Regional Projects
ACDI/VOCA
Central Asia Microfinance Alliance
The Central Asia Micro Finance Alliance (CAMFA) is a USAID-funded four-year project (2002 – 2006) with the objective of strengthening the lending community in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The ACDI/VOCA-led Alliance, including FINCA and the Micro Finance Center in Poland, works on many levels to strengthen existing lending organizations, support more transparent lending operations and create new lending entities in underserved areas of Central Asia. CAMFA is based in Tashkent and works with micro finance organizations, credit unions, agricultural support organizations and other lending organizations that seek to create employment and alleviate poverty.
In response to the current situation, USAID has enlisted several implementing partners, including ACDI/VOCA to participate in a five-country $22.2 million program. The Community Action Investment Program (CAIP) seeks to help prevent conflict and promote broad-based citizen dialogue and participation in communities where the majority of citizens are poor and the preconditions for violent conflict are present. ACDI/VOCA, with sub-contractors Academy for Educational Development (AED) and the Urban Institute, will mobilize community members, rural and urban, for broad developmental and political benefit through collaborative participation in community activities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
In 1996, the US Agency for International Development, the Soros Foundation and the Eurasia Foundation provided funding to ACDI/VOCA to establish Kazakhstan's first microcredit program. The Kazakhstan Community Loan Fund (KCLF), the country's first non-bank financial institution, was established and began disbursing loans the following year.
Performance Duration9/29/01
– 9/30/05 (48.1 months)
ACDI/VOCA is implementing the micro finance component of the Stability
and Food Security Project in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Focusing on the
Ferghana Valley, This project is establishing legally registered and operational
micro finance institutions in Andijan, Uzbekistan, and Khujant, Tajikistan.
In Uzbekistan, the TAdbirkor (or Entrepreneur's) Fund and in Tajikistan,
the Umed (Hope) Fund will be establised. Both institutions will adapt
the peer lending methodology of the highly successful Kazakhstan Community
Loan Fund (KCLF) and the financial manangement systems of the Bai Tushum
Financial Foundation (BTFF) in Kyrgyzstan.
Land
O’Lakes Farmer to Farmer
Since the inception of the program, over three hundred volunteers have provided short-term technical assistance (two to three-week assignments) to private farms and agribusinesses. The expertise is designed to correct deficiencies in production, processing, and marketing in an effort to make the agricultural systems of Russia and Ukraine more competitive and market oriented. The fact that the technical specialists are volunteers allows the program to deliver highly pertinent information for the lowest cost. Activities are focused on cooperative development, strengthening of institutions such as agricultural schools and farmers’ associations, and commodity processing. Land O'Lakes has placed a priority on developing long-term relationships with progressive host organizations and providing them with repeat assistance.
Albania
Land
O’Lakes Dairy Sector Development
Through funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Land O’Lakes began implementing this program to focus on women in Albania’s dairy sector. The campaign set out to significantly increase the quality and quantity of milk produced. The project has evolved to training over 6,000 women dairy producers, 200 male shepherds and dairy producers, and 50 processors with additional technical knowledge and skills to improve the quality of milk and dairy products consumed in the home and sold on the market. The program assists producers to make necessary linkages with processing facilities. In some cases, this will mean aiding the producers in securing contracts or establishing milk collection points for existing facilities, and in other cases it may mean helping to start up their own processing plants. The most recent activity has focused on an aggressive campaign to achieve raw milk quality improvement through the delivery and installation of milk collection tanks that will increase quality as well as income to the producers who deliver milk and are paid a premium for the product delivered.
NTCA Telecenter Cooperatives
Over the past two years NTCA has conducted field work to identify the first location for a set of telecenters to bring modern information and communications technology (ICT) to underserved communities. In September a feasibility study confirmed Krutje, a commune of 11 villages comprising about 10,000 people, as the pilot location. The telecenter will be located in the municipal building and will contain telephones, computers with Internet access, printer, fax, copier and other ICTs. The telecenter will be established as a cooperative, with start-up funding from a combination of member equity, microcredit, and NTCA grants. The telecenter will recover costs by making the ICTs available to members and non-members (who will pay higher fees). Local small and medium-size business owners see the telecenter as important to the competitiveness and growth of their businesses. Families want to use the telecenter to communicate with family members overseas, and young people are eager to "use the Internet to communicate with co-agers wherever they are". This work is funded by USAID through a Cooperative Development Grant. Early indications are that other telecenter cooperatives like the one in Krutje may be an important addition to USAID/Albania's new Enterprise Development and Export Marketing program.
