May 9, 2008

New Project Won–Ghana: Millennium Challenge Account Ghana Agriculture Project

ACDI/VOCA won a 2-year, almost $3 million project funded by the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Ghana for what is called the country’s southern horticulture zone. This project is part of an approximately $547 million compact signed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation with the Republic of Ghana in 2006. The compact was created to address fundamental structural problems in the Ghanaian economy, as well as to improve the economic, political and social stability of the country.

Ghana’s principal economic goal is to improve the standard of living of its citizens and to achieve middle-income status, driven by private sector-led growth, within a decade. The MCC compact is intended to advance these goals by enhancing economic growth through poverty reduction.

The government of Ghana created the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) to serve as the public accountable entity for the implementation of the five-year program. MiDA is governed by an independent board of directors consisting of representatives of key government ministries, the private sector and the nongovernmental organization community, joined by observers from the target areas and the environmental community.

The ACDI/VOCA program focuses on improving the productivity of agriculture, increasing production of high-value commercial and basic food crops, and fostering greater private investment in agriculture. To that end, the program will also improve the physical and institutional infrastructure in this critical sector of Ghana’s economy.

To find out more about ACDI/VOCA’s work in Africa, click here.