ACDI

By connecting smallholder farmers in the central highlands to major urban markets for crops such as potatoes, carrots, and onions, the project seeks to raise the incomes of 51,000 smallholder farmer families. Project funds will be disbursed over a six-year period, enabling World Vision to equip and train farmer organizations to strengthen their "value chains," improving business activities such as production, marketing, packaging, and sales.

"This funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will enable us to implement community-level, economic transformation in a country that is courageously rebuilding itself," said Rich Stearns, president of World Vision. "Hard-working farmers will be given opportunities to grow their businesses and provide for their families, helping to support the growth, health, and stability of the region."

Main objectives for the project include: 1) Increasing the ability of farmers to compete in urban markets by developing sound strategies and adding post-harvest value to products, 2) Enabling the effective organization of smallholder farmers to negotiate better prices, increasing opportunities for small business loans and achieving economies of scale, and 3) Enhancing the quality of products and increasing crop yield through the adoption of improved technologies that protect the environment.

Angola's people have struggled to grasp new opportunities following nearly three decades of war that decimated the country's basic infrastructure. During the war, more than 4 million of Angola's 11 million people were displaced. As the long process of rural resettlement has continued, many have found themselves without the resources they need to provide the basics for their families.

World Vision has worked in Angola since 1989, and since 2002 has implemented rehabilitation and development programs in the agricultural sector in Huambo and the central highlands of Angola where approximately two-thirds of the population lives, including a high proportion of war-displaced returnees. World Vision also has a formal partnership with the Institute for Agronomic Investigation and the National Seed Service to identify and evaluate improved crop varieties and promote the adoption of improved production technologies. Partners in this project include the Institute of Agrarian Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of the Family and the Promotion of Women, and the Bank of Savings and Credit (BPC), ACDI-VOCA, MSU and Alfalit.

About World Vision

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Since 1993, World Vision has established 47 microfinance institutions worldwide, with nearly half a million active borrowers, and an outstanding portfolio of nearly $250 million. Increasingly, this work is expanding into rural areas, where loans to farmers (through farmer organizations) are combined with efforts to increase incomes by expanding access to markets. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people - especially those with the fewest resources - have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

SOURCE World Vision

http://www.worldvision.org

The outbreak of hostilities between Georgia and Russia over the Georgian province of South Ossetia on August 8 led to the displacement of an estimated 159,000 people from conflict zones in South Ossetia and other parts of Georgia. The delivery of assistance to some conflict-affected regions remains difficult due to the ongoing presence of military forces.

"We are pleased by initial reports that humanitarian access to affected regions in Georgia is improving," said the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs. "However, we reiterate our call to all parties to immediately facilitate and guarantee full, safe and unhindered access to all conflict areas, including South Ossetia, for all humanitarian actors. Access is critical to provide urgent assistance to populations in need and for humanitarian agencies to undertake essential needs assessments. There can be no further delays."

Due to the sudden onset of the crisis, displaced communities were forced to flee their homes quickly and are in grave need of food, water, household items, sanitation facilities and medical care. Canada's contributions will provide support to humanitarian agencies responding to these needs, including $1 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, $700,000 to UNICEF, $500,000 to the World Food Programme and $300,000 to World Vision Canada. These funds will supplement the $500,000 already provided to the International Committee of the Red Cross, as part of the $1 million announced on 12 August.

BACKGROUNDER

Since the outbreak of hostilities between Georgia and Russia over the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on 8 August, an estimated 159,000 people have been forced from their homes. Due in large part to the sudden nature of the crisis, displaced populations lack essential life-sustaining support including shelter, food, water and sanitation, essential domestic items, protection, and access to health care.

In response to this crisis, Canada is providing a total of $3 million to humanitarian agencies involved in the coordinated international response. Today's announcement of an additional $2 million complements the up to $1 million announced by Minister Oda immediately following the crisis (12 August), and is being provided in response to recently completed needs assessments indicating ongoing humanitarian needs in Georgia.

The needs resulting from the conflict in Georgia are principally those related to forced displacement. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the organization within the United Nations responsible for the care and maintenance of refugees and displaced people. Canada is providing $1 million to UNHCR to assist them in providing shelter and essential household items to people affected by the conflict.

Water and sanitation has been identified as another critical need in some of the collective centres established to accommodate displaced people, a large number of which are women and children. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is a trusted humanitarian partner for the delivery of water and sanitation and primary health care services, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups. UNICEF is receiving $700,000 from the Government of Canada to address the water and sanitation and health and nutrition needs of affected women and children.

World Vision has been active in Georgia for 14 years implementing development programming and responding to humanitarian emergencies when needed. The organization has played a leadership role in the international humanitarian response in Georgia due to their established relationships with beneficiaries affected by the conflict as well as the local authorities responding. World Vision Canada will receive $300,000 to provide blankets, tents and essential household items to 5,300 people affected by the conflict.

