October 4, 2007
ACDI/VOCA 2007 Photo Contest Winners
The grand prize winner in the ACDI/VOCA 2007 Annual Photo Contest was Jaime Freire of ACDI/VOCA-Ecuador, who had three photos singled out for awards in the competition out of a total of 300 entries. He claims the grand prize, a Canon PowerShot SD1000 ELPH camera. There were five runners-up, named below, who each receive a 2.0 GB flash key, and four honorable mentions.
Submissions had "to show ACDI/VOCA at work" and our volunteers, consultants and staff did so broadly with shots of volunteer and consultant assignments, HQ office functions and project activities involving economic production, information dissemination, large-scale events, technical proficiency, etc. Submissions were received from Bolivia, Colombia, Lebanon, India, Ecuador, Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam, Cape Verde, Iraq, Uganda, Central Asia, Paraguay and the U.S.
We thank all participants for making the 2007 Photo Contest a tremendous success. These photos, including some wonderful ones not recognized, will powerfully evoke our work in our materials and on our website for years to come.
Grand Prize Winner
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Tomás Gracia is a smallholder cocoa farmer from the Esmeraldas region of Ecuador. He has applied the best practices he’s learned from ACDI/VOCA’s SUCCESS Alliance cocoa-growing training to his 120 cocoa trees. Each tree now produces an impressive average of 200 pods, boosting his income and enabling him to become more economically secure.
Photographer: Jaime Freire, ACDI/VOCA-Ecuador farmer organization specialist
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Runners-up
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An ACDI/VOCA beneficiary cleans the drip irrigation system filter of an open water reservoir on Santiago Island in Cape Verde. Built with technical support from the Cape Verde Ministry of Agriculture, ACDI/VOCA funded the construction of the reservoir and the drip system that it supplies in order to use efficiently and effectively the limited water available on the island.
Photographer: Ashleigh Mullinax, ACDI/VOCA-HQ project coordinator |
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A woman milks sheep in Lebanon. ACDI/VOCA’s Action for Sustainable Agro-Industry in Lebanon (ASAIL) project is using a value chain approach to develop two main subsectors in Lebanon: niche Lebanese foodstuffs, and goat and sheep dairy products.
Photographer: Noubia Gribi, country director & chief of party for the ASAIL project |
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Program Services Assistant Lindsey Levick and Food Security & Specialty Crops Assistant Katie Skaar have a discussion at ACDI/VOCA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: John Leary, ACDI/VOCA-HQ training manager |
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Traditional Lebanese bread bakes at a niche food processing plant. ACDI/VOCA's ASAIL project strengthens the value chain linkages of various traditional Lebanese foodstuffs to increase market access and income opportunities.
Photographer: Nidal Jazzar, ASAIL staff member |
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More than 500 smallholders attend an ACDI/VOCA SUCCESS Alliance farmer field school in Ecuador. ACDI/VOCA’s project links farmers to principal buyers in order to shorten the market value chain to increase smallholder incomes.
Photographer: Jaime Freire, ACDI/VOCA-Ecuador farmer organization specialist |
Honorable Mention
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Mrs. Maqboule, President of Kufr Jamaal Women’s Society in West Bank, stands in the doorway. The society provides saving and loan services and community and economic development support to its 60 members. It is one of 10 women’s savings and loan cooperatives that ACDI/VOCA supports under our Small and Microfinance Assistance for Recovery and Transition project.
Photographer: Doug Leavens, ACDI/VOCA-HQ technical managing director for financial services and integrated rural development |
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Taken while on assignment for ACDI/VOCA’s Agricultural Markets and Enterprise Development project. AMED provides support to private enterprises through direct training and capacity building to develop business skills and improve production and processing technologies.
Photographer: Paul Day, ACDI/VOCA volunteer from Oregon |
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ACDI/VOCA beneficiary and participant in our SUCCESS Alliance Ecuador farmer field school program makes artisanal chocolate while at a program-sponsored cocoa fair.
Photographer: Jaime Freire, ACDI/VOCA-Ecuador farmer organization specialist |
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Cocoa pods are gathered together after being harvested under ACDI/VOCA’s SUCCESS Alliance project in Ecuador.
Photographer: Ashleigh Mullinax, ACDI/VOCA-HQ project coordinator |