By EU Vowers Togo volunteer Martina Pesce
The first morning I walked along the red soil paths of Danyi Apéyemé, surrounded by green hills and the steady rhythm of daily agricultural life, I felt something familiar and yet different. I had already worked and volunteered in field projects before. I knew that community-based projects require patience, flexibility, and humility. But my experience in the Plateaux Region of Togo added a distinct layer to that awareness.
As a European Solidarity Corps volunteer placed with AJEVES, I supported an initiative focused on regenerative agriculture, sustainable beekeeping and women’s collective empowerment. What made this experience unique was not only the environmental dimension of the project, but the local touch behind it.
I was part of a group of four ESC volunteers coming from different European countries. We brought different academic backgrounds, languages, and perspectives. This diversity did not create distance; instead, it enriched the experience. Working together in a rural Togolese community made the idea of European solidarity real: we have been learning from the same context, facing the same challenges, and growing both individually and collectively.
Listening Before Acting
Danyi is a rural community where agriculture is central to daily life. Yet soil degradation and climate variability increasingly affect productivity and long-term stability. Women play a fundamental role in farming activities, often carrying significant responsibility with limited structured economic recognition.
Although I was not new to working in community settings, Danyi reminded me that every context requires active listening. Meetings with women groups and farmers, visits to agricultural plots, and informal conversations highlighted how environmental challenges are stricly tight to social dynamics.
The project was not about introducing ready-made solutions. It was about creating space for adaptation. Composting techniques, beekeeping, crop diversification, and permaculture-inspired practices were discussed openly, questioned, and reshaped collectively. This participatory approach reinforced something I deeply value: sustainable change must be planned locally.
Learning in the Fields
Supporting workshops and field activities allowed me to engage directly with the practical dimension of regenerative agriculture. Volunteers role involved assisting with training, logistics, and coordination, while also participating in hands-on activities.
Working side by side in the field revealed how environmental regeneration is both technical and relational. Trust, consistency, and shared effort matter as much as agricultural methods.
In Danyi, initiatives were not externally driven; they were community-led, with AJEVES facilitating rather than directing. That distinction shaped the atmosphere of the entire project.
Sharing this experience with three other European volunteers added another layer of learning. We constantly exchanged reflections, challenged each other’s assumptions, and navigated cultural differences together. Our internal dialogue became part of the project itself, shaping how we approached our roles and responsibilities.
Women at the Centre of Change
One of the most meaningful aspects of my volunteering period was supporting a group of women in strengthening their cooperative structure. The objective was not only to improve agricultural techniques, but to reinforce collective organisation and economic autonomy.
Observing cooperative meetings, internal discussions, and decision-making processes made visible a gradual shift: women were not only beneficiaries of a project; they were the pillars of it, positioning themselves as economic actors and community leaders. Ecological resilience and gender empowerment were not parallel objectives; they were interconnected.
Growth Beyond Expectations
This experience did not introduce me to complexity, it just refined my understanding of it. I learned that supporting community-led processes requires patience, flexibility and no rush to accelerate outcomes. Progress might come often slowly and following the local pace. But I had to learn this rhythm is also part of sustainability.
Professionally, I strengthened my capacity in field documentation, coordination, and stakeholder engagement. More importantly, I deepened my awareness of the delicate balance between contributing knowledge and preserving local autonomy.
Being part of a multinational volunteer team also deepened my understanding of solidarity. Living and working together in Danyi meant navigating differences in habits, perspectives, and expectations, while staying aligned around a shared purpose. The intercultural dimension of the ESC programme became as transformative as the project activities themselves. That’s why, through the European Solidarity Corps framework, I was able to experience solidarity not as an abstract value, but as daily practice , a mix of presence, respect, and shared responsibility.
Carrying the Experience Forward
The EU Volunteers project in Danyi sowed the seeds of change. Its long-term environmental and economic impacts will only become measurable in the coming years, yet what I expereinced there strengthened my belief that resilience does not arrive from the outside, it grows from within communities.
This chapter in Togo did not redefine my path, but helped me clarifying it. It strengthened my belief that environmental restoration, collective organisation, and women’s leadership are deeply interconnected foundations for sustainable development.
Danyi reminded me that solidarity is not about bringing change from the outside. It is about standing alongside those who are already building it. And that is a lesson I will carry forward, not as a turning point, but as a steady direction.
