An Interview with our Programs Director

Posted by Doug

The New Year is off to a great start at Plant With Purpose! There is a lot of excitement in our office as our program staff prepares to visit our overseas programs. For the blog today, we thought we’d interview Armando Osorio, our Programs Director, about what he and his program staff are up to.

Armando, Can you tell us a little bit about the importance of this season for Plant With Purpose’s overseas programs?

Actually three of our programs are starting their fiscal year this month - Thailand, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. So in December we spend a lot of time planning for the New Year and finalizing budgets so our programs can start their year.

Q-What are the goals of the trips that you and the other program officers make during this time?

In general, we take trips to continue to build relationships with the local staff and communities, evaluating what took place in the last year. We also work on monitoring procedures, capturing new information and discussing plans for the new year. We visit many of the individual communities, too, to follow up on previous visits and also visit new communities where we are just starting to work.

For yourself, what are you looking forward to?

Well, I’ll be leaving for Thailand next week, which is still a fairly new program; it is new for me- I just started going there one year ago, so it still has a sense of newness. It’s very inspiring to go and visit new tribal villages near the Burmese border, to hear their languages and eat their food for the first time. We also get to hear about their journeys and what they have endured. It's always encouraging!

How can we pray for you? I would say definitely for traveling mercies, and wisdom in knowing how to move partnerships forward, how to expand the program, building accountability structures, etc.

Anything else we should know? Just more prayer for other opportunities, especially in Burma and Cambodia. Part of our purpose in starting in Thailand is to get ready to expand our work in the region. We’re excited to do that.

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Doug Satre

Director of Outreach and Development-As Director of Outreach Development, Doug Satre is responsible for overseeing Plant With Purpose’s fundraising and marketing efforts, working with the Plant With Purpose staff, donors and foundations to build awareness and financial support of Plant With Purpose’s work to transform the lives of the rural poor.

Armando Osorio

Programs Director-As the Plant With Purpose Programs Director, Armando Osorio acts as the liaison between our international field teams and Plant With Purpose USA. He is involved in the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of all Plant With Purpose programs.