EWV WINS $800,000 USAID TANZANIA TREE CROPS ACTIVITY EWV Tree Nursery Training Session in Tanzania EnterpriseWorks/VITA, with the ARD-RAISE Plus Consortium, was awarded a contract by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/ Tanzania to implement an $800,000, 2-year, Tree Crops Activity in Tanzania. The Tanzania Tree Crops Activity will build on work done by EWV over the last four years under the USAID-funded Project for Rural Initiatives in Micro-Enterprise Development (PRIME).  PRIME recognized the need to harness the skills and rural asset base of small-scale farmers, in order to increase incomes in Tanzania where most of the population is dependent on agriculture... [Click Here for Full Story]   EnterpriseWorks/VITA Receives Award for the Commercialization of Cookstoves in Ghana The Shell Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), presented EnterpriseWorks/VITA with the Commercialization Award at the 3rd Biennial Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA) Forum in Bangalore, India, sponsored by the EPA. The award is “In Appreciation and Recognition of Creating a Sustainable Commercial Supply Chain for Increasing the Use of Clean and Efficient Cookstoves in Ghana” and for “Improving Peoples’ Health, Livelihood & Quality of Life by Reducing Indoor Air Pollution.” [Click Here for Full Story]   EnterpriseWorks/VITA Wins $14 Million USAID Natural Resource, Economic Growth, and Governance Project As Partner in WCS Consortium The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has selected the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) consortium, which EnterpriseWorks/VITA (EWV) is part of, to implement it’s program titled, “Promoting Transformation: Linking Natural Resources, Economic Growth, and Governance” (TransLinks). The five-year, worldwide program aims to improve land resources management and governance to enhance biodiversity conservation... [Click Here for Full Story]   The $420 Million Water Pump: The Story Behind the Story Readers, especially those concerned with hunger and water issues, may have noticed the huge front page photo in the Sunday edition of the New York Times on February 11th, 2007. The photo depicts several Nigerien boys operating a foot pump to draw water for irrigation. EnterpriseWorks/VITA (EWV) invented and adapted this Africa-friendly version of the treadle pump and introduced it into Senegal in the early 1990's, and subsequently into Mali, Niger, and elsewhere in Africa... [Click Here for Full Story]

Success Stories

Tree Crops Produce Sustainable Incomes in Tanzania’s Southern Highlands Chesko Mdeka is a married father of six children. Prior to 2003 Chesko earned his living harvesting and hand-sawing timber, and farming maize. Since working with EnterpriseWorks/VITA’s Tree Crop Project in Tanzania, and its predecessor (PRIME), Chesko has established a successful fruit orchard, and a fruit tree nursery in which he produces and sells improved varieties of high-value fruit seedlings including apple, avocado, peach, pear and plum... [Click Here for Full Story]   Community Based Tubewells Pay Huge Dividends in Nigeria For many of the farmers in Northern Nigeria, cultivation of their garden plots has become a lot easier- and more lucrative. Northern Nigeria, a region well suited for irrigated horticulture, has a long history of irrigated agricultural production using slow, labor intensive, traditional water lifting methods such as hand dug wells, a rope and bucket, or the Shadouf (a rope and bucket on a counter balance)... [Click Here for Full Story]   The Power of a Water Pump- Bringing Clean Water and Confidence to Nigeria Ms. Dauda and Children Fetching Water from the New Pump Ms. Iyabo Dauda has a new role in her village of Imobido in Nigeria. She watches over the newly installed water pump that brings safe drinking water to her community, confident she can address the problem should it ever need repair. Like many women in this part of rural Nigeria, Ms. Dauda survives by cultivating a cassava plot and through small income generating activities that provide food for her and her children. Before the pump, Ms. Dauda fetched water every day from a stream situated about two miles from her village, making many round trips for water that often made her and her family sick. After fetching enough water, Ms. Dauda would spend what little was left of the day concentrating on her business activities- selling palm wine and the preparation of medicinal herbs and minerals for villagers... [Click Here for Full Story]

About EnterpriseWorks/VITA: EnterpriseWorks/VITA is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable, business-based solutions to poverty in the developing world.