ACDI/VOCA Launches First Market Information System in Armenia

ACDI/VOCA’s Water-to-Market (WtM) Activity, funded by the Millennium Challenge Account–Armenia, launched the first market information system in Armenia at an event in Yerevan on December 17. The system disseminates information through its website and SMS (short message service). “The objective of the market information system is to provide market prices of fruit and vegetables to farmers and representatives of all segments of the production and marketing chain. Well-analyzed market information enables farmers to make better planting decisions, including those related to new crops,” said Richard Hurelbrink, ACDI/VOCA-Armenia country director and WtM Activity leader. At the event, the Armenian Market Information System, or ARMIS, was presented in detail by ACDI/VOCA-Armenia Marketing Specialist Nora Alanakyan. She explained how the system will disseminate information through its website and SMS to enable farmers to negotiate with traders based on real-time price information. More.

Leonard Helps Unveil Roadmap to End Hunger

Addressing a growing crisis that threatens to destroy the health and nutrition of millions of families worldwide, not to mention the economic fabric of much of the developing world, the nation's top international NGOs joined Representatives Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) today in calling for a new U.S. plan to lead the international community in alleviating global hunger. ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard serves as chair of the Alliance For Global Food Security, a diverse coalition of almost 40 international relief and development organizations including Bread for the World, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, the Congressional Hunger Center, Friends of the World Food Program, Mercy Corps, Save the Children and World Vision that spearheaded the Roadmap to End Global Hunger campaign. Former Representative Tony Hall (pictured, on left, with ACDI/VOCA Senior Managing Director of Food Security Avram "Buzz" Guroff and President Carl Leonard) referred to the coalition as “the best and brightest of NGOs in our country and in our world.” More.

On February 2 and 3, ACDI/VOCA’s USAID-funded Central Asia Microfinance Alliance II (CAMFA II) program, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Association of Microfinance Organizations of Tajikistan conducted a training on “Basics and Specifics of Microleasing Operations” for local microfinance organizations in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The purpose was to give microcredit specialists practical skills in preparing and conducting microleasing operations with particular attention to relevant legal and tax issues. Microleasing is a financial services tool that makes it easier for small enterprises or private entrepreneurs who cannot afford to purchase expensive equipment, agricultural technology and other fixed assets at full cost to rent them. Microleasing allows these small enterprises and entrepreneurs to build up their initial capital or expand their businesses at a lower cost. More.

East Timor Program Records 302 Land Claims

The USAID-funded Strengthening Property Rights in Timor-Leste (SPRTL) project, working with the East Timor National Directorate for Land and Property, has already collected 302 land claims in 2 pilot areas in Liquica and Manatuto districts. ACDI/VOCA, under a subcontract with ARD, implements the program, known locally as Ita Nia Rai (“Our Land”), which supports the East Timorese government in strengthening property rights and resolving conflicts. Land titling is a key element of economic development and security in any country. In East Timor, a country that gained independence only in 2002, conflicts over property rights and land tenure have been a major cause of civil unrest. More.

ACDI/VOCA welcomes Charles F. Conner onto its board of directors. Conner is the new president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC), a Washington, D.C., trade association that represents the interests of agricultural cooperatives. NCFC is a longtime affiliate of ACDI/VOCA and enjoys ex officio board membership. Conner, who has more than 25 years of national and state government, agricultural and trade association experience, was named to head NCFC Jan. 2 and attended his first ACDI/VOCA board meeting January 27. He said he was affirmed by ACDI/VOCA’s good reputation, which he said was “a tribute to the board, President Carl Leonard and staff.” More.

ACDI/VOCA’s USAID-funded Central Asia Microfinance Alliance II (CAMFA II) program conducted the eighth meeting of the AgFinance Working Group on December 11 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The meeting brought together representatives of banking and nonbanking financial institutions, government agencies, donors and business associations, and focused on those who directly or indirectly promote the development of Kyrgyz rural and agricultural finance. The main topics of the meeting were mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in microfinance and the treatment of leasing under the new tax code. In many countries M&A has become a widely accepted solution when there is a need to join two or more businesses to create a new, stronger one with greater economy of scale. More.

