[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 153 (Thursday, September 28, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY FOR VOCA

                                 ______


                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 27, 1995

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, today, this Member would like to recognize 
the 25th anniversary of Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, 
known as VOCA. Since 1970, VOCA has been indispensable in promoting 
sustainable development throughout the world by harnessing the American 
spirit of volunteerism to teach people in developing countries how to 
help themselves. Thousands of VOCA volunteers, including agricultural, 
commercial, and environmental experts, have donated their time and 
expertise in 112 countries in the last 25 years. These volunteers, from 
this Member's congressional district and many others, are in Washington 
this week to take part in their organizations' 25th anniversary 
``Celebration of International Cooperation.''
  VOCA's ambassadors of good will represent a growing cadre of 
Americans who have participated in a small, but powerful program to 
provide technical assistance to the developing world and emerging 
democracies. In 1985, this Member led the congressional effort to 
authorize the Farmer-to-Farmer Program, and in 1986, it began as a 
pilot project focusing on development efforts in Latin American and the 
Caribbean. Because of its early success, the Farmer-to-Farmer Program, 
still modestly funded, has since mushroomed into a program of global 
dimensions that is also now a major component of United States 
assistance to the struggling republics of the former Soviet Union.
  At a time when our taxpayer dollars are scarce and our foreign 
assistance programs are under increasing scrutiny, VOCA and the Farmer-
to- Farmer Program represent a cost-effective and efficient delivery 
mechanism for important U.S. aid. The Farmer-to-Farmer Program is 
simple in design and execution and it avoids Government red-tape by 
contracting the administration to VOCA and similar organizations. 
Federal funding goes a long way because administrative costs are 
limited to volunteers' travel expenses, food, and lodging. Therefore, 
while U.S. foreign assistance efforts generally remain controversial, 
the Farmer-to-Farmer Program and VOCA's volunteers have demonstrated 
that U.S. foreign aid can achieve enormous successes and build 
international good will with a relatively small investment of taxpayer 
dollars.

  Usually volunteers are encouraged to live with host families--not 
just to cut costs--but as another means of building friendship bonds 
and maximizing the likelihood of success. The short-term nature of the 
assignment has also encouraged the volunteers to begin work immediately 
and maximize every day until the job is done. But for VOCA volunteers, 
the work never seems to be done. Often these outstanding individuals 
return from their assignments and continue to assist their overseas 
clients at their own expense.
  VOCA volunteers have come from every sector of the farming and food 
community: cattlemen, ranchers, dairy farmers, vegetable and fruit 
growers, peanut farmers, canners and food processors, beekeepers, and 
agricultural cooperative representatives. Some are active farmers at 
the time they volunteer for the program; others are retired from farm 
or land grant universities, eager to share a lifetime of experience 
with their counterparts in host countries.
  VOCA volunteers inject a spirit of private enterprise into the 
farming community. By suing personal initiative and individual 
responsibility, volunteers support private enterprise activity as 
opposed to government activity. They encourage farmers to assume 
responsibility for their own operations, rather than depending on 
Government support or control. Oftentimes, too, involvement of the 
local people in a farmer cooperative is their first and crucial 
experience in participatory democracy.
  Quite amazingly, small or simple suggestions by VOCA volunteers often 
achieve significant results in lesser developed countries. For example, 
the late John Tesar of Bellevue, NE, went to Honduras in 1988 to help 
the El Marranito Company--The Little Pig--improve its processing 
techniques and help them introduce new products into the local market. 
Within a few weeks of his arrival, the company had reduced its spoilage 
losses by 100 percent. How? Tesar discovered that the fans on the back 
walls of the plant were clogged with grease, thus cutting cooling 
efficiency and causing pork fat to become rancid almost immediately. A 
simple recommendation to clean the fans solved the temperature 
problems.
  The generosity of VOCA volunteers helps both their overseas clients 
and the United States. It isn't accidental that some of our largest 
customers for U.S. agricultural commodities are former benefactors of 
this program. For example, the California raisin industry now sells 
$500,000 of raisin concentrate each year to Uruguay because a VOCA 
volunteer provided information to a United States business colleague on 
marketing opportunities.
  Over the years, this Member has spoken to many returning volunteers. 
Their stories are more than heart-warming and inspiring. They reinforce 
this Member's belief that the strength of our American democratic and 
economic system can best be demonstrated through positive contacts 
between individual American citizens and our foreign neighbors. VOCA 
and the Farmer-to-Farmer Program give people around the world an 
opportunity to meet and work side by side with ordinary Americans who 
are generously putting their special talents and experience to work 
helping them in their struggle to survive, prosper, and escape 
oppression.
  Since 1985, VOCA has implemented more than 1,200 Farmer-to-Farmer 
Program assignments. As the author of that original legislation, this 
Member strongly supports that successful partnership and will try to 
ensure that it continues. Congress certainly appreciates the enormous 
efforts of the VOCA volunteers and staff who have given many Members a 
reason to say they support this country's efforts to help those less 
fortunate throughout the world.

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