ACDI/VOCA Celebrates 2012 International Year of Cooperatives
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ACDI/VOCA joins the United Nations, its member states, cooperatives and civil society organizations worldwide to celebrate the launch of the International Year of Cooperatives 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly.
ACDI/VOCA's cooperative development roots date to 1963 when U.S. farmer co-ops founded our predecessor organization to assist cooperatives in developing countries. ACDI stood for Agricultural Cooperative Development International. ACDI/VOCA retains this strong commitment to helping rural households and for 48 years has helped millions of farmers and entrepreneurs help themselves using the cooperative model.
In many countries cooperatives are instrumental in agricultural production and marketing, savings, credit, rural electricity, insurance, housing, and information and communication technology. More.
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Make an Impact this Holiday Season: Plant the Seed of Technology for Egyptian Farmers
 Give a gift this holiday season that makes a lasting difference in Egypt. Donate and give Wadi Nakura, an Egyptian community of farming families, the technology and specialized training they need to grow more food and earn more money in a sustainable way.
Your gift of $50, $100, $200—or more—will help these families have access to modern, locally sourced greenhouse, irrigation and seeding technology. ACDI/VOCA's own volunteer experts, through funding from USAID, will provide the necessary technical training to ensure the farmers get the most out of the equipment and, importantly, help them serve as models for the surrounding region. More.
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ACDI/VOCA-connected Farmers Share Experiences at Global Farmer Roundtable
Three ACDI/VOCA-connected farmers lent their voices and experiences to the Truth About Trade and Technology 2011 Global Farmer Roundtable. The forum was held in conjunction with the 2011 World Food Prize Symposium. Truth About Trade and Technology invited 20 farmers from around the world to the annual Global Farmer Roundtable to share their views on agriculture and related topics. As a premier implementer of agricultural development programs, ACDI/VOCA was connected with three of the farmers: Kenya's Gilbert arap Bor, Ghana's Anthony Botchway and Egypt's Salah Hegazy.
"Kenyan farmers must participate in the global economy by embracing and using new technologies, including those concerned with seed development. They must not be left behind by political talk," said Bor at the roundtable. "They should be participating in producing enough food for their people's consumption, among other crops that improve their economy."
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New Ultrasound Machine, Other Equipment Helps Save Lives in Iraq
 Halima Faraj Hassan and many other women in the community of Maidan have had to travel long distances for proper health care, sometimes foregoing health services altogether because of the distance and related costs. But that reality changed recently, thanks to funding from the USAID Iraq Consultative Service Delivery Program and the Kurdistan Regional Government, which enabled the community to supply the local health center with an ultrasound machine and other essential medical equipment.
"We had to travel [far] for medical diagnoses and spend lots of money in transportation," says Hassan, who is pregnant and lives in a nearby village. "Now we are close and I can receive necessary medical care."
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A Visit to the Mars Center for Cocoa Science  The cocoa market is not only global—it's highly personal. The producers of cocoa are overwhelmingly smallholder farmers in tropical climates. The supply chain is extended and often tenuous, and industry players have to contend with barriers of language, culture and distance. For these reasons, they go to extraordinary lengths to engage with sources to better understand the cocoa business and ensure its sustainability.
The Mars Ambassador Program, a corporate volunteer program of Mars, Inc., implemented through ACDI/VOCA, recently sent seven Mars ambassadors to the Mars Center for Cocoa Science (MCCS) in Itabuna, Brazil. ACDI/VOCA Managing Director for Specialty Crops T.J. Ryan led the group as a host.
"The group got along very well together and with the MCCS staff, who were always hospitable and helpful," Ryan says.
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Business Innovations, Market Connections Drive Development in Lebanon  Visitors to bustling metropolitan Beirut might not realize that rural poverty remains a challenge in Lebanon. However, by focusing on business innovations and market connections, several development programs are making an impact. In a recent visit to the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Zahlé, in the Bekaa Valley, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Hady Amr, Deputy Chief of Mission Candace Putnam, and USAID/Lebanon Mission Director Jim Barnhart saw progress firsthand. The officials met with the chamber's president, members and representatives from ACDI/VOCA and VEGA/IESC, which implement programs to create economic opportunity in rural areas.
ACDI/VOCA leads four robust development programs in Lebanon that improve rural livelihoods through farmer education, innovative agriculture technology, business development and improvements in the quality of production. This integrated approach creates synergies throughout the ag and food sectors and enhances outcomes for Lebanese beneficiaries. All of the projects are funded by USAID. More.
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New East Africa Crop Conditioning and Staple Crops Handbooks Available for Download Two new handbooks developed by ACDI/VOCA under the USAID-funded Market Linkages Initiative are available for download and dissemination. The East Africa crop conditioning (PDF, 1 MB) and staple crops (PDF, 1.9 MB) handbooks represent the intent of the project, implemented by Carana and partners including ACDI/VOCA, to share lessons and best practices from its extensive market linkage endeavors throughout the region. MLI promotes growth in staple crops and strengthens food security in East Africa. More.
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