Former Congressman and presidential advisor Thomas Cooper Evans of Grundy Center, Iowa, died on Dec. 22 at age 81. Evans served on the VOCA board of directors and later the ACDI/VOCA board from 1991 to 1998. Few individuals played such a significant role on cooperative issues at the local, state, national and international levels. During the agricultural crisis of the 1980s, Evans was both a warrior and a prophet on agricultural financing. In his book, The Fall of the Farm Credit Empire, Ben Sunbury wrote: “One of the first representatives to visualize the extent of the Farm Credit problem and to become openly critical of the Farm Credit System was Rep. Cooper Evans of Iowa, who was making offers of government assistance to the System.” His perspicacity landed him on the White House staff under President George H.W. Bush. For decades, Evans's leadership benefited developing countries. He led a Congressional effort to double funding for the Farmer-to-Farmer program, under which ACDI/VOCA volunteers have completed thousands of short-term assignments. Evans championed U.S. agricultural trade as well as food aid. He served 11 times as an ACDI/VOCA volunteer, for example addressing the Russian All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences on cooperative development and helping the Moscow Peasants’ Union market its products. In 1998 he received ACDI/VOCA's International Leadership Award. Evans continued to farm in Iowa and Missouri until his death and was a loyal member of local cooperatives. ACDI/VOCA COO Jim Phippard said on Dec. 27, "Cooper was a strong supporter of volunteerism as well as one of our best volunteers." Back to Top |
ACDI/VOCA is pleased to announce the addition of two new senior managers to our team. Bill Polidoro, who came to ACDI/VOCA as senior vice president for special projects, takes over as chief operating officer with the retirement of COO Jim Phippard. Paul Guenette is joining the Africa/Middle East Division as vice president for Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Guenette will serve as the operational head of the sub-Saharan region, directing the work of the regional HQ and field staff and consultants in both project implementation and new business development. He will also serve as a member of ACDI/VOCA’s Enterprise Development Practice Area Team. Back to Top |
Palestinian Minister of Agriculture visits ACDI/VOCA project
Palestinian Minister of Agriculture Walid Abed Rabboh visited ACDI/VOCA’s West Bank/Gaza project in Dec. He observed the project’s greenhouses and visited a grantee, the Medical Herbs and Organic Products Farmers Cooperative Association, in Jericho. The project introduces vegetable cultivation under mesh greenhouses to 30 farming families. These innovative greenhouses extend the growing season into the transitional months of August and May and exemplify profitable high-tech farming. The mesh improves the quality of produce, because of it offers better ventilation, resulting in lower humidity and thus reducing the need for pesticides. It also lowers temperatures of the greenhouses, which saves farmers money on irrigation. These food security activities are being implemented under a three-year USDA 416(b) grant worth $10 million. Proceeds from the monetization of 80,000 MT of U.S. grain are being used to develop the capacity of local NGOs and at-risk and food-insecure Palestinian communities, and to support broad-based agricultural growth accompanied by sound natural resource management.
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ACDI/VOCA's Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) project was recognized for its reproductive health and family planning campaign public service announcement, which was named the best radio spot by the Serbian Association of Media Advertisers.ACDI/VOCA Helps Produce Manual
ACDI/VOCA has helped to produce a handbook, which is the third of a series written for small-scale farmers, entrepreneurs, and institutions interested in producing and selling seed of various crops but who have no formal training or experience in doing so. The handbook is especially useful for trainers who are supporting small-scale seed enterprise development. The series of three handbooks was published with support from ACDI/VOCA, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and USAID. See this book and others in the series. Back to Top
Starbucks Senior VP Visits ACDI/VOCA-Ethiopia Client
Rwanda Coffee Spotlighted on Terroir Coffee Co. Website Rwandan coffee was once completely unknown in specialty coffee shops. However, according to Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia Coffee, “Over the last three years Rwanda has become Africa’s most actively improving coffee country. Its many cooperatives are now producing some of the cleanest coffees on the continent.” Another specialty coffee roaster, Terroir, is touting Rwandan coffee on its website: “Today, thanks to the funding of USAID, the vision of the PEARL Project and the inspired determination of the farmers, 20 percent of whom are genocide widows or orphans, new cooperatives are producing utterly unique boutique-quality coffees that are taking the specialty coffee sector by storm.” Terroir features coffee produced by the Karaba Coffee Cooperative which, it says, has a sweet, floral taste. The Karaba co-op is comprised of 2,012 families, each of which owns on average 250 coffee trees. The cooperative’s coffee and processing center was financed and constructed with the help of the