May 21, 2008

Kyrgyz Cochran Fellows visit ACDI/VOCA

A group of seven Kyrgyz officials and cooperative leaders visited ACDI/VOCA on May 2 as part of a USDA Cochran Program study tour designed to expose them to U.S.-style cooperative development and agricultural marketing.

Their tour of Minn., N.D. and Washington, D.C., was lead by Dr. William C. Nelson of Mid-America Consultants International, an associate member of ACDI/VOCA based in Fargo, N.D. While in Minnesota the group visited CoBank, CHS and Land O’Lakes, also members of ACDI/VOCA.

Represented in the Kyrgyz group were an agricultural economist from the ministry of agriculture, a board member from the Seed Association of Kyrgyzstan, the president of the Union of Cooperatives of Kyrgyzstan and the heads of various cooperatives.

ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard welcomed the group. They received an overview on ACDI/VOCA that emphasized its cooperative roots and a briefing on U.S. cooperatives’ engagement in this country’s foreign aid program. They also learned of ACDI/VOCA’s extensive programming in Kyrgyzstan.

While few of them recognized the name ACDI/VOCA before receiving their itinerary, virtually all had heard of institutions founded and run by ACDI/VOCA in Kyrgyzstan. Bai Tushum, a microcredit organization has supported 25,000 rural businesses since its founding in 2000 with monetary assistance from Swiss Caritas, and Frontiers, has become an important wholesale lender. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan, particularly in rural areas, are underserved by financial services and without these institutions may not be able to obtain loans.

The Cochran Fellowship Program is administered by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. It provides U.S.-based agricultural training for senior and mid-level specialists and administrators from public and private sectors on trade, agribusiness development, management, policy and marketing. Since its inception in 1984, the program has involved over 9,400 international participants from 87 middle-income or emerging democracy or emerging market countries.

To learn about ACDI/VOCA's work in Kyrgyzstan, click here.