Belarus
ACDI/VOCA
Women’s Economic Empowerment
Peformance Duration 2/12/99-2/31/01
As a subgrantee to Winrock International, ACDI/VOCA is providing training to Belarussian women in personal skills development and empowerment, and in the fundamentals of community development.
2. Women’s Leadership Program
Belarus Women Leadership Program (WLP) addresses the unique challenges faced by Belarussian women, by assisting with individual and group leadership training for NGO leaders and their membership. The WLP mission is to strengthen the capacity and outreach of the Belarussian Women’s NGO Network, while at the same time strengthen each member organization’s structure and viability.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)
CHF
International: Municipal & Economic Development Initiative (MEDI)
Project Duration:
September 2001 – September 2004
Funding Source: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
The MEDI program is a civil society development initiative designed around a public-private partnership which will improve local government responsiveness to the project beneficiaries needs, provide ‘hands-on’ experience in democratic decision-making across ethnic lines, spur economic development, and facilitate the return of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The program adapted CHF International’s INED (Integrated NGO and Economic Development) methodology, which had great success in Romania, to the Bosnian context.
CHF
International: Cooperative Development Program (CDP)
Project Duration:
December 31, 2002 – May 31, 2004
Funding Source: USAID
In Bosnia, The Cooperative Development Program (CDP) aims to assist in setting up and/or strengthening homeowner associations and management systems. The program helps homeowners get training and education they need and informs them of their rights and responsibilities in newly privatized housing units. The program also seeks to involve local government in assisting homeowners, where applicable. The program is promoting the formation of business centers and business associations. It also assists local economic development through business development, credit, and education.
Regional
Economic Development Initiative (REDI)
CHF International, under the REDI program funded by Sida, helps to establish and develop the capacity of a Regional Development Agency (RDA) in Central Bosnia. REDI provides tools to enhance efficiency of service delivery, increase effectiveness of advocacy, access business consulting, create market linkages, develop economic and cluster plans, and obtain financial resources.
Market Based Enterprise Networking Initiative (MENI)
The MENI project provides business consultancy, market linkage, and credit referral services to SME clients.. The MENI project continues the business consultancy services previously provided by the Dutch SFOR IDEA project. The MENI project is funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in BiH.
Loan Initiative for the Development of Economic Regions (LIDER)
The purpose of the LIDER project is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Micro-Credit Organisation REZFond. REZFond currently provides, Small business, Home Improvement, Income Generation, and Consumer loans to the financially underserved clients within BiH. This project is funded by Sida.
Improving, Measuring, and Promoting Poverty Alleviation by Cooperatives
in Transition Societies (IMPPACTS)
IMPPACTS seeks to refine our understanding of the variables that impact cooperative effectiveness, develop better measures of cooperative impact, and enhance the conditions for cooperative development through a social marketing strategy. This project is funded by USAID.
Land
O'Lakes, Creating Production Opportunities and Market Linkages for Returning
Minority Refugees to Bosnia
The project will deliver technical assistance and support to minority families returning to Bosnia who are dependent on sheep production (cheese and lamb) as a means to generate household income. Through Land O’Lakes’ guidance and support, production opportunities and market linkages for returning minority refugee sheep producers will be created through direct technical assistance designed to accelerate their entry into the sheep sector agribusiness. Land O’Lakes will assist producer families to capitalize on consumer demand by entering into and expanding production, and developing their own market chain. In order to accelerate the return of minority refugees, production opportunities must be demonstrated as a sustainable and profitable agribusiness. The project will provide direct support to minority refugee households in five areas that suffered significant destruction and forced migration of the population. It is anticipated that as sales volumes and prices paid to producers increase, production will expand. This will not only secure a reasonable standard of living for those minority refugees who have returned, but it will also attract more minority refugees to return, as they can engage in a production activity that will ensure family income.
Land
O'Lakes, Creating Production Opportunities and Market Linkages
for Returning Minority Refugees to Bosnia
Bulgaria
ACDI/VOCA
Business Development
ACDI/VOCA activities in Bulgaria are funded by USAID under the Firm Level Assistance Group (FLAG) Consortium that assists Bulgarian private businesses. Since ACDI/VOCA opened its office in Sofia in 1991, nearly 300 volunteers have visited and accomplished over 450 assignments. As a result, the hosting firms implement new products, increase their sales and expand their employment base.
