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GSC
Welcomes New Partnership with USDA and Partners
for Development
In
early 2009 GSC signed a three-year contract with
Partners for Development and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) that is now providing
expanded Sustainable Agriculture and HIV/AIDS
education volunteer and internship
opportunities. The new USDA contract will enable
GSC Tanzania to expand local organic gardening
and rural poultry projects along with NGO
partners into a regional program bringing food
security to over 2,000 smallholder farmers in
Tanzania on both a subsistence and commercial
basis. The GSC expanded Food Security Program
will also provide critical nutrition education
and support resources for families caring for
Persons Living with HIV/AIDS. GSC is now
offering exciting volunteer opportunities to
work with under served populations in remote
rural areas and experience tribal communities
rarely visited by non-Tanzanians.
“This
past week was National Volunteer Week in the
U.S. and Global Service Corps is particularly
proud to be able to announce this new
partnership with USDA as we celebrate the power
of volunteers to change the world. The Partners
for Development contract creates a new ‘tipping
point’ for GSC’s Tanzania HIV/AIDS, food
security and sustainable agriculture programs,
providing expanded volunteer and internship
opportunities” notes GSC Executive Director Rick
Lathrop.
Managed by Erwin Kinsey,
Tanzania Country Director for GSC, the Partners
for Development program uses proven methods to
empower rural producer groups by increasing the
use of sustainable agriculture, poultry and
kitchen gardens. In select communities, this
also involves organizing village-level
collection/buying/ selling points, ensuring
quality produce through a participatory
guarantee system of certification, encouraging
rural poultry markets, conducting practical
research and sharing knowledge of nutrition,
food preservation and appropriate irrigation
skills with participant farm families. The GSC
expanded Food Security Program in Tanzania
increases GSC’s longstanding commitment to
HIV/AIDS prevention and education by providing
critical resources for communities caring for
Persons Living with HIV/AIDS.
For more
information about GSC Tanzania volunteer
programs, please visit the Tanzania section of
the GSC website (see link below).
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