Winrock International | Innovations Newsletter, May 2011

May 2011

Entergy Corporation installed a 25.3kW solar array last month at the New Orleans Charter Science & Math School. The installation is the third project as part of the New Orleans Solar Schools Initiative – a partnership among Winrock International, Nike Corporation, the U.S. Green Building Council and the city of New Orleans.

BRIDGE, with Winrock’s assistance, is helping farmers in South Sudan increase their crop yields. “This year, food will not be a problem for my family,” one farmer said. Read the post on USAID’s IMPACTblog.

Winrock’s American Carbon Registry (ACR) announced certification of three Africa-based carbon offset projects, now registered on ACR: Societe VERAMA Madagascar Afforestation Project, Ankotrofotsy Community-based Madagascar Reforestation Project and AFOVERT Energy: Mali Renewable Household Fuels Project. In addition to environmentally rigorous carbon emission reduction accounting, each project provides additional economic, biodiversity, social or water quality co-benefits to the local communities.

Last month ACR announced that offsets were retired in the first carbon offset transaction to be priced in a virtual currency, Ven. The carbon offsets, registered on ACR, were sold and retired as part of Nike's Mata no Peito initiative.

In April, PerishableNews.com published an article recognizing the Wallace Center at Winrock International for its collaborative role, along with two additional national organizations, in helping the USDA identify and analyze food hubs around the country.

Winrock International was recognized this month with a Spotlight Award as part of the Governor's Work-Life Balance Award, which is presented to Arkansas companies “exhibiting leadership in implementation of family friendly practices.” Spotlight Award winners are “unique programs that address the needs of employees and their families.”

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Winrock-Implemented EIG Program Honored as Best Practice by InterAction
Winrock's EIG program was honored with a Best Practice award from InterAction.

Winrock's EIG program was honored with a Best Practice award from InterAction.

The Winrock-implemented Education for Income Generation (EIG) Program is facilitating social change within households in Nepal through the unique combination of income generation with entrepreneurial literacy courses. Earlier this month, the USAID-funded program was honored by InterAction with the Best Practice Award for Access to Markets and Entrepreneurial Literacy.

EIG provides training in market-linked agriculture production, home-based enterprises and vocational training along with an integrated entrepreneurial literacy class that teaches numeracy, business planning, credit, life skills, governance, nutrition and basic health care. Young women in Nepal are often marginalized in their husband’s homes, lack decision-making power and are sometimes food-insecure. Through EIG, they are gaining the confidence that comes from knowledge, as well as respect from their husbands and mothers-in-law by earning income. Consequently, these empowered women play a greater role in decisions – changing customs revolving around nutrition, health and children’s education.

Winrock was among the winners of the third round of InterAction’s Best Practices & Innovations Initiative, which was launched in September 2009 “to promote information sharing on effective program approaches, and to improve practice standards by boosting the efficiency and impacts of field programs.”

JDR 3RD Program on Climate Change and Agriculture Announced Last Month at Gathering of Former A/D/C Fellows
John D. Rockefeller 3RD Scholars Program

John D. Rockefeller 3RD Scholars Program

In April, the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Scot Marciel, hosted a gathering of former Agricultural Development Council (A/D/C) and Winrock Fellows as part of an ongoing series of events emphasizing collaboration between the United States and Indonesia in higher education. More than 20 former fellows gathered to recognize the important contribution the A/D/C and Winrock International have made in building human capacity for agricultural development in Indonesia through the support of short- and long-term training and graduate degree scholarship programs.

During the event, Winrock announced the launch in Indonesia of the JDR 3RD Scholars Program, which in 2011 will build on the A/D/C legacy and support a multi-disciplinary team of local researchers to investigate the impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers, and to make recommendations to key government and donor decision makers for improved policies and programs that support climate change adaptation. David Norman, Winrock’s vice president for enterprise and agriculture, gave a keynote address and linked the JDR 3RD Scholars Program to Winrock’s history in capacity building, and its ongoing dedication to agricultural development, capacity building and reducing poverty in Indonesia. Beginning in 1960, Winrock and its predecessors trained more than 400 individuals in Indonesia.

The A/D/C, established in 1954 by John D. Rockefeller 3RD, provided graduate-level fellowships to students from 16 Asian countries, and during 31 years of operation, supported advanced degree studies of 588 men and women – including 57 from Indonesia.

Winrock’s Annett Pagan named Women in Business Champion of the Year
Winrock's Annett Pagan was honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Winrock's Annett Pagan was honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Annett Pagan, director of Winrock’s U.S. Programs, was honored last month as 2011 Women in Business Champion of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Pagan was recognized, in part, for the work she and her team did to make possible the opening of the Arkansas Women’s Business Center (AWBC) in El Dorado, Ark.

The award was presented by SBA Region VI Regional Administrator, Yolanda Olivarez at the Arkansas Small Business Awards Luncheon, April 28, which was hosted by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Arkansas.

The AWBC is on the campus of South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado and will provide training, technical assistance and access to capital services to women entrepreneurs. Funding for the center is provided, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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