Former Head of West Africa Rice Development Association Volunteers for ACDI/VOCA

With the help of Board Chair Mort Neufville, ACDI/VOCA recently tapped the eminent Dr. Eugene Terry (pictured at left) as a volunteer for its Promoting Agriculture, Governance and Environment (PAGE) project in Sierra Leone. Dr. Terry, originally from Sierra Leone, is a longtime friend and colleague of Dr. Neufville.

Dr. Terry brought both acumen and prestige to the assignment. He served as the first director general of the West Africa Rice Development Association, in Bouake, Côte d'Ivoire; as an advisor at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.; as the implementing director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation in Nairobi, Kenya; and as chairman of the board of trustees of the World Agroforestry Center also in Nairobi.

In Sierra Leone, Terry was asked to address the capacity of the recently revised Company Act to promote rural producer organizations. What is needed is a provision for an enterprise that is a hybrid between a cooperative society and a limited liability company to make it possible for producer organizations to be registered. Presently, producer organizations can associate informally, but there is no appropriate law under which they can become formally recognized.

His full schedule included meetings with the ministers of agriculture and trade, FAO officials and the president's private sector advisor. The latter promised to carry the message to his excellency to enable ACDI/VOCA Chief of Party Jim Dean and his team to move forward on needed reforms.

Agriculture is a high priority of the government, so initiatives under the $13 million USAID-funded PAGE program to transform subsistence agriculture to agribusiness-based activities look promising. The four-year initiative, which is being implemented by a consortium of partners led by ACDI/VOCA and including ARD, Inc., and World Vision, seeks to revitalize Sierra Leone’s rural economy; empower marginalized women, youth and smallholder farmers; and promote democratic local governance.

Following Terry's volunteer assignment, Neufville facilitated a meeting in Washington with Sierra Leone's Ambassador to the U.S., Bockari K. Stevens. ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard described ACDI/VOCA and the PAGE program, and Terry briefed on his assignment. Ambassador Stevens, who is from Kenema where the project is active, said that he was interested and would like to visit our program in the field.

To learn more about PAGE, click here.