Volunteer Stories
Jan Buresh
Morocco
Morocco
This article was originally written and published by IESC here.
Photo Credit to Cited Implementing Partner or Cited Entity
Name: Jan Buresh
Current title/profession: Independent Financial Services Professional
Current hometown: Washington D.C.
Areas of expertise: Agribusiness, lending, business administration
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
Location of the project: Lebanon and Morocco
Organization that sent the volunteer: IESC and Land O'Lakes International Development
VOLUNTEER IMPACT
Volunteers have been a critical part of IESC’s mission since 1964. The Frank Pace Award, named for one of IESC’s founders, is awarded each year to the volunteer expert who performed the most outstanding project in the previous year. This year, IESC recognized Jan Buresh for her volunteer support on our Farmer-to-Farmer Middle East and North Africa Program.
Buresh went on assignments in both Lebanon and Morocco. In Lebanon, she helped a microfinance organization assess agriculture lending needs in the southern part of the country. In Morocco, Buresh helped a local foundation to identify the needs of their beneficiaries and draft scopes of work for future IESC volunteers. During her 20-day assignment, she laid the groundwork for IESC to field more volunteers to Morocco, a new core country for the Farmer-to-Farmer Program.
Despite the ongoing security concerns and political instability in the region, Buresh fully embraced the opportunity to return to Lebanon and accept an assignment in an unfamiliar area outside Beirut. Similarly Buresh embraced an assignment in Morocco under challenging circumstances. She hit the ground running and got right to work. After returning home from Morocco, Buresh remained involved with and invested in the Farmer-to-Farmer Program, her host organization, and Land O’Lakes, the prime award holder for the program.Buresh went on assignments in both Lebanon and Morocco. In Lebanon, she helped a microfinance organization assess agriculture lending needs in the southern part of the country. In Morocco, Buresh helped a local foundation to identify the needs of their beneficiaries and draft scopes of work for future IESC volunteers. During her 20-day assignment, she laid the groundwork for IESC to field more volunteers to Morocco, a new core country for the Farmer-to-Farmer Program.
Although the ultimate impact of her assignments remains to be seen, Buresh did phenomenal work that laid the groundwork for future success.
With a background in finance and business development, Buresh has completed three other assignments for IESC. She is the volunteer embodiment of IESC’s mission, committed to ensuring that host organizations and beneficiaries get the knowledge and skills they need to build a resilient economy and thriving community.