ACDI/VOCA assists associations and small- and medium-sized Bulgarian agribusiness enterprises through volunteer programs, training programs and the Grain Industry Development Program (GIDP). ACDI/VOCA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture also worked with the Ministry of Agriculture to create a National Grain Service and supported training for grain inspectors on how to conduct warehouse exams.
In other initiatives, volunteers
offer their expertise as they commit to solve specific firm problems connected
with management, the production cycle, marketing and product quality,
institutional development of trade associations and business centers,
meat processing, livestock, fruit and vegetable processing industry,
baking and confectionery industry, and private companies and associations.
Land
O’Lakes Dairy Development
Land O’Lakes, Inc. has been involved in dairy development activities in Bulgaria since 1992, when broad-based training in free market concepts, such as business planning, marketing, management, cooperative development, dairy processing, milk quality, and privatization commenced. In total, Land O’Lakes has educated over 5000 Bulgarian producers, agribusiness firms, consultants, scientists, government officials, as well as key political figures actively involved in reforming the agricultural industry. In recent years:
Land O'Lakes has built and strengthened a National Dairy Association that unites producers and processors and represent their interests to the Government of Bulgaria (GOB) in areas of policy reform.
In addition, Land O’Lakes has transferred new product development and marketing technology to private dairy processing firms resulting in an increase in domestic and export sales by over $10 million dollars. It is important to note that, today, 60 percent of the technical interventions are delivered and administered by local consultants trained under the Land O’Lakes initiative.
Croatia
ACDI/VOCA
Private Enterprise
Performance Duration: 6/97-12/00
This project supports private enterprises in the Slavonia and Baraya regions through volunteer technical assistance.
Georgia
AgVANTAGE
The goal of AgVANTAGE
is to raise the rate of economic growth in Georgia through expanded
production and sales of added-value agricultural products.
ACDI/VOCA has identified the key constraints which fractured linkages
between the farm production and the processing, packing and transportation
sectors, and between the processing, packing and shipping sector and
the market. This project will re-forge market chain links from the producer
to the processor, or the packer to the final consumer. In addition,
by
providing
a means
to transmit necessary market information down the chain, these activities
will enable the production of products in accordance with market-demand
and their flow back up the chain.
ACDI/VOCA
Farmer to Farmer & SEED
ACDI/VOCA opened an office in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1996 to carry out development initiatives in a country that has advanced economic reforms since the mid 1990s. ACDI/VOCA-Georgia activities include a Farmer-to-Farmer program. Employing the skills of U.S. volunteer experts, ACDI/VOCA Farmer-to-Farmer activities are focused on providing technical assistance to agribusinesses in the areas of production, processing and distribution of commodities as well as business management and the natural resource management. Additionally, the farmer-to-farmer program supports the Seed Enterprise Enhancement Project and the USAID-funded National Rural Credit System.
In 1997 ACDI/VOCA launched the Seed Enterprise Enhancement and Development Project (SEED). SEED focuses on two complementary areas of agricultural development. First, the project stimulates agricultural production by fostering the development of a domestic seed industry in Georgia, with emphasis on wheat, maize, sunflowers and potatoes. Secondly, the project uses capital through a localized credit cooperative system, enhancing farmers' ability to take advantage of new investment opportunities and to receive returns on those investments.
CHF
International Community Infrastructure
Project Duration:
Fiscal 2003
Funding Source: CHF International
South Central Georgia struggles with potential interethnic conflict, infrastructure in disrepair, and high unemployment. In response, CHF International has targeted four community infrastructure projects. In the four villages, community improvement committees were selected by their peers. Through facilitation by CHF International staff, these committees then identified and developed project proposals to address their most pressing needs, given their available skills, resources, and manpower.
In Ghreli village, CHF International helped community members repair a road to reduce transportation time and costs. CHF International assisted the community of Skhvilsi in repairing a drinking water pipeline and the accompanying reservoirs. In Khospio where some 289 Armenian, Georgian, and Greek families have lived side by side for centuries, the community improvement committee decided that the repairs to the roof, ceilings and chimney of the village school was their top priority. In Totkhami, community members chose to repair their school by replacing the floor, windows and ceiling.
ACDI/VOCA's
Seed Enterprise Enhancement and Development Project (SEED)
Period of Performance: Oct. 97 - March 03 *The Project was initially scheduled to close out on Sept. 20, 2001 but received an 18 month extension.
