News
MUSing on Water in Northern Ghana
June 20, 2017
By Gabriel Sidman, Winrock Spatial Analyst As an intense sun beat down on northern Ghana, a barefoot child scooped drinking water from a drying puddle, a field of corn struggled to grow at the edge of a eroding riverbank, and women journeyed across town with buckets of water on their heads. Northern Ghana receives 90 percent […]
John Cool (1926-2017)
June 15, 2017
Former Winrock Senior Associate John Cole Cool, a social anthropologist and diplomat with a passion for international development, passed away on April 6. He was 90 years old. According to an obituary on Legacy. com, his career spanned 55 years, four continents and 10 countries. It also spanned some of Winrock’s early history, since Cool […]
‘Mingalarbar, Mr. Ferguson!’
May 31, 2017
By Tim May Event and field photos by Aung Ko Htet, Hein Htet and Lynn Bo Bo It’s 3 a.m. on a monsoon Monday in May. Jet wheels scream as they bite into the soaked tarmac in the Southeast Asian metropolis of Yangon. Winrock President and CEO Rodney Ferguson has been in transit from Washington, […]
USAID Improves the Livelihoods of Rural Women in Northern Ghana
May 24, 2017
On May 9, 2017, the USAID-funded Feed the Future Ghana Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Project (AgNRM) welcomed the USAID/Ghana Mission Director, Andrew Karas, to Dorimon, in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region. The paramount chief of Dorimon, Naa Sohimwininye Danaa Gori II received Mr. Karas on behalf of the people and […]
Strength in Numbers
May 22, 2017
Small and mid-size farms have their hands full. Not only do they have to build an infrastructure to support production and meet buyer specifications and food safety regulations, but they often have to transport their product many miles to market. This puts pressure on the farmers themselves, as well as on the environment and the region’s economy. John Fisk, […]
A Dream Deferred
May 10, 2017
By Anne Cassidy This is the story of a dream deferred, of a risk taken and a hope fulfilled. Above all, it’s the story of persistence. When Professor Maung Maung Htwe, 78, was in his 20s, he dreamed of helping the rural poor in his native Burma. Farmers were growing a lot of rice then, […]
Bloomberg Features American Carbon Registry and Partners’ Work to Reduce Emissions from Rice Production
April 27, 2017
A new Bloomberg article features American Carbon Registry‘s work to reduce emissions from rice production. According to the article, Nature’s Stewards, a Winrock ACR partner under a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant, is changing the way rice is produced. “Nature’s Stewards is trying to provide evidence that Alternate Wetting Drying can make economic sense for rice farmers…” Read […]
Burmese Beans Score Big at Coffee Expo
April 26, 2017
It’s early Friday afternoon, April 21, Day Two of the Global Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Seattle, and Winrock’s Senior Director of Agriculture and Enterprise Amanda Hilligas is talking very, very fast: “I’m feeling extremely lightheaded and caffeinated because there are hundreds of booths, and it’s the best coffee in the world, and you want to […]
Winrock Volunteers Around the World – “We have the same heart”
April 26, 2017
Winrock hosts more than 200 passionate Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers each year. They share their expertise with people around the world and play a direct role in improving livelihoods. Volunteers give their time and their knowledge but they also learn from the people and communities they assist. The Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program promotes sustainable economic growth, […]
Supporting African Livestock
April 13, 2017
By John McCormack, Senior Technical Adviser, Agriculture and Enterprise Traditional communities in Kenya and other arid regions of the world have for generations found ways to sustain their livelihoods by being mobile across borders. Such an approach is even more necessary today, when drought, political issues and conflicts over mineral resources are putting pressure on […]