March 16, 2007

ACDI/VOCA Organizes Cambodia Value Chain Workshop

ACDI/VOCA, in collaboration with USAID and QED, organized the Mar. 12-16 Cambodia Value Chain Development Workshop in Phnom Penh. The workshop brought together USAID staff and partners to share lessons learned in implementation of value chain projects focusing on economic growth with poverty reduction.

The 40 participants were from Cambodia, Bangladesh, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Angola and Madagascar. They discussed key concepts, tools and guidelines for value chain development initiatives, including strategies for addressing bottlenecks, promoting private sector ownership of a competitiveness process and catalyzing improved performance. Olaf Kula and Banu Akin of ACDI/VOCA’s Enterprise Development and Competitiveness portfolio presented and facilitated sessions, and introduced the new online community of value chain implementers and researchers: the Global Value Chain Learning Network. The network is a forum for donors, researchers, policymakers and development practitioners committed to understanding how market systems, i.e., value chains and the factors that affect their performance, can accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction. The forum, open to all who would like to participate, will allow practitioners and researches to connect in "real time" in discussions on best practices and obstacles to overcome.

The workshop was funded through ACDI/VOCA’s $2.5 million Accelerating Microenterprise Advancement Project Business Development Services (AMAP BDS) Knowledge and Practice Task Order. ACDI/VOCA is a leader in value chain approaches to development and helps to increase incomes in poor communities and promote economic growth by enhancing performance and thereby the competitiveness of micro and small enterprises.

For more information on the workshop, click here.