Primary Goal: "To create, test and institutionalize a functioning system which will permit Georgia to become self reliant in the production of high yielding seeds of four basic food and feed crops; potatoes, wheat, maize, and sunflowers."
Significant Accomplishments:
1. Loans by the credit system have financed production on over 20,000 hectares
of crops creating over 3000 full and part-time jobs in FY2001 alone. Repayment
rates since the initial pilot activity have far exceeded the performance
of commercial banks.
2. In 1999 the SEED Project formed a legally registered commercial seed company
named Horizon Seed Company, the successor to ACDI/VOCA's seed production activities
under the SEED project. This company is funded and supported by the SEED Project
through September 2001. After that it will become a self-sufficient company.
3. As of September 30, 2000, the ACDI/VOCA credit system had expanded to six
credit cooperatives managed by the Enki foundation.
Future Initiatives:
The 18th month extension of the SEED project will ensure:
1. Management proficiency and continuity in lieu of fiduciary responsibilities
being assumed by very inexperienced staff.
2. Continued, direct U.S. Government Contractor oversight of USAID funds and
other U.S. Government funds including Current and possibly future USDA section
416(b) funding;
3. Continued support to SEED project objectives and participants as well as
support to any future USAID initiatives in the rural economy of Georgia;
The credit system remains in the public sector and free of the control or manipulation
of any ministry of the Georgian Government.
2. Support Added
Value Enterprises Activity (SAVE)
Project Duration: 4/24/02 – 4/30/03 (12.2 months), initial phase
The goal of the SAVE Activity is to raise the rate of economic growth in Georgia through expanded production and sales (largely exports) of added-value agricultural products. This will produce greater incomes for agricultural processors and producers, and higher revenues for government. Increased assess to credit is being provided through activities implemented by Constanta, Shorebank, and ACDI/VOCA. The ACDI/VOCA credit program provides credit to agricultural sector producers and processors.
3. Emergency Loan Program in East Georgia(Save the Children)
Performance Duration 9/18/00-9/17/01
As a continuation of the Georgia SEED project, implemented under a USAID Cooperative Agreement, ACDI/VOCA, under a sub-grant to Save the Children, will procure 200 metric tons of winter wheat seed and will utilize a nationwide farm credit system to expand the availability of production credit to commercial farmers in the East and Central Georgia.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Community Loan Fund
In 1996, the US Agency for International Development, the Soros Foundation and the Eurasia Foundation provided funding to ACDI/VOCA to establish Kazakhstan’s first microcredit program. The Kazakhstan Community Loan Fund (KCLF), the country’s first non-bank financial institution, was established and began disbursing loans the following year.
Applying individual and peer-lending models, KCLF has enjoyed great success. The foundation now operates 3 branches, has disbursed more than 30,000 loans to 7,730 clients (83% women) with a portfolio at risk below 1%. Entrepreneurs have put this capital to good use, launching more than 800 new enterprises and creating employment opportunities for more than 2,800 people.
Community
Action Investment Program (CAIP)
ACDI/VOCA, with sub-contractors the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and the Urban Institute, mobilizes community members and leverages local resources for collaborative participation in developmental activities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. CAIP benefits a broad spectrum of community members by providing jobs and improving infrastructure and services in areas such as sanitation, health and education. A joint decision-making process that emphasizes pluralism will help produce policies that are supported by all segments of the community. CAIP also provides training to local civic organizations and facilitates improved local networks to increase efficiency, efficacy and sustainability.
Kyrgyzstan
Community
Action Investment Program (CAIP)
ACDI/VOCA, with sub-contractors the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and the Urban Institute, mobilizes community members and leverages local resources for collaborative participation in developmental activities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. CAIP benefits a broad spectrum of community members by providing jobs and improving infrastructure and services in areas such as sanitation, health and education. A joint decision-making process that emphasizes pluralism will help produce policies that are supported by all segments of the community. CAIP also provides training to local civic organizations and facilitates improved local networks to increase efficiency, efficacy and sustainability.
Kosovo
ACDI/VOCA
Agricultural Recovery Transition Project
To address economic destruction caused by the war, and to transition Kosovars away from subsistence farming or the need for humanitarian relief, ACDI/VOCA, under a grant from Save the Children/USAID, is currently implementing the Kosovo Agricultural Recovery Transition (KART) Project. Headquarterd in Prizren, KART expects to positively impact over 25,000 citizens of the region. Specific goals of the project follow:
· increase the number
of private farmers who understand and participate in private agriculture
by facilitating their entry and integration into market chains, strengthening
and developing these structures, which thus increase income and employment.