cooperative’s major partners, ACDI/VOCA, USAID, Project PEARL, OCIR Café and the District of Karaba. Take a virtual tour of the co-op’s facility and meet some of its members. Back to Top Coffee Review Awards Rare 95 Rating to Yirgacheffe Co-op Coffee The prestigious web-based Coffee Review has given a high rating to an organically grown and Fair Trade-certified Yirgacheffe roasted by Sacred Grounds. The Review’s Kenneth Davids calls it, “Probably as close to a perfect example of this coffee type as this imperfect world allows.” The coffee won second place in the recent auction of cooperative coffees from Ethiopia conducted by the ECafe Foundation with ACDI/VOCA assistance, attracting a score of 91.5 from an international panel of judges. Of course it fetched well above the Fair Trade price when purchased by a consortium of smaller American roasting companies that included Sacred Grounds. The coffee was produced by the Hama Cooperative, one of the co-ops in the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, a longtime ACDI/VOCA client. Unlike most Yirgacheffe coffees, this one (like the Black Apron Exclusive™ Sidamo above) is dry or naturally processed, meaning the beans or seeds were dried inside the coffee fruit rather than dried after the fruit residue was removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" coffees. Visit Coffee Review, www.sacred-grounds.com or call (800) 425-2532 for more information. This coffee’s U.S. retail price of $17.95 per 12 oz. is a strong testament to the success of these Ethiopian cooperative coffee growers. Back to Top |
USAID's Frontlines Spotlights CAIP Project
The December edition of USAID’s “Frontlines” newspaper featured ACDI/VOCA’s Community Action Investment Program (CAIP) in a half-page article, accompanied by a color photo. It depicted a successful Kazakhstan irrigation system project, which installed seven kilometers of irrigation channels to benefit Yassy-area farmers, in the process creating 950 long-term and 100 short-term jobs for in the community. ACDI/VOCA was one of 5 CAIP implementors, each assigned to a different geographic region. Overall the project created over 14,000 short-term and 5,700 long-term jobs over the course of the three-year, $22.2 million USAID-funded effort. Also, CAIP established democratic community processes to solve local problems and prevent conflict in Central Asian communities where the majority of people are poor and there is a history of violence. To access the article, click here and go to page 7 of the PDF. Back to Top
GDA Wins First Lewis and Clark Award
For its groundbreaking use of public-private partnering, USAID’s Global Development Alliance has been named the winner of the inaugural Lewis & Clark Award for Innovation in Collaborative Governance. The award is presented jointly by the Weil Program in Collaborative Governance and the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, both located at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. The award is intended to celebrate real-world success in collaborative governance and advance scholarship. "I am very pleased to see the GDA recognized as a model for collective action," said USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios. "The public and private sectors working together allows us to more effectively help developing countries. Public-private alliances multiply the impact of U.S. development assistance." ACDI/VOCA has participated in numerous GDA projects. For example, its SUCCESS Alliance cocoa activities, which include farmer training and coordination of research to improve farm practices and reduce environmental degradation, received a GDA grant as a follow-on to USDA 416(b) funding. Back to Top
Fred Smith Named to Executive Committee of VEGA
ACDI/VOCA VP Fred Smith was recently elected secretary of VEGA. By virtue of that office he will serve on the executive committee. ACDI/VOCA is a founding member of VEGA, the world's largest consortium of nonprofit private sector groups and managerial and business development organizations. VEGA leverages foreign assistance funding to promote international volunteerism and to enable organizations that utilize volunteers to better collaborate with USAID. The consortium can mobilize and deploy up to 40,000 industry experts and professionals to support the growth of sustainable business and service markets in emerging economies, lend technical and managerial assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises, and strengthen nonprofit and other organizations necessary to sustain market economies. Along with four other VEGA members ACDI/VOCA is implementing a new enterprise development program in southern Sudan where ACDI/VOCA will support the development of marketing associations and cooperatives, develop a price information system and organize the production of perennial and high-value crops. Back to Top
COO Phippard Steps Down; Polidoro Named Replacement
ACDI/VOCA Chief Operating Officer Jim Phippard announced to staff on Jan. 25 that he will relinquish that post on Feb. 7 and revert to half-time service as senior vice president for special projects. Phippard, a senior staff member at ACDI/VOCA since 1991, was brought out of semi-retirement in 2004 to serve as COO and in that position helped reestablish financial vigor and program focus at the 43-year-old development organization.
“Nothing in my career has been as professionally satisfying as being part of the team helping to turn this company around,” Phippard told staff.
