VOCA Foundation Emerges

The newly launched VOCA Foundation will not only preserve ACDI/VOCA's longstanding volunteer ethic but also enhance our standing as a pre-eminent volunteer organization. Since 1971 ACDI/VOCA volunteers have completed more than 10,000 assignments in more than 130 countries. Agricultural, business and financial professionals of all stripes, even specialists such as apiculturalists, bakers, ecotourism experts, community development leaders, have donated 1.2 million hours of service.

ACDI/VOCA is conducting a value chain analysis in Sierra Leone for the World Bank’s Private Sector Development Project. The analysis will provide the analytical underpinnings for further development of the country's high-value agriculture sector in addition to specific recommendations for enhancing the competitiveness of selected Sierra Leonean horticultural and livestock products. From January through March 2007, the ACDI/VOCA team in Sierra Leone will strategically select industries, conduct a thorough analysis of each value chain, and bring together relevant stakeholders to collaborate on increasing industry competitiveness. More.

ACDI/VOCA Represented at CGIAR Meeting

ACDI/VOCA participated in the Annual General Meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Dec. 5-7, 2006, in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton Hotel. At the ACDI/VOCA booth, VP Dr. Sue Schram discussed relevant ACDI/VOCA technical and research work in agricultural development with conference participants. The exhibition was an impressive collection of the worldwide work of CGIAR Centers, Challenge Programs and CGIAR Partners together with what was called the Innovation Marketplace. Our presence at the exhibition and conference was facilitated by Dr. Mort Neufville, Executive Vice President of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and ACDI/VOCA board member and Projects Committee Chair. He has served as board chair of one of the CGIAR Centers, IITA, and has long been interested in collaboration between the scientists of CGIAR and practical development implementers such as ACDI/VOCA. The CGIAR will place priority on new project partnership mechanisms with NGOs in 2007.

Paola I. Lang Joins ACDI/VOCA as VP for Programs

ACDI/VOCA welcomes Paola Lang, who will coordinate portfolio planning and expansion, program monitoring and reporting, non-traditional business development, and overseas outreach and representation. Her field work, which has been funded by USAID, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and private clients, has ranged from organizing sales of PL 480 commodities in Africa, to restructuring troubled banks in Bangladesh, to managing social investment funds in Guinea and spurring enterprise growth in Croatia. More.

Chinese Delegation Visits ACDI/VOCA-Russia

The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) recently sent a 15-member delegation on a study tour to Russia. ACDI/VOCA’s Michael Harvey in Moscow, together with HQ’s Nadia Namken, arranged two days of meetings on microfinance and credit cooperation for the CFPA, including meetings with the Russian Women’s Microfinance Network and some of their borrowers, the leader of the Credit Cooperative System of the Chuvashia Republic, and our Russian-American Lending program to credit cooperatives and the Rural Credit Cooperation Development Foundation staff. The delegation included individuals from Huai’an Country and Zhangjiakou City of Hebei Province, among others. CFPA has recently signed a contract with the China Development Bank to provide it over $12 million in loans for microfinance over the next 5 years.

Radio Program Reaches Kenyans

The "Mali Shambani" radio program recently marked its one-year anniversary. At a lessons-learned meeting, attended by Kenya Broadcasting Corporation’s producers and sales and marketing team, along with representatives from ACDI/VOCA, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange, Research International presented the findings of a July 2006 study measuring program impact. According to the study, "Mali Shambani," which means wealth in farming, had an audience of about 2 million listeners, 40 percent of whom were women. The program was found to be effective in delivering appropriate extension messages to a wide array of target listeners. It was recommended that stakeholders consider developing a website for the program and also disseminating short message texts on mobile phones. The possibility of using a sector-specific information approach was discussed, and a pilot project for dairy is being developed. The program is an activity of ACDI/VOCA’s USAID-funded $5.9 million Kenya Maize Development Project.

New ACDI/VOCA Papers Posted on microLINKS

Lessons Learned on MSE Upgrading in Value Chains: A Synthesis Paper, by Elizabeth Dunn, Jennefer Sebstad, Lisa Batzdorff and Holly Parsons.

Madagascar Aromatic and Medicinal Plant Value Chain Analysis: Combining the Value Chain Approach and Nature, Health, Wealth and Power Frameworks, by Criss Juliard, Charles Benjamin, Maziar Sassanpour, Aro Ratovonomenjanahry and Pascal Ravohitrarivo. 

These publications are made possible by ACDI/VOCA’s $10 million, USAID-funded Accelerating Microenterprise Advancement Project Business Development Services (AMAP BDS) Knowledge and Practice Task Order.

ACDI/VOCA’s Stuebner on Public Radio

ACDI/VOCA’s Bill Stuebner appeared in mid-Dec. on Chicago Public Radio's Worldview program to discuss the ACDI/VOCA approach to working with the military. The theme of the show was "Winning Without Fighting." (To hear this interview, go to www.chicagopublicradio.com; click on Programs; click on Worldview; click on Audio Library; go to Dec. 12; go to Working with the Military on Conflict Prevention and Development; and click on Download.) Early this year, ACDI/VOCA will participate in a series of interviews on Worldview highlighting development challenges and responses around the world. Worldview, which is aired weekdays from noon to 1:00 p.m., is Chicago Public Radio's global affairs program. It is picked up for rebroadcast by NPR stations around the country. Interviews are conducted via telephone, so ACDI/VOCA field staff will also have the opportunity to participate.

ACDI/VOCA Organizes Tour for Russian Farm Credit Officials

ACDI/VOCA organized a U.S. fact-finding mission for nine Russian rural credit system system officials Nov. 12-22 in support of Russia's vital farm credit program. ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard welcomed the delegation along with Roland Smith, secretary to the FCA board, who has facilitated the service of FCA staff as ACDI/VOCA volunteers, including Ron Boehr, a vet of several Russia assignments. More.

ACDI/VOCA Helps Provide Co-op CLARITY

The July/August 2006 Cooperative Business Journal showcased the report "Enabling Cooperative Development: Principles for Legal Reform," written by ACDI/VOCA and seven other organizations. The report provides guidelines for co-op leaders to use as they try to influence their own governments’ cooperative standards and regulations. CLARITY was created by the eight cooperative development organizations that are members of the Overseas Cooperative Development Council, with support from USAID. More.

Wolfowitz Emphasizes African Agriculture

According to the Center for Global Development, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz recently called for more research into food crops and farming techniques to help reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking at a conference in Washington, Wolfowitz welcomed new research to adapt rice for African farmers. He said similar discoveries into ways to increase crop yields have helped half a billion people around the world escape from poverty. But he said the benefits of earlier discoveries, known as the Green Revolution, have mostly bypassed Africa, and the number of Africans living in poverty has doubled in the past 25 years. Wolfowitz added that the World Bank loaned nearly $5 billion to African nations last year—half of the bank's total loans for the year.

We Need You: Industry Technical Persons
As ACDI/VOCA continues to evolve into a provider of technical expertise, the skill sets of our senior technical advisors are increasingly important. They tend to reflect strong experience, often from the private sector, in highly specific areas, e.g., propagation and post-harvest handling of the MD-2 pineapple. Recently the most important areas for us have been:

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

We have a particular need for high-level candidates with agricultural market development and Sierra Leone experience.

For more information, please visit our website for more career opportunities.