Alliance Collaboration to Empower Farmers through USAID TIME Grant
The African Cashew Alliance, in collaboration with the Global Shea Alliance and the Borderless Alliance, has been awarded a grant under the USAID Toward Inclusive Markets Everywhere Annual Program Statement (TIME APS). The Alliances will lead the program, titled “Industry Alliances Working Together to Empower Poor Rural Women in the Cashew and Shea Sectors” which focuses on engaging rural farmers to improve quality and meet international standards in both sectors. The grant will last a total of three years, targeting farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. Within three years, the project is expected to create 2,000 new jobs, impact 120,000 small-scale cashew/shea farmers, and generate $3 million in additional income each year.
Collectively, the Alliances bring together more than 300 members and stakeholders from various value chains. Throughout the duration of the program, they will leverage this broad membership base to complete grant activities and to ensure a sustained impact even past the three year project period. The Alliances will be focusing specifically on improving product quality, increasing consumer awareness, and fostering market linkages in the cashew and shea sectors in an effort to link rural women farmers to international value chains. This is the first time that this type of USAID initiative will be taken on by industry-led alliances.
Under the TIME grant, the African Cashew Alliance will be developing a traceability standard for cashew processors which will provide farmers with the opportunity to improve their income through stronger linkages with the local value addition industry. This will be the first such effort in the global cashew industry.
These The African Cashew Alliance’s activities under this grant include Under this grant, the ACA will roll out a traceability standard that will help promote best practices, as well as market linkages to the international value chain. ACA will be utilizing its vast network of processors in the five countries to reach farmers. The African Cashew Alliance is excited to work with their neighbors, the Global Shea Alliance and the Borderless Alliance over the next three years to improve livelihoods for farmers throughout West Africa.
