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Perspectives: |
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More than half the world's children suffer the effects of
poverty, war and HIV/AIDS, according to the United Nations
Children's Fund Report on The State of the World's Children.
The report found that more than 1 billion children were
growing up hungry and unhealthy, schools had become targets
for warring parties and whole villages were being killed off
by AIDS. A failure by governments around the world to live
up to standards outlined in 1989's Convention on the Rights
of the Child has caused permanent damage to children and
blocked progress toward human rights and economic
advancement, the report said.
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U.S. Ambassador Toasts
SUCCESS
US Ambassador to Vietnam
Michael Marine visited the SUCCESS Alliance booth at the Can Tho
Agriculture Fair in early December. This agricultural fair draws
some 40,000 southern Vietnamese. The booth helped build relations
with cocoa farmers of the Mekong Delta and promote the work of the
Alliance throughout Vietnam and in three other nations. The Alliance
is a comprehensive effort to organize smallholder cocoa farmers,
improve cultivation practices and build trade capacity. It features
support from the global cocoa industry.
(back to top).
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Middle East & East, Central and Southern Africa
ACDI/VOCA is currently seeking candidates for both short and long
term positions for inclusion in our database and consideration on
upcoming projects. Qualified candidates should have at least 10
years of experience working in international development and a
strong knowledge of donor rules and regulations, specifically with
USAID-funded projects. Proven project management and implementation,
regional experience and foreign language are expected. Strong
agricultural background preferred. Technical areas include:
* Trade and Smallholder Linkages
* Market and Export Development
* Competitiveness, Cluster, and Value-Added approaches
* Production and Post-Harvest of Agricultural Commodities
Warehouse receipts consultants
ACDI/VOCA seeks the following commodity storage and marketing
specialists for worldwide assignments lasting two to six weeks:
* grain law
* regulatory functions and issues
* commodity exchange & marketing
* indemnity funds
* grain storage
* elevator management
Submit CV to
roster@acdivoca.org, putting ATTN: Warehouse Receipts
in subject line.
Enterprise development consultants
For the Serbian Enterprise Development Project, ACDI/VOCA seeks
experts in:
* fruit processing and export
* furniture/woodworking
* construction/engineering
* information technology
* pharmaceuticals services
* healthcare services
* textiles and apparel
* tourism
* transportation and logistics
Ideal candidates will have advanced degrees, E. European experience
and familiarity with USAID procedures.
Consultant vacancies
ACDI/VOCA also hires paid consultants, usually for longer terms of
service. Only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls please.
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News
from Overseas: |
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Tsunami
Devastation:
We wish to thank our many supporters who have expressed concern
about our overseas staff, partners and clients in South and
Southeast Asia regarding the impact of the Tsunami. We are relieved
to report that all of our staff in affected countries are safe and
that our beneficiaries have been largely spared the tragic
devastation of December 26. In the aftermath of the tragedy, we are
exploring with USAID and other donors ways in which we can
contribute, within the framework of our mission and practice areas,
to what is certain to be a long-term process of reconstruction.
ACDI/VOCA’s main involvement in Indonesia is in the cocoa industry.
Our programs that are improving the livelihood of smallholder
farmers who produce the crop will help the entire region, including
the tsunami-swept lowlands of northern Sumatra, return to something
resembling normalcy.
For those of you who may wish to make a more immediate contribution,
additional economic rehabilitation efforts are being planned through
a Tsunami Co-op Recovery Fund that is being established by the
Cooperative Development Foundation. Information on donating to that
effort will be available soon at
http://www.cdf.coop/.
Thanks again for your concern and continued support for ACDI/VOCA's
mission of international development assistance.
Sincerely,
Carl H. Leonard
Interim President
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Exxon Funding Supports Microcredit Initiative in Russian Far East
After two years of planning, Exxon is advancing $500,000 in loan capital
for microenterprise and small business loans in North Sakhalin under
ACDI/VOCA's Sakhalin Small Enterprise Development Foundation. Exxon's
Government and Public Affairs Manager Michael Allen wrote to ACDI/VOCA's
Ken Smith: "I am sure that your experience and our support will make the
implementation of the Microcredit program beneficial for the North
Sakhalin business community and help northern Sakhaliners to capture
more benefits of economic development...." This is the latest in ACDI/VOCA's
public-private sector programs, the second involving a major oil
company. (back to top).
In Remembrance of Assistance to WWII Pilots
On November 1 in Pranjani, Serbia, the reconstructed John Kingsbury
Health Center was opened by Michael C. Polt, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia
and Montenegro. The $67,000 reconstruction was undertaken through the
USAID-funded Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA)
program, along with the local municipality which contributed $11,073.
"The opening of the health center is a part of the gratitude that the
American people feel toward the people of this area who risked their
lives to save our pilots during World War II," said Ambassador Polt.
Seventeen Allied pilots forced down in 1944 were assisted by residents.
The original health center was built during WWI by Kingsbury, an
American Red Cross worker. Now, the 10,000 residents of the area will be
served by a modern, fully equipped facility, one of 70 serving 900,000
Serbians that ACDI/VOCA's CRDA project has reconstructed and equipped.
Health facilities are just one priority being addressed by this large
national civic action program. For example, in a recent issue the
Serbian Executive Newsletter indicated that 46 community projects have
been funded over the past three years in Jagodina. USAID contributed
$1.19 million and local communities $1.05 million. ACDI/VOCA projects
helped Jagodina repair its roads, power grid, water supply system, and
schools, and purchase equipment for the local health center, schools and
the library. (back to top).
