ACDI/VOCA

At ACDI/VOCA, we champion Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) in all our projects to drive impactful change. Discover how the USAID Resilience Learning Activity (RLA) is redefining CLA through a locally-led approach that empowers communities across Kenya, DRC, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Uganda. Read more: https://bit.ly/3XUGuK5 #LocallyLedDevelopment #SustainableDevelopment

Hoy en Bogotá nos acompañaron Sylvia Megret Presidenta y CEO de ACDI/VOCA, y Nicole Chao Vicepresidenta de Resilience & Growth, para decir hasta pronto a nuestra Directora Ejecutiva Carolina Blackburn Cardona, quien asumirá a partir de mañana nuevos retos profesionales. Gracias Carolina por estos 8 años en el Grupo ACDI/VOCA, por tu compromiso, liderazgo asertivo, por inspirar a otras mujeres, por tu coherencia en brindar oportunidades que transforman vidas en Colombia y Latinoamérica. ACDI/VOCA COLOMBIA

Quarterly Impact Awards recognize individuals, teams, and departments who go beyond their day-to-day responsibilities at ACDI/VOCA. Please join us in congratulating Impact Award recipient Evodia Mkangala, business development specialist for our Feed the Future Tanzania Kilimo Tija Activity, for engaging project stakeholders and facilitating their empowerment to do their businesses effectively. In her own words: "I feel honored to facilitate increased stakeholder participation in the horticulture value chain. In Tanzania where the country is highly dependent in agriculture, I really like that my work makes youths become the drivers of this economy through value addition and engagement in off-farm agriculture activities. Indeed, I see it as a game changer in Tanzania's economy and I believe the market facilitation approach is a green light for my country's sustainable growth." Cheers, Evodia! 🌟

🚀 Introducing our new blog series: "Thinking and Working Politically"! This series explores the importance of politically aware and adaptive development. 🌟 First up: Dive into how the Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian Empowerment (IPACE) Activity, funded by USAID and implemented by ACDI/VOCA in #Colombia, used coalition building, consultative processes, capacity strengthening, and policy reform as pathways to empower Afro-Colombians and create lasting, systems change. 🏅 Proud to share that this case study was a finalist in the inaugural Thinking and Working Politically Case Competition by USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. Read more: https://bit.ly/3W4lUVX #LocallyLedDevelopment #localization #AdaptiveDevelopment

For years, over 1,200 households in Bubisa, a village in the Chalbi Desert of Northern Kenya, struggled with water scarcity, with women walking over 10 kilometers daily to fetch water. This time-consuming task placed a heavy burden on them and their families. Discover how USAID's Partnership for Resilience and Economic Growth (PREG) in Marsabit County united USAID implementing partners, government entities, and development partners to bring clean, sustainable water to Bubisa: https://bit.ly/4bT4ocS

On June 21, 2024, the USAID-funded Market Driven Rural Development Activity (MDRD), which we proudly implement, organized an exchange with representatives from other private sector development initiatives and global development projects in Tajikistan. Supported also by the Aga-Khan Foundation and USAID's Employment and Enterprise Development Activity (EEDA), the event aimed to gather insights into market systems development (MSD) practices across diverse development projects. Around 40 participants from GIZ, ITC, Aga Khan, and other USAID-funded initiatives discussed the applicability and scope of the market systems approach within Tajikistan's context. They shared perspectives on integrating this framework into their respective projects and learned about each other’s approach to MSD, including partnership strategies and promotion efforts. Key topics included enhancing efficiency in business-to-business interactions, ensuring the sustainability of current interventions in Tajikistan's business sector, and promoting cross-cutting approaches among businesses. Discussions also explored avenues for fostering green innovation, improving access to finance, and innovating workforce development across various sectors. The event served as a platform for fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and synergies among stakeholders committed to advancing sustainable inclusive development initiatives in Tajikistan. MDRD will actively continue leading efforts to promote market systems in Tajikistan, striving to increase cooperation among relevant projects aiming to enhance collaboration and maximize impact across the country's development landscape.

🔥 Hot job alert! We're #hiring a Senior Market Systems Development/Value Chain Advisor for an upcoming Economic Modernization Activity in #SriLanka funded by #USAID. This role will support inclusive and adaptive #marketsystems approaches in program activities to create lasting transformational change. They will also provide strategic input and technical guidance to relevant program staff on market systems and value chain development approaches to activity design and implementation. The program is anticipated to start in 2024, and this position will be based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Learn more and apply here: http://bit.ly/3L1OxNj #globaldevjobs #MSD

Are you implementing co-investment grants on a market systems development (MSD) project?  👇🏾👇🏻👇🏿 Check out the carousel for 9 quick tips on navigating co-investment grants from Gwendolyn Tweed, Partnership and Grants Manager on the USAID Southern African Mobilizing Investment Activity. And check out a few bonus suggestions from Gwendolyn below:     ➡ In Market systems projects, the project should never be prescriptive with their solicitations—it should be responsive—so the project should focus on utilizing requests for concepts to allow the market to inform the grant activity.  ➡ Allowing a project to have a mixture of grants and procurement mechanisms to pull from is the most ideal design for a market systems project.  Grants can be utilized by partners while procurement/subcontracts can be utilized by the project to support the broader ecosystem with multiple beneficiaries. ➡ In the pre-award stage there should always be two tracks and the potential grant applicant works with the project leads for those two tracks: Technical for the program description and Grants for Due Diligence. It also important to loop in M&E and Communications to ensure proper understanding of the partnership for all parties. ➡The project should always be moving as fast as the partner applicant - if a partner cannot work on the grant application due to investor committees or other business activities it means that the project’s support is just a small piece of their applicant’s business plan, and that partner is a serious entity in the market.  Thanks for these practical tips, Gwendolyn! These tips were originally shared in the recent Marketlinks webinar, Navigating Co-Investment Grants Lessons from Market Systems Development Programs. Given that they resonate so much with our private sector partnerships learning journey, we wanted to share them more broadly. Thanks to Marketlinks, ACDI/VOCA, Land O'Lakes Venture37, and DAI for convening the webinar. (To hear more on this from Gwendolyn’s co-facilitators Tatjana Milić Zanoškar, Lucia Zigiriza, and Austen Musso, watch the recording here: https://lnkd.in/gFf-Mzux ⭐❗This is a fantastic starting point for a conversation that will continue in MSP’s upcoming Adaptive Partnerships for Systemic Impact clinic series (targeted at implementers of USAID-funded market systems projects). If you haven’t already, be sure to apply by June 28th using the following link: https://lnkd.in/d_MRitHW If you have any other tips on navigating co-investment grants, drop them in the chat! 

🔥💼 Hot job alert! We're #hiring a Chief of Party for the upcoming Biodiversity and Resilience Activity in the #Philippines funded by #USAID. We're seeking candidates with ten years of experience managing projects of a similar size in #biodiversity, #climatechange, ecosystem management, or other relevant fields. Learn more and apply here: https://bit.ly/3KWAk4n

Knowledge-sharing events are essential for collaborating, learning, and adapting approaches. They offer a great opportunity for #USAID implementing partners, project participants, and stakeholders to come together and learn from one another. Lucien OUALI, Deputy Chief of Party of the Victory Against Malnutrition Plus Activity in #BurkinaFaso, shares his tips for fostering inclusive participation in CLA events: https://bit.ly/3zpVrt4