During Phippard’s tenure as COO, ACDI/VOCA has reduced its overhead rate, built a healthy level of unrestricted reserves and amassed a portfolio of large-scale technical development projects, including major fee-based contracts, which ensure the company’s continued prominence in worldwide economic growth activities.
Carl Leonard commended Phippard for his longtime stalwart service to ACDI/VOCA, but especially his recent efforts: “The manner in which Jim stepped up over the last 15 months when we really needed his wisdom and detailed operational knowledge is a compelling example of the kind of service that this company is all about.” Phippard was given a standing ovation by the overflow staff in attendance.
Leonard named Bill Polidoro, who joined the company in Oct., as Phippard’s replacement as COO. Jim Phippard welcomed him to the company in Oct., saying, “Bill has distinguished himself as a marketer and innovator who can think outside the box.” Back to Top
ACDI/VOCA Leads Armenian Avian Flu Prevention Effort
In November 2005, Elizabeth Krushinskie, DVM, PhD, vice president for food safety and production programs at the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, traveled to Armenia as an ACDI/VOCA volunteer to assess that nation’s preparedness for detecting, diagnosing and containing the avian flu. Dr. Krushinskie was sent by ACDI/VOCA in response to a request from the Armenian Ministry of Agriculture for an avian flu expert. Dr. Krushinskie said, “Instead of sitting and waiting for a major health and economic crisis to come to us, the United States needs to be more proactive. We know exactly what we need to do to stop the spread of HRN1 virus. We just need to allocate the resources to do it.” Although there have been no confirmed bird deaths from the avian flu in Armenia, the country falls within migratory paths that are thought to have brought the avian flu to Turkey, Armenia’s neighbor to the west, and it is possible that the lack of confirmed cases is a result of inadequate surveillance. Krushinskie recommended to the Armenian government appropriate containment measures, including farm inspection, sample collection and test procedures, and she conducted training for ministry employees. In January Dr. Krushinskie had a follow-on visit to Armenia under the FtF program. Back to Top
Farmer-to-Farmer Beneficiary Wins UNDP Global Microentrepreneurship Awards
Kenyan entrepreneur and beneficiary of ACDI/VOCA’s Kenya Farmer-to-Farmer Program, Isabel Mwangi, won the Best Woman Entrepreneur Award and the Most Successful Entrepreneur Award under the UNDP-organized Global Microentrepreneurship Award competition. (See www.ke.undp.org.) Her handicrafts firm, Jisaidie Cottage Industries (JCI), is a nonprofit organization registered in 1981 to promote the development of home industries and support small-scale handicraft businesses in Kenya’s rural areas, especially among HIV/AIDS-infected and lower-income women. JCI twice hosted ACDI/VOCA volunteer James Thibeault, who spearheaded JCI penetration of the lucrative U.S. market via the innovative “Colors of Life” campaign, a marketing strategy built around HIV/AIDS mitigation efforts. As a result of this ongoing campaign, Mwangi has been able to grow her business and obtain Equity Bank loans to finance shipping and make up-front payments to producers. Back to Top
ACDI/VOCA Represented at Conflict Prevention Knowledge Fair
ACDI/VOCA was among 18 organizations working in conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction invited by USAID and the World Bank to participate in an Oct. 27 knowledge fair at the City Tavern Club in Georgetown. The invitation was based on our methodologies for community-based sustainable economic development to address root causes of conflict and our long-standing tradition of promoting volunteerism in the international community as a means to offer technical assistance to countries emerging from conflict. VP Sally Iadarola coordinated ACDI/VOCA’s overview of our unique approach to conflict prevention. Back to Top
Consultant Vacancies: |
There are currently longterm consultant vacancies in Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Ukraine. |
Visit our website for information on consultant vacancies. |
ACDI/VOCA currently needs short-term volunteer experts for the following assignments:
331622-Russia Corn-Processing Feasibility Study: Volunteer needed to do a feasibility study for a Russia company in order to start a corn processing operation. Assignment is for two and a half weeks starting as soon as a volunteer is available.
524013-B-Paraguay Cooperative Development: Spanish-speaking volunteer needed to introduce criteria and instruments of financial analysis for a cooperative. Assignment is for two weeks starting as soon as possible.
331629-A-Russia Organics & Natural Food Store Development: Volunteer needed to launch new online store where customers can order standard sets of natural food products. Assignment is for two and a half weeks starting as soon as possible.
If you or a colleague is interested in these assignments, please email us at: volunteer@acdivoca.org.