimbeul Njaboot, and trained five of its employees in the practice of composting organic material. The organization is currently in the process of adding a compositing element onto its already well-established waste management operations, and this training helped launch their new compost center that was built earlier in the year. PCVs Neil Kolstad, Michael Houdlette, and Daniel White have been working with this organization for the past year and were also on-hand to assist in the training. The training began with a brief overview of what compost is and how it works. Sadio was very enthusiastic with his teaching and was able to quickly spread his enthusiasm to all of the participants. Once everyone understood the processes involved, they got their hands dirty and made a 2x3 meter pile of compost. The majority of materials used were collected a day earlier from scores of the organization's 5,000 clients. Since 40-60% percent of all the trash collected is organic, composting appears to be a very credible way to create more value and also give back to the community in a meaningful way. Once completed, the compost will be sold to gardeners and farmers located on the doorstep of the composting center. Kolstad, Houdlette, and White, in collaboration with members of Dimbuel Njaboot, plan to pursue demonstration gardens with local gardeners once the compost facility is fully up-and-running. 

On March 14, in Gouye Marie (Fatick), Master Farmer Ibrahima Samake, with assistance from several Volunteers who work with him, hosted his third Open Field Day. About 60 individuals from the surrounding community attended. Nearby Volunteers are also brought counterparts or other Master Farmers to the Open Field Day. Staff from the Agriculture, Agroforestry, and Health sectors were present to provide additional technical assistance during the event. The day involved rotating sessions, led by Samake, Volunteers, and staff: during one session, live fencing maintenance and pruning were discussed; during another session, improved techniques for vegetable gardening (such as mulching and soil amendments) were taught; in another one, fruit tree nursery maintenance and trenching were demonstrated; during another session, fruit tree pruning was demonstrated; and in the final session, nutrition and other health topics were discussed. The following week, on March 20, the Volunteers who assisted with this Open Field Day hosted a booth at the weekly market nearby in Sokone to continue to promote the nutritional and medicinal value of the vegetables grown and technologies utilized on the Master Farm. Such activities highlight the growing collaboration on Master Farms among Agriculture, Agroforestry, and Health Volunteers. 

From March 18-22, there was a training in Thies for new Master Farmers and their respective Volunteers. During this training, Master Farmers and Volunteers learned more about the Master Farmer program by hearing about the history of the program, the current achievements, and future plans. They also practiced the numerous improved agriculture and agroforestry technologies that are demonstrated on the Master Farms, such as composting, conservation agriculture, alley cropping, grafting, and integrated pest management, among other things. At the end of the training, the new Master Farmers signed a contract and, with their Volunteers, began planning the demonstrations they will implement during the upcoming rainy season. 

Master Farmer Abdou Salam Ba held his second annual live fence training from March 25-26, in Fas Touceleur (Kaolack). Agroforestry APCD Demba Sidibe and PCVL Curtis McCoy assisted Ba during the first day of the training, and Volunteers Alex Wohlgemuth and Adel Uhlarik provided assistance during both days. They trained community members in how to start and maintain a tree nursery and how to start and maintain a live fence. Ba used the live fence that surrounds his Master Farm as a demonstration on proper spacing and pruning and on different types of trees that can be used for a live fence. 

From March 25-April 3, Agriculture APCD and Food Security Coordinator Famara Massaly traveled around the entire country to visit the numerous agriculture-related food security activities that Volunteers are implementing, such as school, community, and talibe gardens, and Master Farms. He was accompanied by Khady Camara, a representative of Senegal’s Department of Agriculture. During their trip, they also participated in several Open Field Days at Master Farms, such as one in Tawa Fall (Thies) with Master Farmer Ibrahima Diakhate and one in Saly Escale (Kaffrine) with Master Farmer Omar Topp. They also visited the Nioro Health Fair (see below). This trip represents the first food security trip that a Department of Agriculture representative has participated in since the program started three and a half years ago. It demonstrates the collaboration which PC Senegal has had with Senegal’s Department of Agriculture ever since Agriculture Volunteers first arrived in Senegal many years ago. 

