Tanzanian President Visits ACDI/VOCA-Supported Fish Farm Opening
|
|
 |
President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania (center) officiated the opening of the Kigomeni Fish Farmer Association's fish farm in Tanga. |
President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania presided over the opening of the Kigomeni Fish Farmer Association's fish farm in Chongoleani village in the Tanga district of Tanzania. The association that owns the farm has 18 members, who contributed labor and resources to build the new pond. The association receives technical assistance through ACDI/VOCA’s Sustainable Environmental Management through Mariculture Activities (SEMMA) program, in creating market linkages, building capacity, providing input supplies linkages, and teaching business skills and mariculture protocols.
SEMMA Program Manager Juzar Sachak and Mariculture Advisor Lugazo Zuberi, along with members of the smallholder association, welcomed the president. Other attendees included national ministers, members of parliament and regional and district officials.
President Kikwete officially opened the farm by stocking the pond with fingerlings and donating $1,750 to the association. His role at the event was intended to emphasize the importance of the country's mariculture activities. He commended SEMMA and said, "It is good to see projects working at the grassroots level and helping people."
More.
|
|
|
ACDI/VOCA Holds Competitive Cupping for Smallholders in Colombia
 On July 25, ACDI/VOCA held the first ever Mejor de Monserrate (Best of Monserrate) microlot cupping contest for 42 smallholder coffee producers in Monserrate, Huila Department, Colombia. With the support of the coffee exporter Racafé, ACDI/VOCA’s Coffee Alliances for the Expansion of Specialty Coffees (CAFES) project organized the event for the members of the Proagromil Association to help the coffee producers sell their products directly to coffee roasters. Representatives from Seattle-based Atlas Coffee Importers helped to conduct the cupping and had three of its buyers in attendance. Craig Holt, Atlas's founder, visited Monserrate as an ACDI/VOCA volunteer and recognized the great potential the region had for growing premium coffee. His company began buying the local beans and even created a brand called "Monserrate." "At this moment, there are many types of coffee in Colombia to be discovered, many opportunities to discover. It’s an exceptional time," Holt said.
More.
|
Campbell Presents at USAID Breakfast Seminar
On September 4, Ruth Campbell, managing director of ACDI/VOCA's enterprise development and competitiveness portfolio, along with Rob Henning, manager at OTF Group, spoke on collaboration at the USAID Microenterprise Development Office Breakfast Seminar Series. About 40 representatives from USAID and various development NGOs attended the presentation entitled "Collaborating to Compete: The Value of Trust and Interfirm Cooperation" held at QED Group's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Campbell explained that interfirm relationships are important, because they enable firms to respond to market demands and facilitate the transfer of information, skills and services. Henning presented on the OTF Group's development of "mental models" to map attitudes and interfirm relationships, and shared an example of it within Burundi’s coffee sector.
"Our aim is to stimulate sufficient cooperation to enable an industry to grow, and small firms to contribute to and benefit from this growth; and sufficient competition so that the industry is responsive to consumer demand and innovates to increase its market share," Campbell said. More.
|
ACDI/VOCA Signs Grant Agreements with Rwandan Cooperatives
 ACDI/VOCA signed grant agreements with five Rwandan cooperatives—Impuyaki Cooperative, Seruka Cooperative, Cooperative Mixte de Buyog, Twitezimbere Cooperative and Kopimu Cooperative—to increase agricultural production and expand the use of agricultural inputs and services in order to help increase farmer incomes. ACDI/VOCA works with cooperatives in Rwanda to help them transform their operations and improve economic opportunities for smallholder members. Over the next 12 months, ACDI/VOCA's cooperative development team will assist the cooperatives with grant funding, training and technical follow-up to improve general management and cultivation practices. These efforts will increase agricultural productivity through added crop management, expanded use of equipment for processing and technical support. Funding and technical support will go toward targeting selected food crops, such as grains, root crops, beans and tomatoes, and linking the cooperatives with prospective buyers, including mills and agroprocessing plants. More.
|
ACDI/VOCA Chairman Inducted into Hall of Fame
 ACDI/VOCA Chairman Mortimer Neufville was among seven educators inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame at a ceremony held at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. The organization honors various scholars and practitioners whose contributions have made an impact on continuing education and adult learning. More.
|
Four New AMAP Briefing Papers Released
|
Guroff Speaks on the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa Panel
 Avram “Buzz” Guroff, senior managing director of the food security & specialty crops, spoke at the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa’s “Next Steps on Local and Regional Procurement of Food Aid” event held on September 16. Representatives from USAID, USDA, CRS and the World Food Programme also participated in the discussion.
The event focused on USDA’s planned introduction of a local and regional pilot procurement project under the 2008 reauthorization of the Farm Bill and the $50 million bridge supplement in USAID development assistance funding to be used for local and regional procurement projects targeting those areas most affected by the current global food crisis. More.
|
IFFCO CEO and Managing Director Visits ACDI/VOCA Headquarters
 On August 21, Dr. U.S. Awasthi, CEO and managing director of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) and ACDI/VOCA board member, visited ACDI/VOCA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Accompanied by his son Anupam Awasthi, CEO of Catalyst Business Solutions, Dr. Awasthi met with ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard and other key staff to reinforce ties, learn about ACDI/VOCA's Growth-Oriented Microenterprise Development Program in India and discuss additional opportunities for cooperation. ACDI/VOCA and IFFCO have enjoyed a strong, mutually beneficial relationship since the Indian co-op’s inception, and IFFCO has been a loyal ACDI and ACDI/VOCA member ever since. More.
|
 |
From Our Hearts: Helping Children Excel in Bolivia
In the Aymara language of Bolivia, the name of the Wawanataki Center means "for the children," and the leaders of the center take that to heart. Dedicated to helping children overcome learning disabilities, Wawanataki offers free educational support to economically disadvantaged students. Because most of the students have not responded to more traditional teaching methods, the center uses a positive and innovative approach to helping children learn through visual aids and learning games.
Through the Special Development Activities Fund, ACDI/VOCA provided Wawanataki with teacher salaries and the educational tools to make learning, reading and mathematics easier for children with special needs. Now, the children are more excited about learning and more positive about school. As Jorge Loza, the center’s executive director, said, "Maybe it is not a big program, but it is from our hearts." |
|
International Leadership Award Presented to World Cocoa Foundation
"The staff and members of the World Cocoa Foundation are deeply honored to receive this recognition from ACDI/VOCA."
—World Cocoa Foundation Chairman & Director Kip Walk (right, with ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard)
More.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
RSS