ACDI/VOCA Team Launches Support for Food Security Activities Website

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2010/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The ACDI/VOCA Support for Food Security Activities (SFSA) team, a consortium of nine food security and agricultural development organizations, today announced the launch of its website, www.sfsa.com, a resource for USAID missions working to reduce hunger and poverty in eastern and southern Africa.

The website (www.sfsa.com) offers a range of information and resources on the SFSA Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC), a five-year USAID mechanism to fund bilateral and regional agricultural development and food security programs in countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and Tanzania.

"The SFSA or Support for Food Security Activities funding mechanism is both innovative and practical because it allows USAID missions to quickly access specialized services to achieve food security goals," says ACDI/VOCA's Bronwyn Irwin, who leads the SFSA team. "We are pleased to launch our team's website, and as programs are implemented, look forward to it becoming a regional food security and agriculture resource."

The ACDI/VOCA team has implemented over $400 million of development and humanitarian interventions in the select African countries, including 15 long-term agribusiness and livelihoods programs in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

"We hope our team's technical strengths, varied skills and extensive footprint will support missions, working with African governments, to implement integrated and effective food security and economic development programs," Irwin says.

"We share a commitment to the people living in this region of Africa and to working with them as true partners in efforts to promote sustainable growth and economic opportunity."

The SFSA contract ceiling is $500 million, and task orders under the IQC may be awarded through August 2015. ACDI/VOCA leads one of three prequalified IQC teams.

ACDI/VOCA SFSA Team and Technical Expertise

The ACDI/VOCA team includes:  

• Associates for International Resources and Development (AIRD)
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
• Crown Agents USA
• Danya International  Inc.  
• IFDC
• John Mellor Associates Inc. (JMA)
• Kimetrica
• Ohio State University (OSU)

The SFSA team members provide expert technical assistance in: agricultural productivity; market facilitation and value chain development; trade facilitation, regulatory and policy reform; humanitarian response; information and knowledge management; organizational development; and short-term tasks such as evaluations, analyses, workshops and regional coordination meetings.

For more information, visit www.sfsa.com.

ACDI/VOCA strives to promote positive economic and social change worldwide by promoting economic opportunities for cooperatives, enterprises and communities through the innovative application of sound business practices.

SOURCE ACDI/VOCA