Volunteer Hadiel Mohammed, in collaboration with Response Volunteer Richard Ross, the Taliberte organization, the US Embassy, and several other organizations, organized the second annual Talibe Soccer Tournament in St. Louis from March 28-29. Volunteers from all over Senegal convened in St. Louis to assist with the event. Talibe are Koranic students who often have to beg for money or other goods to help support their teacher and school. Several teams of all ages of Talibe participated in the tournament, as well a team of Peace Corps Volunteers and staff who played a special match on March 29 with a team of older talibe. The afternoon before the main events started, Volunteers Kate Myers and Michelangelo Liberman led a training with women who cook for many talibe about the importance of moringa, how to make moringa powder, and how to incorporate moringa powder into traditional Senegalese foods like a millet and leaf sauce dish as well as other foods such as beignets and popcorn. During the games which lasted all day on March 28, Volunteers hosted booths and other activities for the talibe. There was a booth where Talibe could learn to write their name in French and color in coloring books. There was a booth where Talibe learned about microgardening, as well as a booth about the importance of handwashing and how to properly wash your hands. At another booth, talibe could get their face or arm painted; popular choices were the emblems of European soccer teams and animals such as lions and lizards. Finally, there was an obstacle course that the talibe could participate in that required them to run through a series of car tires, crawl under a rope barrier, bob for a soccer ball, and kick the soccer ball in a goal. 

Volunteers Lisa Curcuruto and Courtney Carlisle, in collaboration with numerous other Volunteers as well as the the organization Symbiose, Mayor’s office, local schools, and others, organized the first annual Health Fair in Nioro on April 2 to promote healthy lifestyles with exercise, a well-balanced diet, and proper hygiene. The day started off with a 5k run and 3k walk in which youth and adults, men and women alike, participated. After the races, participants visited booths hosted by Volunteers about proper hand washing, the various food groups and how to eat healthy, the importance of and how to exercise, proper dental care, how to make and use oral rehydration salt (ORS), and how to repair a bed-net. There were also many other booths hosted by organizations who often work with Volunteers. Such booths consisted of groups who participate in food transformation such as Moringa powder production, fruit and vegetable drying with a solar dryer, fruit conservation through other means (ex. jam), and local cereal grain transformation. There was representation from all the local rural communities and local NGOs at the event. 

West Africa Regional Coordinator Pamela Martin, APCD Famara Massaly, and Grants and Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator Abiboulaye Diouf are currently in Togo for a Peace Corps Africa-wide Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) training event. Martin, Massaly, and Diouf will have the opportunity to share some of the M&E tools that Peace Corps Senegal uses and the data gathered using these tools. They will also hear about the M&E tools other PC posts use, as well as how to improve existing and implement new M&E tools. Upon their return to Senegal, they will train other PC Senegal staff as well as Volunteers so Volunteers can do a better job of monitoring and evaluating their activities and so the Senegal post can better monitor and evaluate its activities as a whole. 

On April 25, Volunteer Greg Porter, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce, will host a food transformation training for 2 representatives of 11 different women’s groups engaged in food transformation in the Diourbel region. The training will be led by Volunteer Joe Giraud and CED PTA Talla Diop. They will be assisted by representatives from Seddoo Ndam (“Share the Gains”), a local economic interest group which dries carrots and onions, makes sorghum, corn, and millet flour that is fortified with a minerals and vitamins and with the dried carrots and onions. The attendees of the training will be trained in solar drying techniques, including how to use an industrial size solar dryer, as well as packaging and marketing techniques. This is a training of trainers, so all participants will train the other members of their groups in what they learned during the training. Porter plans to host another training in a few months for representatives of the groups to reconvene and assess the progress of their solar drying activities, as well as to provide them with additional technical support. 

All Urban Agriculture Volunteers with convene in Kedougou from April 30-May 3 for their bi-annual Summit. During the training event, Volunteers will get more in-depth training on rainy season activities such as the field crop seed extension program and rainy season gardening. It will be an opportunity for Volunteers, particularly those in their second year, to share about some of the activities they are doing, including success stories and lessons learned. The final day of the training will involve hands-on activities at the nearby Master Farm to give Volunteers an opportunity to implement some of what they were learning about.

Similarly, all Sustainable Agriculture Volunteers will meet in Tambacounda from May 4-7 for their bi-annual summit. 

Like the Urban Agriculture Volunteers, the Sustainable Agriuclture Volunteers, who are based in rural settings, will also get more in-depth training on rainy season activities such as the field crop seed extension program and rainy season gardening. Volunteers, particularly those in their second year, will have the opportunity to share about some of the activities they are doing, including success stories and lessons learned. Again like the Urban Agriculture Summit, this Sustainable Agriculture Summit will involve hands-on activities at the nearby Master Farm to give Volunteers an opportunity to implement some of what they were learning about.