· leverage emergency relief aid with the development of economically
viable and sustainable market chains in the agricultural sector.
· support economic recovery at the community level by promoting
and developing the interdependence of subsectors within agriculture.
· help members of particular sectors to identify, develop and expand
market chains in order to generate employment and income in the agricultural
sector.
CHF
International: Construction and Employment Program (K-CEP) (COMPLETED)
Project Duration: May 2000
– May 2002
Funding Source: Save the Children
The Kosovo Construction and Employment Program increased income and employment in the construction industry sector in the municipalities of Gjakova, Ducane, and Prizren in South Western Kosovo. These three municipalities have traditionally served as the “construction engine” for Kosovo but suffered severe damage in the 1999 conflict. Currently they all have high rates of unemployment.
Macedonia
ACDI/VOCA
Private Farmers Association Development
In September 1999, ACDI/VOCA began implementing a USAID-funded two-year project promoting the development of private farmers associations in the Republic of Macedonia. The chief goal of the project is assisting carefully selected agricultural associations to develop high-value member services that in turn offer much needed association income. The project is helping members reduce production costs and access better markets, while simultaneously earning their associations income to cover daily operating expenses.
Land
O’Lakes Seal of Quality
A passion for consistent food quality is the foundation for success in world food markets, and has been a pivotal force in propelling Land O’Lakes from a small regional dairy cooperative into a seven billion dollar global agricultural corporation. Macedonia agribusiness possesses the elements necessary to not only meet domestic food needs, but to achieve a vital position in the world food market. Land O’Lakes believes this can only be achieved in the near-term through an aggressive, industry-led transformation of the systems pertaining to production of premium-priced, branded, Macedonian food products. The objective is to establish a distinction of quality that is recognizable and that conveys the attributes of superior quality preferred by discriminating consumers. Land O’Lakes has assembled a powerful team – the best of U.S. agribusiness – to execute a market-driven strategy that will transform Macedonia’s livestock sector potential from latent to explosive. The program being implemented extends into complex issues associated with setting quality standards, enforcing those standards, laboratory testing to assure compliance, and marketing mechanisms for realizing the sales potential that exists.
WOCCU
Support for Macedonian Credit Unions
WOCCU Macedonia is a $270,000 project (10/03- 10/05) funded by USAID Macedonia. The project has the following components: continued support of rural finance for FULM Savings House through technical support provided by WOCCU, legislative initiative to improve the legal framework for Savings and Credit Unions, and the introduction of a Student Loan Program for FULM Savings House members.
WOCCU Macedonia has established a Savings House in Macedonia. The Savings house now has five branches operating as savings and credit unions throughout different regions of the country.
Montenegro
Land
O'Lakes Dairy Policy Reform
$2.2 Million for developing the dairy sector through establishment of producer associations/cooperatives and dairy policy reform. Work is now being supported by a USDA food for progress monetization of corn and soybean meal. Term: through mid year 2002.
Montenegro, along with Serbia, are the two republics that comprise the remnant of the Yugoslav Federation; however, in contrast to Serbia, Montenegro is governed by a democratically elected, pro-Western government that is in open opposition to Slobodan Milosevic. Being tied to Serbia through a decade of war combined with Milosevic's overt efforts to topple its government have put extreme pressure on Montenegro's economy. Montenegro has never been self-sufficient in food production, with the bulk of imported food coming through Serbia. With the closure of the Serbian border by Mr. Milosevic, critical imports of food supplies and other essentials have been severed, causing tremendous economic strife.
Now, more than ever, food production and food security have become critical issues. There are about 65,000 families directly engaged in farming activities. With an average family size of five people, approximately 325,000 family members are dependent on agriculture out of a total population of slightly over 600,000. In addition, urban residents often rely on rural relatives to meet family food needs in this time of crisis.
Land O'Lakes is privileged to have the opportunity to help Montenegro respond to its food security challenges, with particular emphasis in the dairy sector, through a three-year, $2.2 million project funded by the US Agency for International Development. Land O'Lakes is using methodologies developed in other Eastern European and Balkan nations to improve the performance of the milk production and processing sectors. At the same time, it is also working with government policy makers to facilitate the establishment of a more rational policy framework for the industry. In the first year, focus is being placed on increased on-farm production, milk collections systems, and more efficient processing operations. These activities are having an immediate impact on income generation and food supplies.
