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Volunt««n in Overseas 

 Cooperative As$isUr>ce 



Suite 1075 



50 F Street, N.W. 



Washington, D.C. 20001 



Telephone: (202) 383-4961 

 Telex: 6974812 VOCA 

 FAX: (202)783-7204 



VOCA Helps Rural Communities Solve Their Problems 



Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (VOCA) has been working with rural enterprises 

 around the world since 1970. The mission of VOCA's Farmer-to-Farmer and Cooperative 

 Assistance programs has been to increase the economic opportunities of members of 

 cooperatives and other small and medium scale agriculturally-based enterprises. Working at the 

 express request of private farmers associations, rural entrepreneurs and farmer cooperatives in 

 Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, VOCA volunteer specialists have brought their 

 know-how and experience to solve problems and create rural economic "success stories." 



VOCA was created by America's democratically-controlled cooperatives and credit unions as 

 its volunteer assistance arm. VOCA projects range from helping the first private farmers in 

 Russia with the management and operations of their farms, to helping parliaments around the 

 globe develop credit union and cooperative legislation. VOCA has been particularly active in 

 recent years in helping rural communities combine the needs of environmental and natural 

 resource management with agriculture and economic development. 



VOCA's method of operations centers on working directly with innovative rural communities 

 and community leaders to help them solve the problems they identify. VOCA's regionally- 

 based staff help rural leaders in identifying and articulating development objectives, with local 

 communities and organizations then making a written request for VOCA's assistance. VOCA's 

 U.S. -based staff then works to find the "best available qualified specialist" for each request. 

 This specialist volunteers his or her time, and works directly with the requesting organization 

 to solve the problem at hand. Most assignments last between three weeks and three months. 

 VOCA will typically work with requesting organizations over a period of several years, 

 sending out several specialists over the time period. 



VOCA aims to create a "critical mass" of "success stories" in each country and region where 

 it works. The greater the number of successes at the local level, the greater the chance that 

 national-level policy decision-makers will take notice and put in place policies and laws that 

 make sense to rural populations. VOCA prides itself on having achieved a number of macro- 

 level changes through successful sustainable and replicable micro-level work. 



In FY 1992, VOCA completed 453 projects on a budget of seven million dollars. In addition, 

 VOCA received donated services from requesting organizations and volunteers in the amount 

 of five million dollars. In FY 1993, VOCA expects to complete 900 projects. VOCA receives 

 its funding from both public and private sources. VOCA's public funds are provided by 

 USAID under a series of grants. Since its creation in 1970, VOCA has worked in over 100 

 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. 