On March 2 ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard presided over a send-off reception for Chief Financial and Administrative Officer Nancy Bradley, who is retiring (again). Leonard told the story of how his predecessor Chris Baker drove down to Fredericksburg in 2004 to coax Bradley out of her first retirement when the company needed her. He pointed out that she has left an indelible mark on ACDI/VOCA, helping it to grow as an organization, beefing up HR, IT and office operations functions, and ensuring its future by emphasizing training and keeping an eye out for talented staff, including bringing overseas accounting staff to headquarters. Leonard said with a smile, “Nancy is a forthright person who is certainly not timid about letting you know what’s on her mind." He added, "She always acts with the highest standards of integrity.” ACDI/VOCA Board Chair Mort Neufville attended the reception and presented Bradley with a plaque inscribed with a board resolution commemorating her excellence in service to ACDI/VOCA. Bradley's deputy Matt Renaud will replace her as CFO.

On February 6 the two winners of USAID’s Innovations in Financing Value Chains Competition were recognized with awards at the QED Group, in Washington, D.C. The event featured opening remarks made by Anicca Jansen, USAID senior technical advisor in EGAT’s Office of Microenterprise Development, and Janice K. Stallard, ACDI/VOCA senior technical director of Enterprise Development and Competitiveness. Following the introduction, representatives from the winning submissions—the Rural Competitiveness Activity project, implemented by Chemonics and Crimson Capital, and the World Council of Credit Unions—presented on their work. Ramiro Ortega Landa of ARCo presented on "Value Chain Financing in Rural Bolivia: Introducing Purchase Order Financing,” and Luis Jimenez of WOCCU presented on “Using the Value Chain Finance Methodology.” Afterwards, there was a panel discussion on “How Value Chain Finance Can Increase Industry Competitiveness,” facilitated by Stallard with contributions from Jansen, USAID/EGAT Investment Officer Anthony Vaganos, USAID Agriculture and Land Tenure Advisor Lena Heron and World Bank economist Juan Buchenau. More.

As the food and financial crises loom, ACDI/VOCA is in the mix of academicians, policymakers and implementers exploring approaches to help the world’s poorest communities. At a workshop on "Connecting the Chronically Poor to the Agricultural Growth Agenda" held December 12, in Washington, D.C., Paul Guenette, technical managing director for ACDI/VOCA’s agribusiness programs, presented on enhancing the poor's access to markets. “Diversification to a cash crop, that is, farming both staple and cash crops, is the key to breaking the chronic poverty cycle,” Guenette said. “The shift into cash cropping alongside food cropping brings income, obviously, but the shift also has a secondary and very beneficial effect on the farmers’ food crop productivity.” The workshop was organized by USAID, InterAction, and the BASIS Assets and Market Access Collaborative Research Support Program, a global research effort based at the University of Wisconsin. The event's findings helped set the agenda of the "Escaping Poverty Traps" workshop described below. More.

Managing Director for Enterprise Development and Competitiveness Ruth Campbell presented "Making Value Chains Work for the Poor" at the February 26 and 27 workshop, "Escaping Poverty Traps: Connecting the Chronically Poor to Economic Growth." Serving on a panel that discussed integrating the productive poor into markets, Campbell (pictured) said the value chain approach emphasizes incentives and stimulates behavior change in ways that strengthen competitiveness. She held that this behavior change affects interfirm relationships, the value placed on learning and innovation, and the distribution of benefits. Increasingly, Campbell explained, competitive value chains have the potential to impact the poor by creating sustainable employment at multiple levels, incorporating small-scale producers, promoting positive economic behavior and building demand for basic public and private services. More.

On January 28 ACDI/VOCA headquarters staff gathered to wish longtime Senior Vice President Charles Cox a happy (partial) transition from a workaday life in development to one in which he tries to improve an already pretty good golf game. ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard remarked to the large gathering how much Charles has meant to our organization. While former U.S. Representative Doug Bereuter is often referred to as the father of Farmer-to-Farmer, according to Carl we at ACDI/VOCA credit Charles for making that program as well as our other volunteer activities successful. Leonard pointed out Charles’s two sides. One is irreverent, fun-loving: Charles is a puller of practical jokes, the one who wouldn’t hesitate to interrupt a meeting to crack wise, and who would sign his well-crafted e-mails with coinages like “Brazilianly,” “Yours investigatively” and “Merci buckets." Yet he is also a compassionate believer in our mission. In addressing the group, Charles spoke like the former Peace Corps volunteer that he is and reminded us of our duty to continue providing opportunities to the poor. As always, his watchword was “the people.” ACDI/VOCA will miss Charles in his full-time capacity, but we're not quite saying goodbye. His new near-half-time role as the VOCA Foundation's executive director will keep him in action, as will overseeing our bid for a renewed worldwide Cooperative Development Program.