Minister Oda announced on 12 August that Canada was providing $1,000,000.00 to assist people affected by the recent fighting in Georgia. That assistance included $500,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in response to their Appeal of the same day. The ICRC is the most trusted international organization in the world in conflict situations, with the proven ability to gain access to vulnerable populations and provide life-saving assistance. In Georgia, the ICRC has already secured access to the most affected communities and is providing emergency medical care and restoring water and sanitation services.

The remaining funds will be channelled through The World Food Programme (WFP), Canada's largest multilateral partner with the demonstrated knowledge and capacity to provide food aid in response to humanitarian crises. As a result of the conflict in Georgia, needs assessments indicate that 146,000 people require emergency food aid over the short term in order to maintain adequate food consumption and counter nutritional deficiencies. Canada is providing $500,000 to WFP to help the organization provide immediate food aid.

SOURCE: Canadian International Development Agency - CIDA

Office of the Minister of International Cooperation
Joanna Bailey
Press Secretary
819-953-6238
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Media Relations Office
819-953-6534
media@acdi-cida.gc.ca

"The success of our programs and activities in Honduras depends on the efforts of our dedicated staff, implementing partners, and counterparts," said Kunder. "USAID is sending one of its most talented leaders to Honduras. Brands has the perfect combination of scholarship, pragmatism, and professional integrity that enables him to make difficult decisions in the interests of all concerned parties, without being judgmental."

Most recently serving as Deputy Mission Director of USAID/Dominican Republic, Brands led the interagency relief teams during Hurricane Noel, the devastating tropical storm that hit the country. Brands began his USAID career in 1990 and has since served in Uganda, Malawi, the Middle East, and Washington, D.C. Previous to his work at USAID, Bill worked for ten years with the international cooperative development organization, ACDI/VOCA, and was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela.

Brands obtained his M.A. degree in International Law from Tulane University in New Orleans, La., and his bachelors' degree in international relations from Knox College in Galesburg, lL.

For more information about USAID and its programs in Honduras, please visit http://www.usaid.gov.

SOURCE U.S. Agency for International Development

http://www.usaid.gov

Yesterday, Julio Salazar, president of the Six Federations of the Tropics of Cochabamba, confirmed to La Razon the takeover of the ACDI/VOCA [Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance], a US organization that has been working in Bolivia for 36 years and is funded by USAID. According to Salazar, the "legal transfer" of the property will be solicited today and, in the presence of a notary public, an inventory of all of the equipment found there will be made.

"The coca growers did not enter the premises, but they did secure them. We shall wait until they are transferred (to the municipality), but nothing was taken. Tomorrow (today), in the presence of a notary public, an inventory of all of the USAID property will be made," the coca growers' leader told this newspaper by telephone.

On 25 June, USAID technical assistants were forced to abandon the Chapare coca-growing region due to threats made by the farmers, who accused the Americans of conspiring against the government. That night, USAID officials abandoned the zone, and the following day, the coca growers rubbed out the cooperation agency's logos and declared Chapare "USAID-free territory."

Relations between La Paz and Washington have endured constant ups and downs ever since Morales came to power in January 2006, due to open political, ideological, and commercial disagreements. Villa Tunari Mayor Feliciano Mamani affirmed that the material assets will be used for the "benefit" of the people and received by the Office of Economic Development, which comes under the jurisdiction of the municipal government. "We hope it will be of benefit for the inhabitants of the zone," Mamani said.

According to the mayor, the facilities occupied by ACDI/VOCA had had equipment stolen, but he avoided giving any further details. "They were thieves, and we shall investigate them," he guaranteed. This newspaper communicated by telephone with Cochabamba law enforcement and narcotics officials, but the latter claimed to have no knowledge of the facts. In La Paz, ACDI/VOCA officials responded that their spokesperson was absent, as a result of which no official statement was available.

Working in Country Since 1972

ACDI/VOCA Bolivia has been working in the country since 1972. It has offices in the city of La Paz and the towns of Villa Tunari (Chapare) and Palos Blancos (Alto Beni). ACDI/VOCA came into being in Washington 44 years ago when two organizations merged: the Agricultural Cooperative Development International (ACDI, English acronym) and the Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (VOCA). The organization works in partnership with the US International Development Agency (USAID), which has made it possible to fund several projects in the country. Its representative in Bolivia is Tricia Bishop, who has held the post since the beginning of the year, the central office in La Paz informed us. ACDI/VOCA has experience in 126 countries and is currently operating in 40. The organization's central objective is to promote international cooperation and improve the quality of life of the people.

Source: La Razon website, La Paz, in Spanish 1 Sep 08

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