African First to Receive U.S. Co-Ops' Highest Honor

Co-op Hall of Fame Honors ACDI/VOCA Staff as First International Inductee

WASHINGTON, April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This May 5, the late Ato Werqu Mekasha of Ethiopia will be the first international inductee in the U.S. Cooperative Hall of Fame – the U.S. cooperative community's highest honor.

Werqu, who died last year and had been an ACDI/VOCA staff member, worked tirelessly with Ethiopian government, businesses and local farmers to lead large, transformative cooperative development projects to help increase agricultural productivity, reduce hunger and increase rural incomes.

"Werqu's lifelong mission to modernize agriculture in Ethiopia showed in everything he did," says ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard. "Through cooperatives, he reached millions of Ethiopians, many struggling against extreme poverty and hunger.

"Werqu's work is heroic in its own right. And when you learn about the man behind the work, you realize that he was a hero in his personal life as well."

Werqu, who served as vice minister of agriculture under Emperor Haile Selassie in the 1970s, was jailed for eight years without charge under the Derg. Despite the toll this sentence had on him and his family, he never lost sight of the plight of Ethiopia's smallholder farmers and, once released, used his technical expertise to help establish competitive, profit-oriented and professionally managed agricultural cooperatives throughout the country.

Linking Farmers Directly to Markets

Werqu, who served as ACDI/VOCA country director in Ethiopia from 1994 to 2006, grew the Farmer-to-Farmer program there from a few assignments to a large U.S. volunteer program. He then helped develop those volunteer activities into long-term agriculture development projects – most funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – which reached more than 5 million Ethiopians.

Through projects like the Cooperative Unions and Agricultural Cooperatives in Ethiopia (ACE), Werqu helped farmers gain the right to market coffee directly to international buyers and roasters. Eliminating the middlemen, in this case the apparatus surrounding the government's central auction, gave farmers the incentives they needed to begin growing and processing high-quality coffee. This shift eventually boosted the country's market share of premium or specialty coffees and opened the way to technical assistance from and partnerships with the private sector, including Starbucks.

A highlight of this project was when coffee produced by the Ferro Coffee Farmers Cooperative was recognized in 2005 as the eighth in the esteemed line of Starbucks Black Apron Exclusives™.

"Not many people realize that Ethiopia's status as a modern coffee power emanates from this crucial change of market channels, which Werqu led," says Leonard. "Previously all coffee was sold as undifferentiated bulk commodity.

"Today, the names of the cooperative unions Werqu helped form, such as Sidamo and Yergacheffe, are famous worldwide as coffee appellations," Leonard adds. "In so many ways, Werqu helped smallholder farmers succeed in creating viable and sustainable businesses locally and well as globally."

The Cooperative Hall of Fame honors distinguished individuals whose contributions to cooperative business have been genuinely heroic, according to the National Cooperative Business Association, which sponsors the event.

The 2010 inductees to the U.S. Cooperatives Hall of Fame include: Larry Blanchard, Glenn English, David Thompson and Werqu.

What: U.S. Cooperative Hall of Fame Award Ceremony

When: May 5, 2010. Reception at 6 p.m. Dinner and ceremony at 7 p.m.

Where: National Press Club, 14th and F streets, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Sponsorships, Tables, Tickets:  $275 individual tickets; additional information on sponsorships and ads available at http://www.heroes.coop/

Proceeds from the May 5 event benefit the Cooperative Development Foundation.

ABOUT ACDI/VOCA

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. Learn more at www.acdivoca.org.

CONTACT: Sandra Bunch, 202.469.6166

SOURCE ACDI/VOCA