ACA Secures USAID Funding for GDA 2 Extension

The African Cashew Alliance is happy to announce the confirmation of the second phase of the Global Development Alliance (GDA) with USAID. This new phase of the project will run from April 2015 until May 2017, with an optional buy-in of one additional year.

The original GDA was carried out from May 2013 to March 2015 with the goal of improving rural livelihoods by increasing the competitiveness of cashew processing in West Africa. $1.2 million was used for a variety of programs targeting cashew processors in 10 West African countries.

In order to achieve these results, ACA focused its activities primarily on technical assistance for emerging cashew processors as well as the development of the ACA Quality and Sustainability Seal program. At the heart of this approach is the desire to build companies’ capacities to trade a value-added product, the cashew kernel, rather than the raw cashew nut.

The extension of the GDA will allow the expected impact to reach more than $20 million in additional income for rural communities and stable employment in the cashew sector for more than 2,500 people. It will also expand its scope to include environmental compliance for processors and develop procedures to be incorporated into one of the core areas in the ACA Seal manual. Overall, ACA aims to link more than 600,000 farmers and their dependents to the international market via processing within this new time frame. 

There is also the potential, with the buy-in option, to expand into post-conflict and post-epidemic countries throughout the course of the project.

Receiving this grant is an incredible achievement for ACA, one that will enable the expansion of the Seal program, continued growth in cashew processing throughout the region, and increased access to markets for African stakeholders. It will undoubtedly advance the African cashew market greatly throughout its duration.