USADF Signs Community Grant In Zambia:

WASHINGTON - July 2, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 2, 2009 – The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) signed a grant agreement with the Buseko Timber and Grass Cooperative (BTGC) Tuesday afternoon during a grant signing ceremony in Lusaka, Zambia.  The grant is designed to generate incomes for the cooperative’s twenty-four members, eleven of whom are women.

During the ceremony, USADF Regional Program Director Tom Coogan stated, “USADF is working with grassroots organizations in Zambia like Buseko Timber to help increase the profitability of their enterprises and enhance their standards of living.”

A cooperative that processes raw timber and grass into various products for sale on the Zambian market, BTGC has a customer base of carpenters, hardware stores, and lodge owners.  However, it struggles to meet their customers’ demand due to the quantity of wood and other processed products and lack of proper equipment.  If the Cooperative successfully implements the two-year enterprise development grant, they could qualify for a much larger enterprise expansion investment grant. 

During the ceremony, BTGC’s Chairman, Fleming Mulaisho said, “I am happy that USADF has given Buseko Timber a grant that will increase the profitability of the business, create employment, and improve members’ standard of living.”  Members of the Cooperative, along with the Chief Executive of the Zambia Agribusiness Technical Assistance Centre (ZATAC), Likando Mukumbuta, were also in attendance.  USADF has been in partnership with ZATAC since 2004. 

This year, USADF has signed thirteen similar projects with grassroots groups in Zambia and is aiming to bring that total to seventeen.  The projected total of funding for those seventeen projects will total two million dollars.

USADF began programming in Zambia in 2003. Zambia’s current portfolio stands at twenty-two investment projects totaling nearly $4.7 million dollars. For more information about the portfolio, please visit the country’s quick source page at http://www.adf.gov/USADF-QuickSourceCountryPortfolioPage-Zambia.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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