Workshops & Conferences

Here's What WISHH Midwest Workshop Alumni Say about the Program

Counterpart International's Kristin Cashin said, “It is always good to learn more about the commodities you are programming and about ways in which you can program them. …I certainly would recommend that other colleagues take the opportunity to attend.”

" I’m a big fan of the WISHH program and its workshops because I believe in the partnerships," said Gregg Nelson, Cargill. "I can’t think of any other area in my work that has so much collaboration. WISHH brings together the whole ladder of participants from soybean growers to academics to technology specialists to international organizations. Most of the growth for U.S. soy is in the global market, but WISHH goes beyond the profit motive and goes into filling human needs and other humanitarian aspects."

"The information dispensed at the training can revolutionize the way private voluntary organizations view food aid," said David G. Macharia who is with Catholic Relief Services in Kenya. "The exposure I got at the Midwest Workshop (in 2002) got us thinking about improved ways of using soy in our program. I got to learn of various ways of preparing soy products that would be culturally acceptable. The fact that soy adopted the flavor of whatever it was cooked with was intriguing in that it would receive acceptability in any community."

Counterpart International's Thoric Cederstrom said, "The WISHH workshop that I attended last year at the University of Illinois really opened my eyes to the versatility of soy for ending malnutrition. Since that time, Counterpart has signed a memorandum of understanding with WISHH to use a variety of 'high-end' soy products (soy flour and soy isolates) in our U.S. Department of Agriculture school feeding program in Senegal. We intend to extend this productive relationship to our HIV/AIDS program elsewhere where we will work together to mitigate the negative nutritional impact of this pandemic by fortifying local foods with high quality U.S.-produced soy products."