The launch of the new Value Chain Development Wiki developed under ACDI/VOCA's USAID-funded Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project Business Development Services (AMAP BDS) will be held on April 13 at the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in Washington, D.C. The event is open to anyone interested in value chain development who wants to learn how to use and contribute to this exciting new tool. The online, interactive site is a tool to help codify emerging good practices in value chain development. Developed in collaboration with more than 50 specialists from a wide range of institutions, the wiki describes the components of the value chain framework and the stages of the value chain development project cycle. The wiki will evolve as feedback is received on additional innovative methods, lessons learned and tried-and-true best practices. Check www.microLINKS.org/valuechains in April for updates about how to start using the wiki.

From March 24 to 26 ACDI/VOCA Senior Technical Director Janice K. Stallard will host an online microLINKS Speaker’s Corner on “Increasing Incentives and Reducing Risks: How Value Chain Finance Can Increase Industry Competitiveness.” Participants are invited to share challenges, best practices and innovative applications. The forum's goal is to produce a set of recommendations for practical value chain finance tools. For information and registration, visit: www.microlinks.org/sc/valuechainfinance.

The Capitol Hill Forum 2009, “Advancing Agricultural Development and Addressing the Global Food Crisis—Present and Future,” was held March 3 in the Rayburn House Office Building. The forum, packed with Capitol Hill staff, administration officials, NGO and university representatives and others, was sponsored by the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development and 21 cosponsors, including ACDI/VOCA. More.

Short-term Volunteer Assignment Leads to Long-term Commitment



In 2005, coconut expert Randal Moore (pictured) had just returned from a mountain-climbing expedition in the Guyana Highlands of Venezuela when ACDI/VOCA contacted him with hopes of sending him to Panama. A self-taught expert in palm trees, Moore serves as the horticultural editor of a scientific journal devoted to palms and as a board member on local and international botanical associations. He collects palms from around the world and maintains a personal botanic garden containing hundreds of palm species. This expertise brought him to ACDI/VOCA’s attention and led to a life-changing volunteer experience.

To read Moore's full story, click here.

... who wrote in regard to the War on Terror, "But over the long term, the United States cannot kill or capture its way to victory"?

a) The Secretary of State
b) The Secretary of Defense
c) The Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development
d) President Obama

The answer is b) Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. He went on to write in the January/February 2009 issue of Foreign Affairs, "Where possible, what the military calls kinetic [violent, or force-on-force] operations should be subordinated to measures aimed at promoting better governance, economic programs that spur development and efforts to address the grievances among the discontented, from whom the terrorists recruit."

Source: January/February 2009 Issue of the Council on Foreign Relations' Foreign Affairs

Long-term Overseas and Consultant Positions: We are looking to fill the following positions:

Iraq: Local Governance Advisor

Burkina Faso: Chief of Party

Pakistan: Agricultural Specialists

In addition, we're looking for applicants with expertise in

• conflict-affected regions
• infrastructure development
• horticulture (fruit and vegetables)
• specialty crops (cocoa, coffee, spices)
• cereals
• value chain or subsector analysis and value chain development

Please visit our website for more career opportunities.

Volunteer Positions: We need volunteers on an ongoing basis for short-term (typically two to three weeks) assignments who have the following expertise:

• horticulture, especially related to tomatoes and fruit trees
• strategic planning for cooperatives or association strengthening
• impact assessment training focusing on food security projects

We are actively seeking specialists in agriculture, cooperative development, horticulture or small and medium-sized enterprise development who are fluent in French. If interested, please update or create your e-Profile here.

Please visit our website for more volunteer opportunities and information.