USAID Invest DRC Cocoa and Coffee Sector Guides

These reports, produced by USAID’s Investment Facilitation Activity in the DRC (USAID Invest, or the Activity), provide an overview of the cocoa and coffee sectors in the DRC. The reports highlight production trends, challenges, and opportunities. They profile relevant sector stakeholders across the value chains, including existing cocoa and coffee farmer cooperatives, traders, processors, exporters,…

Catherine Maldonado

Catherine (Kate) Maldonado is the Senior Advisor for the Agriculture and Food Security Practice. With 20 years of experience in international programs, Kate has designed and implemented agriculture, resilience, nutrition, and food security programs in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Kate served as the Chief of Staff to the USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food…

USAID’S DRC Investment Facilitation Activity Capital Map Report 2021

This capital map report provides an analysis of the investment ecosystem of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with a focus on the current and potential investors in the DRC that could be relevant to USAID’s DRC Investment Facilitation Activity (USAID Invest, or the Activity). As USAID Invest seeks to catalyze investment for businesses…

Case Study: Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting Amid the War in Ukraine

This case study focuses on changes in how the USAID/Ukraine Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) Activity team manages their relationships with local partners, handles communications, and continues to learn and adjust to maintain progress in project activities in response to instability caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine. CLA approaches have helped AGRO adjust to changing…

3 Questions with Tim Sparkman on Capturing the Impact of Investment Facilitation

Chemonics’ Investment Readiness Learning Initiative is a first-of-its-kind, multi-year, multi-project learning initiative designed to deepen the evidence base for investment readiness factors, develop strategies for greater private sector engagement, and analyze other critical aspects of investment facilitation in emerging markets. The initiative, conducted in partnership with The Canopy Lab, works with two Chemonics-led, USAID-funded programs,…

Thriving and Learning Amidst Adversity in Ukraine

In fragile and conflict-affected regions, development projects encounter unique difficulties that require innovative solutions. The USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) project, which Chemonics began implementing in 2019, was designed to accelerate the economic development of rural Ukrainian communities with the greatest need through a better governed agricultural sector that encourages more productive, modern, and…

3 Questions with Mohammed Almuathny on The Power of Local Roots when Building Resilience

The DCEO activity mitigates instability by promoting inclusive community development, generating employment opportunities, and promoting business entrepreneurship. 1. Please tell us a little bit about the work you do as a grant officer for the Chemonics-implemented DCEO project in Iraq.  In my role as a grant officer, I am strongly involved in all phases of…

Engaging the Private Sector to Achieve Health Outcomes

Shrinking donor budgets, renewed calls for localization, and countries’ desire to move away from donor dependence require new ways of approaching development. This resource details initiatives and projects that illustrate the efforts and achievements of Chemonics in the private sector engagement space.

Supporting Global Food Security and Farmer Survival with Data

The USAID Ukraine Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO) was able to urgently reconfigure programming using beneficiary feedback and operational data to react to the most critical needs by introducing emergency response elements into its usual approach. Elements of this video have previously been featured by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations…