Lebanon Business Linkage Initiative Propels Sales at 2011 Fancy Food Show
 The recent 2011 Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., featured a veritable cornucopia of specialty foods from around the world: Filipino chocolate, Italian sauces, Kenyan tea, Spanish cheese, Wisconsin bacon and, not to be overlooked, Lebanese falafel mix.
Lebanese producers coached by the USAID-funded Lebanon Business Linkage Initiative (LBLI) project attended the event and achieved a major breakthrough: initial orders valued at $129,000 placed by major U.S. retailers.
"A more market-based approach was called to build marketing and export capacity. Now, Lebanese processors have confidence in LBLI," says LBLI's Senior Marketing Advisor Dr. Nadine Chemali. More.
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Value Chain Approach Buttresses Ethiopian Government Food Security Program
The Ethiopian government's innovative new Household Asset Building Program (HABP) uses a market-oriented approach to graduate chronically food-insecure households out of asset transfer programs and into productive value chain activities. The government officials and consultants who will be implementing HABP recently took part in training in Nazareth, Ethiopia, on how to incorporate a value chain approach into the program's implementation.
The curriculum, designed and delivered by USAID and ACDI/VOCA, is built on nearly a decade of work under the Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project. It reflects new thinking in using the value chain approach to reach the poorest and most food-insecure households. More.
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Overcoming Obstacles to Provide Health Services to Underserved Filipino Villagers
 Mapun and Turtle Islands are the two poorest and most remote municipalities in Mindanao's Tawi-Tawi province. Health providers there are isolated for much of the year because of transportation obstacles.
The Sustainable Health Improvement through Empowerment and Local Development Project works with local partners to remedy this situation. Funded by USAID, the health- and nutrition-focused project coordinated in May with key local actors to advance the regional health department's "Reach Every Barangay Plus" strategy. ( Barangay means village.) Through this initiative, 2,600 indigenous Jama Mapun villagers who inhabit the islands received an array of health care services that had been previously unavailable. More.
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Paraguayan Farmers Receive Crucial Post-Harvest Technologies  Farming in Paraguay typically means subsistence farming: More than 1.5 million people, making up 73 percent of the country's farmers, are stuck at the subsistence level tending their small family farms. Ultimately this can create vulnerable communities, especially as populations shift and migrate, undermining stability and encouraging illicit livelihoods.
In this context, the USAID-funded Iniciativa Zona Norte program closely coordinates its activities with the local governments to improve community conditions and strengthen local economies. It recently successfully connected rural farmers in Canindeyú region with much-needed post-harvest equipment and training to create opportunities for increased farmers' incomes and to drive rural growth. More.
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Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Visits Armenia Water-to-Market Farmers  Good on-farm water management means producing healthier crops and savings for farmers. Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Daniel Yohannes traveled to Armenia May 3-5 to see firsthand farmers who are doing just that through an innovative high-value agricultural development project, Water-to-Market Activity. And the result is more money in farmers' pockets. The program introduces improved agricultural practices to smallholder farmers and strengthens local agricultural businesses to increase employment and reduce rural poverty in Armenia. More.
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