January 2008
Winrock International Innovations Newsletter
In This Issue:

Increasing Incomes in Rural Nepal

Capacity Building for Farmers' Markets

Adding Value to Guatemala's Ornamental Products

Addressing Climate Change

Promoting Economic Growth in Afghanistan



Addressing Climate Change
In collaboration with GOFC-GOLD and The Nature Conservancy, Winrock hosted a popular side event at the United Nations Convention on Climate Change ‘Conference of Parties’ in Bali. Dr. Sandra Brown presented the recently completed handbook: “REDD preparedness: a sourcebook for high quality and cost effective estimation”. This sourcebook is one in a line of well-known handbooks on carbon estimation and climate change mitigation created by Winrock’s Ecosystem Services Unit. The event was featured in the Earth Negotiations Bulletin ‘on the side’.

Winrock is proud to announce that Dr. Sandra Brown was recognized for her contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore in recognition of their efforts to address climate change. She has directly contributed to the efforts of the IPCC as a co-convening lead chapter author in five IPCC reports: Methods Manual for GHG Emission Inventories, WG II Second Assessment Report, Third Assessment Report, Special Report on Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF), and Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF.

Increasing Incomes in Rural Nepal
Winrock has been awarded the Education for Income Generation and Conflict Mitigation in Nepal program. This multifaceted, USAID-funded program will increase the income of disadvantaged youth by increasing access to targeted education, training and employment in the Mid-Western Region. Winrock has assembled a team made up largely of local Nepali organizations to implement the program that will combine literacy and life skills education, technical and vocational training, training to increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and scholarships for disadvantaged youth. A cross-cutting theme of program activities will be peace and reconciliation education to develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for conflict resolution and peace building. 

This new project complements Winrock’s ongoing work in Nepal. Through the Smallholder Irrigation Market Initiative (SIMI) project, for example, Winrock is substantially increasing incomes of smallholder farmers in nine conflict-affected districts through the promotion of high-value crop production and micro-irrigation technologies. More than 50,000 households have benefited by increasing their annual incomes by more than 100 percent. The project has been very effective in demonstrating that increasing rural incomes through improved agricultural and vocational training can decrease support for the Maoist insurgency.

Capacity Building for Farmers' Markets
Farmers’ markets are seen as an incubation tool for the Wallace Center's Market-Based Solutions (MBS) framework. MBS is designed to make healthy, sustainable foods more affordable and abundant.

Funded by USDA’s Risk Management Agency, Wallace Center led this year-long initiative consisting of a collaboration of 12 diverse national partners and resulting in two handbooks written to help farmers and market managers become more successful. The handbooks are part of a nationwide outreach campaign which also involves regional workshops on creating and sustaining successful farmers’ markets. Wallace will be developing additional resources to address other issues for farmers’ markets, including risk management, insurance, food safety and business incubation.

Adding Value to Guatemala's Ornamental Products
Guatemala’s ornamental plants, foliage and flowers sector has developed new products and increased income thanks to USAID’s John Ogonowski Farmer-to-Farmer program. This sector represents 13 percent of the country’s agricultural income, with approximately 150 companies providing 60,000 jobs, 80 percent of which are for women in Guatemala’s rural areas. 

Guatemala’s diverse climates and microclimates allow for successfully growing native and many foreign species, and the post-harvest management and handling process is critical in order to guarantee the life of the product and reduce post-harvest losses. Volunteers trained workers and staff members from seven different companies in the management and practices in post-harvest facilities and helped develop a new kind of product: bouquets. Over the past 12 months nearly 75,000 bouquets have been sold resulting in a net income close to $525,000. 


US Ambassador Nancy Powell visits a SIMI collection center.

A new Farmers' Market resource.

A volunteer teaches bouquet design.

Promoting Economic Growth in Afghanistan
Winrock International will serve as an implementing partner in the Community Development Agriculture program in Paktia, Paktika, Khost and Southeast Ghazni (CDA-P2K). USAID awarded the $15 million project to Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA). Project activities will focus on improving agricultural productivity and processing to build a stronger rural economy in the Southeastern region of Afghanistan. ACDI/VOCA, Citizen’s Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA) and the Grand Council of Kuchis (GCK) are also part of the VEGA team. 


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