USADF Signs Four Grants to Support Community Groups in Cape Verde:

WASHINGTON - August 17, 2009 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 17, 2009  – The United States African Development Foundation continued their assistance to marginalized, under-served populations in Africa by signing four grant agreements to benefit community groups in Cape Verde.  The grants will benefit Associação Para o Desenvolvimento Comunitário de Matinho (APDM), Associação  dos Agricultures, Avicultores, e Pecuários de Colonato de Chão Bom (AGROCOLONATO), Associação dos Agricultures e Moradores de Bom Pau, Mitra e Levada dos Órgãos (AMOBOM) and Associação de Apoio as Iniciativas de Autopromoção Familiar (Fami-Picos).

After signing the grants, USADF President Lloyd Pierson stated, “These grants are designed to address the needs identified by some of the most under-served populations in Cape Verde and to raise the quality of life for the people receiving USADF funding.”

APDM is a community-based organization in Matinho, in the Santa Cruz Municipality.  The organization promotes community development, creates job opportunities through infrastructure projects, and seeks to fight poverty by improving the community’s access to drinking water.  To continue promoting community development, APDM needs the financial resources for a sustainable water system to support agriculture and livestock.  The three-year grant will be used for construction to develop the water system, supply equipment, and provide for training.

Located in Tarrafal of the Santiago Municipality, AGROCOLONATO is a community-based organization that works to improve living standards for local populations who are mostly dependent on agriculture and animal husbandry. Recently, residents have begun to grow concerned over a series of water shortages caused by droughts and power outages.  The Association created a water management board to change the situation by drilling alternative water sources to increase the water supply.  The three-year grant will develop a water supply system, purchase power generators and water pumps, establish working capital for seeds, and provide training.

AMOBOM is a community-based organization that works to improve the livelihood of residents in Bom Pau and surrounding communities through improved farming techniques, sustainable water usage, and the creation of job opportunities.  Farmers need more water to support their activities. AMOBOM is focusing its work on increasing the availability of water to residents and providing educational seminars on how to responsibly use and conserve water.  The three-year grant will provide for a construction system to develop a water system, supply equipment, and provide for training.

Fami-Picos is a mutual savings and credit association, which offers households access to financial services, enabling them to start or improve their income-generating activities and save for times of hardship.  The Association has experienced tremendous progress in contributing to the development of entrepreneurship and socio-economic activities in poor, rural communities.  The project will increase access to employment and income opportunities, and thereby integrate the poor into the economic development process and reduce the vulnerability of the most-underserved segments of rural communities in Santiago.  The three-year grant will finance equipment in its new branch office, train staff in loan software and management to comply with the new microfinance laws in Cape Verde, and provide technical assistance.

USADF began programming in Cape Verde in 2003. Cape Verde’s current portfolio stands at thirteen investment projects totaling nearly $3 million. For more information about the portfolio, please visit the country’s quick source page at http://www.adf.gov/USADF-QuickSourceCountryPortfolioPage-CapeVerde.htm. The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) is a United States Government agency dedicated to expanding access to economic opportunity in Africa. Currently USADF operates in 20 African nations.  Over the past 25 years, USADF has funded nearly 1,500 projects representing in excess of $150 million in support of African enterprises and local African communities.  For more information on USADF, its programs and application guidelines, visit www.usadf.gov. 

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