Land O'Lakes was the first
new US development project to start-up activities in June 1999 in the
wake of the air campaign against the Yugoslav military. Currently, a staff
of one US expatriate, Dr. Roger Steinkamp, and seven host country nationals
is implementing a broad-based technical assistance campaign. In the months
since the project has been operational, it has realized a range of positive
developments that further the US goals of strengthening the economy and
democracy, a sample of which includes:
o Direct, personal contact with over 500 farms through training seminars,
most of which are located in sensitive eastern zones of the country as
well as contact with nearly 10,000 additional farms through a monthly
dairy newsletter. Farmers are reporting increased milk production and
decreased calf mortality as a result of training and information dissemination.
o A regional network has been established with contacts in Bulgaria, Macedonia,
Serbia and Albania to exchange pertinent technical data and business contacts.
In particular, much needed lab-testing supplies are now being purchased
from Bulgaria.
o The nucleus of 10 informal producer associations is forming around technical
assistance training groups with one formal association already being registered
with the government. In addition to engaging in activities that will improve
the profitability of members, the association members will learn important
lessons from managing a voluntary, democratically run organization. Since
these associations bring together people at all political and ethnic persuasions,
they are an excellent example of the benefits of peaceful co-existence.
CHF
International Community Revitalization Through Democratic Action
Program (CRDA)
CHF International's Community Revitalization through Democratic Action Program in Montenegro seeks to:
- Increase citizen participation in community development decisions and activities;
- Promote inter-community cooperation;
- Encourage interaction between citizens and local government;
- Facilitate the social and economic revitalization of communities in Northern Montenegro
- CHF International implements infrastructure rehabilitation, income generation, and economic development activities
- Designed to improve environmental conditions and public awareness of environmental issues.
The design of the program draws heavily on CHF International's ability to motivate communities and to assist leaders in prioritizing needs and identifying solutions. Our process ensures support, and encourages participation among community members, enhancing the democratic process at the grassroots level.
Poland
CHF
International
Project Duration:
Fiscal 2003
Funding Source: USAID
CHF International has recently conducted two studies under the Cooperative Development Program to follow up on the ongoing success of earlier projects in Poland.
First, a March 2003 study assessed the governance results of the work of homeowner associations assisted by CHF International in the 1990s. The study found that activities of these cooperative-type associations had strengthened local democracy and generated higher levels of transparency and accountability.
Second, in a case study undertaken in June and July 2003, we performed a review of a lending partnership between a private bank and private homeowner associations, with local government lending subsidies. The lending program, began in 1998-99 is still going strong today. The homeowner associations report that the value of their assets have increased by up to 25% following improvements financed through the project.
Romania
CHF
International: Integrated NGO and Economic Development (INED) (COMPLETED)
Project Duration: July 1999
- January 2003
Funding Source: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
The INED program combined the strategies of local economic development, NGO civic society development, small and medium size enterprise development, microcredit, and community financial institution development. The INED project created a fully integrated, replicable, development model of intensive, broad-based local development. It worked with local government partners to devise local economic development strategies suitable to each region. INED also established a series of pilot initiatives to demonstrate the concept and practice of local government/NGO contracting.
To increase access to credit, CHF International’s local partners implemented micro-credit activities, using small business associations and homeowners associations as peer-group structures, to provide effective pressure for timely loan repayment. The lending program filled a vital niche for a market not addressed by formal banking institutions in Romania. The program offered a growing loan fund to accelerate disbursement of small and micro loans to an increasing number of recipients for a small- and micro-enterprises and home improvements. Lending programs continue today.
CHF
International
CHF International has been working in Romania for 10 years; currently they are implementing a large-scale program aimed at helping businesses grow while improving the business and economic environment. The three main objectives in Romania are increasing access to credit, increasing market competition, and improving the regulatory environment.
Land
O’Lakes Processing
Land O’Lakes assisted the formation of Romania’s first National Private Processor’s Association (APPL). The rationale for creating the organization was based on the fact that there existed a dire need for the development of effective management and operating models for the dairy sector encompassing milk production, collection, processing and distribution. There was also a need for the private dairy sector to communicate their needs to the Romanian government in a way that promotes a favorable economic environment within which to operate. Since its founding, Land O’Lakes has assisted APPL by helping them to expand membership and to identify necessary services for their members. Land O’Lakes subsequently targeted a broader spectrum of the dairy industry’s associations and works with these associations for the purpose of representing member needs to local and national government. The association serves as a conduit for disseminating training and technical assistance to members on profitability, marketing, pricing, processing, packaging, new product development and financing.
