Board Member Visits ACDI/VOCA Operations in Kenya
 
Mort Neufville (second from right), executive VP of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and ACDI/VOCA board member since 2002, accompanied ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard (far right) on a visit to Kenya in late January. Neufville, who was recently named chairman of the ACDI/VOCA board’s Projects Committee, helped carry out African development programs while serving as vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He currently serves on the advisory committee of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa and coordinates international affairs for NASULGC. Neufville and Leonard visited activities carried out under ACDI/VOCA's Kenya Maize Development Program, a 4-year, $5 million USAID-funded project that raises rural household incomes by increasing maize production, improving smallholder organization effectiveness and enhancing access to agricultural markets and business support services. Afterwards, Mr. Leonard traveled on to Uganda, where he observed some of ACDI/VOCA's food for development work, including an HIV/AIDS food distribution, agricultural grantee activities, and PEPFAR nutrition and hygiene efforts.

ACDI/VOCA Supports U.S. Navy Hospital Ship
In the Philippines, ACDI/VOCA is supporting the USNS Mercy, one of the world’s largest hospital ships, as it prepares to spend eight productive days off the coast of Tawi-Tawi Province. ACDI/VOCA’s EnRICH project, which focuses on improving the health of Filipino children and women through family planning, maternal and child health and tuberculosis interventions, will assist Navy and local health personnel to identify patients needing diagnosis and treatment. A member of the Navy’s advance team said, “[ACDI/VOCA’s] knowledge on public health issues in Tawi-Tawi is impressive. Because they visit and interact with the populace of each and every municipality in the province, they have a better assessment than the provincial health officer on issues concerning the people of Tawi-Tawi.” Back to Top

USAID Spotlights Afghanistan Project
USAID’s April edition of its Frontlines newspaper highlighted USAID’s Afghanistan Alternative Livelihoods Program (ALP), for which ACDI/VOCA is a subgrantee, in a front-page article, accompanied by two color photos. Working with a PADCO-led team in the Badakhshan region of northeast Afghanistan, ACDI/VOCA supports the planning, design and implementation of the 5-year, $2 million ALP. To access the article click here.

New Needs Assessment Tool
Under a USAID Institutional Capacity Building Grant, ACDI/VOCA recently unveiled a Needs Assessment Tool developed by Tango International for use in designing USAID PL 480 Title II food aid programs. The tool offers specific strategies and methods for conducting desk reviews, collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data in the field using various approaches, as well as designing programmatic interventions to reduce food insecurity.

New Microenterprise Funding
USAID has entered into a Leader with Associates cooperative agreement with the Academy for Educational Development consisting of a partnership of organizations chosen competitively for its ability to assist USAID. The core members of the Academy-led consortium are ACDI/VOCA, ACCION, Action for Enterprise, CARE, FINCA International, the IRIS Center, Opportunity International, Save the Children and the World Council of Credit Unions. The USAID Microenterprise Development office is providing $10 million over 5 years, and the office anticipates that USAID missions and bureaus may offer up to $340 million in “associate” awards, for a total of $350 million under the agreement.

Iadarola Travels to China
In Feb. VP Sally Iadarola traveled to Beijing to meet with international donor organizations and local firms involved in poverty alleviation. While China is the world’s fastest-growing economy, it has achieved limited, uneven prosperity. “The majority of the vast population lacks adequate access to financial services, particularly working capital, and the income gap between western and eastern provinces is widening at an alarming rate,” Iadarola said. ACDI/VOCA’s prior experience in China was funded by the Asian Development Bank and was in the vast Rural Credit Cooperative (RCC) system, comprising over 32,000 RCCs, which is key to delivering financial services to small-scale entrepreneurs/consumers. Despite current government efforts, the Chinese financial sector has been slow adopting market-oriented principles and fulfilling its potential development role. By strengthening relationships, ACDI/VOCA hopes to expand its rapidly growing Asia portfolio, which currently includes the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and all five Central Asian countries.

Strategy Meeting With CGIAR
On March 29 at the World Bank, Senior VP Josh Walton, VP Paul Guenette and VP Sue Schram met with Dr. Francisco Reifschneider, director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to discuss collaboration. The meeting was hosted by Dr. Mort Neufville (see article above). CGIAR is a strategic alliance of members, partners and 15 international agricultural centers that mobilizes science to benefit the poor. Neufville also presented on ACDI/VOCA's capabilities to a meeting of CGIAR center directors general in Cali, Colombia, April 26-8, including our work with ICRAF in Rwanda on a fodder shrub and progressive terracing project, with IITA in Uganda on a market information system and with CIMMYT in Kenya on maize research and germplasm demonstration. ACDI/VOCA will be exhibiting at the CGIAR annual meeting in late 2006.

Report from a "Fearless Beekeeper” in Angola
ACDI/VOCA volunteer Nathan Emery, who has a June follow-on assignment, reports on the Cabinda Agribusiness Development Alliance (CADA) project: “This assignment has been a real pleasure to carry out as it is the premiere of beekeeping in Cabinda, where only honey hunting has been known before. The beehives constructed from ACDI/VOCA funding are the first-known beehives in the enclave. The unbelievably intact virgin forests of Cabinda are a marvel in themselves, and an activity such as beekeeping can only help preserve them through non-wood forest exploitation…. The participant target group selected by Paulino Poba (CADA training coordinator) was more than up to the task for the demands placed upon them through this initial instillation and training. …It is my belief the CADA project is a very worthy and positive development within the field….” 

Volunteer Experts Pass Away
Two successful and much-appreciated ACDI/VOCA volunteer consultants, Fred Voit and Monte Bell, recently passed away. Since 1992 Voit successfully completed 10 demanding food science assignments, many of which involved tropical fruit processing, in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt and Russia. Monte Bell, one of our most prolific volunteers, completed more than 20 ACDI/VOCA dairy and livestock volunteer assignments in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Tonga, Azerbaijan, Russia, Macedonia, Serbia, Uruguay and Croatia. Our sympathies go out to their families and friends.

ACDI/VOCA currently needs short-term volunteer experts for the following assignments:

332240-C-Georgia Modern Greenhouse Engineering: Assignment is for three weeks starting at the end of May.

332244-B Azerbaijan Certification and Standardizing in Organic Agriculture: Assignment is for two weeks as soon as possible.

331676-Russia Marinade and Sauces New Product Development: Assignment is for two and a half weeks starting June 10.

331690-A Russia Berry Production: Assignment is tentatively set for June 3–20, but dates are flexible.

331692-A Russia Voronezh Cake and Pastry Production: Assignment is for June 11-27, but dates are flexible.

222156-B-Tajikistan Irrigation Management of Tomato Plants: Assignment is 21 days starting in June 2006.

If you are interested in these assignments, please email us at: volunteer@acdivoca.org. Visit our website for additional information and other current volunteer opportunities.