Volunteer Veterinary Students
PEI/FHF Kenya Summer Internship Program
Deadline for Submission Nov 5, 2025 – 11:59pm AST
The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) has been awarded $300,000 from the federal
Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships program for a project that aims to
improve the nutrition, food security, and livelihoods of smallholder dairy farmers in central
Kenya. UPEI is partnering with PEI-based Farmers helping Farmers (FHF) and Kenyatta
University, the University of Nairobi and Naari Dairy Cooperative Society in Kenya.
The four-year program is led by Dr. John VanLeeuwen of UPEI’s Atlantic Veterinary College
(AVC), and it’s development included input from Teresa and Ken Mellish of FHF, and Drs.
Jennifer Taylor, Colleen Walton and Charlene VanLeeuwen, UPEI Department of Applied
Human Sciences.
First or second year veterinary students - please download this application form:
UPEI/FHF Kenya Veterinary Senior Rotation
DEADLINE: Nov 5, 2025 – 11:59pm AST
The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) has run this successful rotation for over 20
years, with aims to improve the nutrition, food security, and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in
central Kenya. UPEI is partnering with PEI-based Farmers helping Farmers (FHF), the
University of Nairobi, and a number of partner dairy groups, women’s groups, and donkey
owners in Kenya. The rotation is led by Dr. John VanLeeuwen of UPEI’s Atlantic Veterinary
College (AVC), and was developed with input from Teresa and Ken Mellish of FHF, and Drs.
Martha Mellish of AVC (donkey part) and Victoria Bowes (poultry part). Each year, three AVC
students and three to six Kenyan senior veterinary students get practical experience in
international smallholder dairy health management while delivering services and training to
smallholder farmers in Kenya. Training methods include face-to-face seminars, demonstrations,
and train-the-trainer. Emphasis will be on practical training for both the Kenyan and Canadian
students. Working directly with the farmers will help UPEI students understand small-scale
dairying and cropping challenges, along with work with poultry farmers and donkey owners.
Farmers Helping Farmers is a nationally recognized, award-winning, registered charitable
organization of community-minded people from PEI, Canada. FHF’s objectives are to assist
Kenyan smallholder farmers in rural communities to build food security and sustainable
livelihoods through collaborative small-scale, practical, agriculturally based economic
development projects through training of best management practices. FHF also partners with
Kenyan farm organizations (eg. self-help women’s groups and dairy cooperatives and societies)
who can then service their farmer members better. FHF has been working with farmers in Kenya
for over 40 years, but in 2004, it officially broadened its mission and began partnering with
UPEI. Between 2004 – 2015, over 100 UPEI veterinary, teaching, nutrition, nursing, biology, and
business students, along with 14 faculty, have experienced international development first-hand,
supported by FHF and their Kenyan partners. These students have been supported, either cash or in-kind, by various funding sources including Farmers Helping Farmers, CIDA, UPEI, AUCC,
Veterinarians without Borders-Canada, and students’ personal sources. An MOU and research
MOA are signed with UPEI.
Third year veterinary students, please download this application form.
UPEI/FHF Kenya Summer Foods and Nutrition Internship Program Overview
Volunteer UPEI/FHF Kenya Summer Internship Program
DEADLINE: November 5, 2025 11:59 pm AST
Please download this application form to apply:
The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) has run this successful internship for Foods & Nutrition
(FN) students for 15 years, with aims to improve the nutrition, food security, and livelihoods of
smallholder farmers in central Kenya. UPEI is partnering with PEI-based Farmers helping Farmers (FHF),
the University of Nairobi, and a number of partner dairy groups in Kenya. Each year, two Foods &
Nutrition students gain practical experience in nutrition education and nutrition related development
work. In addition, three AVC veterinary students gain practical experience in international smallholder
livestock health management while delivering services and training to smallholder farmers in Kenya.
Training methods that all students will be involved with include face-to-face seminars, demonstrations,
and train-the-trainer sessions. Emphasis will be on practical training for both the Kenyan and Canadian
students. Foods and Nutrition students will gain experience in implementing and evaluating health
promotion programs and will work with women’s groups to deliver food based practical nutrition
education.
Farmers Helping Farmers is a nationally recognized, award-winning, registered charitable
organization of community-minded people from PEI, Canada. FHF’s objectives are to assist Kenyan
smallholder farmers in rural communities to build food security and sustainable livelihoods through
collaborative small-scale, practical, agriculturally based economic development projects through
training of best management practices. FHF also partners with Kenyan farm organizations (e.g. self-
help women’s groups and dairy cooperatives and societies) who can then service their farmer
members better. FHF also supports schools with feeding programs and practical agriculture nutrition
programs for students. FHF has been working with farmers in Kenya for over 40 years, but in 2004, it
officially broadened its mission and began partnering with UPEI. Since 2004, over 100 UPEI
veterinary, teaching, nutrition, nursing, biology, climate change and business students, along with 14
faculty, have experienced international development first-hand, supported by FHF and their Kenyan
partners. These students have been supported, either with cash or in-kind, by various funding
sources including Farmers Helping Farmers, Global Affairs Canada, UPEI, Queen Elizabeth Scholars
program, pharmaceutical companies, local veterinarians, Veterinarians without Borders-Canada, and
students’ personal sources.