WOCCU
WOCCU Romania is a $2.0 million project (9/99 - 9/03) funded by USAID’s Office of Microenterprise Development. WOCCU Romania works with 26 CARs (Casa Ajutor Reciproc = credit union) to transition them from stagnant share-driven institutions from the Communist era to market-oriented and savings-driven financial institutions.
The Romanian CARs are transitioning
from offering non-market loans financed by shares to offering market priced
loans financed by deposits and institutional capital. The average loan
size outstanding is $ 191.
The CARs (pronounced charays) are actively mobilizing voluntary savings.
The fixed term deposit is the most popular voluntary savings product.
Deposits of less than $ 94 make up more than four-fifths (82.7%) of these
accounts. The institutional capital to total assets ratio has increased
277.5% from 3.1% to 11.6%.
Russia
ACDI/VOCA's
Farmer-to-Farmer NIS
Period of Performance: Oct. 99 - Sept. 03. Primary Goal: Strengthen farm production, post-harvest handling, intermediate and final processing, retail and wholesale sales and local, regional, and international export markets. Primary focus is on developing the "building blocks of sustainability" by providing assistance to individual firms, agricultural support organizations, and financial institutions.
ACDI/VOCA's
Sakhalin Regional Microcredit Program
Period of Performance: Sept. 99 - Sept. 03. Primary Goal: Create the Sakhalin Small Enterprise Development Fund in order to furnish unique credit opportunities for micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses in the region.
ACDI/VOCA's
Mobilizing Agricultural Credit
Period of Performance: Sept. 98 - April 2003. Primary Goal: To support enhanced access by private and restructured farms to privately owned and managed financial resources.
ACDI/VOCA
Credit Cooperatives in Russia through The Cooperative Development Program
ACDI/VOCA and its partners the Rural Credit Cooperation Development Fund (RCCDF), the Cooperative Credit Training Center (CCTC), and the Union of Rural Credit Cooperative Auditors (Auditors’ Union) will implement a three-year effort to transform the successful Russian American Lending (RAL) program into a salient Russian rural credit cooperative system. It is hypothesized that: 1) once it has been demonstrated that credit cooperatives can lend effectively at market rates and they have amassed (through good lending practices and sound governance policies) a critical mass of resources, that model can be replicated on a larger scale, and 2) after critical issues preventing credit cooperatives from forming and growing are removed, the initiative of the cooperatives is the engine that drives the expansion of the private rural credit system, not the donor nor the State.
ACDI/VOCA’s goal is for the rural credit cooperative system to achieve scale and salience through improved collaboration among financially viable cooperative support institutions; sufficient capital to meet the demands of qualified RCCs; improved information systems; self-regulation and regular audits of accredited cooperatives; the adoption of good prudential norms; and, an improved legal and regulatory environment.
Serbia / Yugoslavia
ACDI/VOCA
Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) Program
In Central Serbia, the Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) program, a 5-year (2001-2006), $40 million initiative funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is developing democratic mechanisms that promote community involvement in identifying and addressing economic and social needs. Through the creation and strengthening of community boards that design and implement local projects, ACDI/VOCA and its partners, Overseas Strategic Consulting, Ltd. OSC) and the Urban Institute, encourage and facilitate effective citizen participation in decision-making while strengthening linkages across communities and promoting reconciliation among different ethnic and religious groups.
The program operates in 15 municipalities through 68 community boards and involves the design, implementation and monitoring of over 900 projects that revitalize essential infrastructure, create income-generating opportunities and address critical environmental and social problems.
Serbia
Enterprise Development Project (SEDP)
This project is designed to strengthen domestic and international competitiveness of Serbian enterprises, promote foreign direct investment and build an institutional and legal environment that supports competitiveness. Working closely with the National Competitiveness Council, local businesses, industry leaders and government, ACDI/VOCA is working with Booz Allen Hamilton to increase Serbian enterprises’ export capacity and trade linkages.
CHF
International: Community and Infrastructure Development Program
(CIDP)
Project Duration:
March 29, 2001 to March 31, 2004
Funding Source: USAID
CHF International is implementing a Community and Infrastructure Development Program (CIDP) in Serbia to improve infrastructure, increase civic participation, and generate employment in the Presevo and Bujanovac municipalities. CIDP pioneered the unique, demand-driven community participation methodology being used now by the CRDA program in a broader Serbian context.