ACDI/VOCA's Kula Speaks at
SEEP Network's Annual Meeting
ACDI/VOCA’s
Senior Technical Advisor for Enterprise Development Olaf Kula led a
workshop on Integrating the Poor into Global Markets at the Oct. 25-29
SEEP Network Annual Meeting. This year's meeting, held at the AED
Conference Center in Washington, addressed "Reducing Poverty with
Economic Growth." At Kula's session panelists discussed common elements
from coffee, tropical fruit and tourism industries that enable the
world's poor to both contribute to and benefit from participation in
global markets: smallholders coming together in groups, cooperatives
and/or associations in order to achieve economies of scale; increased
capacity of middlemen to provide improved services to microenterprises;
and the added margins when product or service branding strategies
include microenterprise participation.
(back to top).
 Bai
Tushum Now a Leading Kyrgyzstan Financial Institutions
Gulnara Shamshieva, General Manager of the Microcredit Agency Bai Tushum
Financial Fund, reports that Bai Tushum has evolved in less than three
years from three small-time, mismatched and struggling farm credit
associations to a single fully operational and financially sustainable
financial institution that provides critical support to small and micro
enterprises in Kyrgyzstan. Bai Tushum, which means "rich harvest," meets
all international audit and rating standards and secures its own funding
in the marketplace. Its sound footing, based largely on a 97 percent
repayment rate, has helped it obtain an "A" rating and win a Kyrgyz
government award for poverty alleviation. USAID recognizes Bai Tushum as
a rural microfinance leader and taps it for advice to other AID-funded
microfinance projects in the region. Bai Tushum is expected to quadruple
in size over the next few years.
(back to top).
"Dear Margaret Swallow:"
...wrote Kem Tokave, Managing Director of Papua New Guinea's Agoga
Producer Group to the Executive Director of the Coffee Quality
Institute, thanking her for Coffee Corps volunteer Daniel R Kuhn's "work
towards maximizing our income from coffee production, giving us the
opportunity to improve our living standards." The Coffee Corps is
sponsored by CQI, and its volunteer assignments are arranged by ACDI/VOCA.
Coffee is the second most important crop in PNG, earning 43 percent of
agricultural exports, employing an estimated 20,000 people and involving
397,772 households with over 2 million people.
(back to top).
USAID's Natsios Commends ACDI/VOCA HIV/AIDS Project
 Observing
World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios said, "We
understand that food and nutrition are crucial for the care, support,
and treatment of families affected by AIDS. In countries such as Uganda,
our food aid program is improving the lives of more than 60,000 people
who are living with HIV/AIDS. For example, Irene Nakitto, an 11-year-old
girl, was too weak to receive USAID food rations distributed in her
hometown in Uganda. She was then hospitalized and given anti-retroviral
therapy for three months to control her HIV symptoms, while her family
brought rations from USAID food distribution to the hospital. The
treatment, in combination with correct nutrition, enabled her to gain
strength and weight and rejoin her classmates at school." The food
distribution program, implemented by ACDI/VOCA under PL 480 Title II,
distributes supplementary rations to Ugandans living with HIV/AIDS,
their dependents and orphans. Other ACDI/VOCA food aid activities in
Uganda promote economic development.
(back to top).
Schram Gives Keynote Address at USU International Week
 ACDI/VOCA
VP Sue Schram gave the keynote address on November 16 during Utah State
University's International Education Week. The activity is sponsored by
the U.S. Departments of State and Education to enable Americans to
succeed in the global economy and to promote global stability. Dr. Schram emphasized today's interdependence, particularly the links
between foreign aid and increased jobs and investment opportunities in
the U.S. She provided information on past and present trends in
development assistance and related these investments to Utah's annual
of $2.7 billion to 150 foreign markets. Given the current global economy Schram stressed the importance of students making use of international
programs on campus. She also
met with USU faculty interested in serving as ACDI/VOCA volunteers or consultants.
(back to top).
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 ACDI/VOCA currently needs
volunteer experts for the following assignments:
390022-Uzbekistan and
390023-Kyrgyzstan: (These two assignments could be filled by one
volunteer.) Volunteer or volunteers are requested to develop meat
departments in a small supermarket chain, developing internal procedures
and a training guide for butchering, introducing price models for
different meat cuts, improving waste control and establishing hygiene
requirements. 3-4 weeks for each assignment, beginning in January.
431014-Panama: An expert in cacao grafting to provide training to
extension agents and groups of cacao producers. Spoken Spanish highly
preferred. March or April 2005, for 10 or 15 working days.
431020-Panama: An expert in coconut production to provide training to
extension agents and groups of coconut producers. Spoken Spanish
required. January or February 2005, for 10 or 15 working days.
431024-Panama: An all-purpose radio specialist, or a team of two based
on respective skill sets, to conduct listenership survey, develop
operations manual, explore fundraising options, design programming, and
conduct training in equipment use and production methods. Fluency, or
near fluency, in spoken Spanish required. January-March 2005, for 20
working days (negotiable).
358028-Bolivia: Microbiologist/food technologist to work with annatto
producers association and, in particular, address microbiological
contamination. 3-5 weeks, January or February 2005.
358031-Bolivia: Botanist to assist in implementing a plant propagation
laboratory for in vitro tissue culture and to train in biotechnology
techniques. 3-4 weeks, February 2005.
(back to top).
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