CHF
International: Community Revitalization Through Democratic Action (CRDA)
CHF International's Program Operation Centers throughout Southeastern Serbia manage projects in more than 100 communities, covering a variety of needs. Community members prioritize and initiate their own revitalization activities, which include: renovating cultural centers and community courtyards, paving streets, renovating primary schools, constructing bridges, improving and purifying water supply, improving or creating sewer and waste systems,improving or installing electricity transformers and street lighting, constructing computer and medical centers, and supplying equipment.
Ukraine
ACDI/VOCA
Agriculture and Business Support Programs
ACDI/VOCA opened its office in Kyiv in 1992 and has worked throughout the country ever since. Currently, ACDI/VOCA runs three separate agricultural and business support programs in Ukraine, maintaining offices in Kyiv and Lviv. ACDI/VOCA's portfolio in Ukraine includes long- and short-term technical assistance provided by both consultants and volunteers to farmers and small-business owners. The goal of the three programs is to offer targeted assistance on issues ranging from small-scale farming to food processing techniques to business and financial management. ACDI/VOCA began work with Winrock International on the Women's Economic Empowerment Program (WEE) in February 1999.
ACDI/VOCA began a new program called Alliance in 1996, along with the International Executive Service Corps (IESC), Citizens' Democracy Corps (CDC) and MBA Enterprise Corps (MBAEC). Alliance is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to assist small- and medium-size Ukrainian enterprises. ACDI/VOCA handles the agricultural portfolio of the partnership, focusing on assistance to private food processing operations.
NTCA
Business Internet Centers
Strengthens small and medium-sized enterprises in rural and underserved areas of Ukraine by expanding their access to modern technologies and business expertise through a network of Business Internet Centers (BICs). The BICs are tailored to their communities, locally owned and operated, and designed as self-sustainable commercial enterprises. The project is funded by a 3-year, $ 1.7 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and implemented by the US-based National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA).
NTCA's
Cooperative Development Program
1994-Ongoing
NTCA engages key federal and local government representatives, business
entrepreneurs and their communities in the promotion of the ICT cooperative
model as a solution to bridging the digital divide that exists between
rural and urban Ukrainians. Our activities in recent years have focused
on raising awareness of the cooperative model among potentially interested
stakeholders.
Land
O'Lakes Agricultural Marketing Project
The Agricultural Marketing Project is a four-year USAID-funded program implemented by Land O'Lakes International Development Division in partnership with its subcontractors - Sparks Companies, Inc. (SCI), Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), and the Ukrainian agricultural market information agency, APK-Inform, Ltd. The project's mission is: To stimulate increased rural incomes and employment by enabling small and medium family farmers to identify and meet market needs profitably through enhancing quality and production efficiency, pursuing joint marketing efforts, and adding increased value to their products.
Uzbekistan
Ferghana
Valley Regional Microfinance Program (FVRM)
To ensure that small-business owners have a way to obtain needed loans, ACDI/VOCA launched the four-year Ferghana Valley Regional Microfinance program (FVRM) in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The Valley, which is shared by Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, is fertile and populous, and retains, in some ways, the importance it had when it was a stop along the ancient Silk Road. As part of USAID’s Stability and Food Security Program, FVRM supports the broader objectives of generating income and employment opportunities while helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
ACDI/VOCA is building on its microfinance success throughout the region to create lasting microfinance institutions in Andijan, Uzbekistan, and Khujand, Tajikistan. The program creates a sense of ownership by identifying, training and working with highly talented local staff to develop credit policies and procedures that are both effective and consistent with each country’s microfinance laws.
Community
Action Investment Program (CAIP)
Through this program CHF International is helping to reduce tensions and potential for conflict in the Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya regions of southern Uzbekistan. Democratic community leadership is developed through the implementation of improvements to social infrastructure. The creation of new jobs through enterprises which benefit the community establishes a foundation for community participation and leadership. This results in continued economic and social benefits.
WOCCU
Uzbekistan
WOCCU Uzbekistan is a $3.5 million program (6/02-5/06) funded by USAID CAR. First credit union was licensed in September of 2002. Credit unions in Uzbekistan are regulated and supervised by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. As of November 1, 2004 the project is working with fourteen credit unions in nine regions. Project is planning to expand its technical assistance to no less than 20 credit unions by the end of Quarter 1, 2005. This has become possible after USAID approved project expansion in September of 2004. The overall goal is to create a nationwide credit union system having credit unions serving members throughout the country.