LETTER FROM THE BOARD CHAIR AND PRESIDENT & CEO

Dear Friends, In 2022, ACDI/VOCA prepared to mark 60 years of operating in the global development space. Since our founding in 1963, ACDI/VOCA and our affiliates, Tanager, AV Ventures, and Fundación ACDI/VOCA Latinoamérica (FAVLA), have grown to nearly 900 employees — 81 percent of whom work in their own countries. Our 60th-year anniversary, which we will be celebrating all throughout 2023 and reporting on in next year’s annual report, is a milestone that calls for both celebration of how far we’ve come and reflection on how far we still must go. Our vision is a world in which people are empowered to succeed in the global economy. In this pursuit, we have succeeded in leading flagship projects for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and mobilizing 12,000 volunteers globally. However, 2022 brought many challenges, such as climate shocks, conflict, and economic deterioration in many of the places we work. One of our core values at ACDI/VOCA is impact, and, in 2022, we pursued it through the lens of four impact areas:

1. Expanded economic well-being Small businesses are the backbone of most economies, but many are too large to secure microloans and too small to secure commercial investment. Our program in the Kyrgyz Republic is supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by partnering with the private sector, offering blended finance to lower the risk of investing in SMEs, and improving SMEs’ access to capital through accelerator programs.

2. Increased equity and social inclusion As Colombia reaches a pivotal point in its history, after signing a 2016 peace accord to end decades of armed conflict, our program is promoting the reconciliation of communities. This is one way we are advancing equity and inclusion by supporting local leadership among indigenous peoples and Afro Colombians through new partnerships and investments.

3. Resilience of people and planet Many pastoralist communities in Northern Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands experience the dire consequences of climate change, such as extreme drought. Our work in this challenging geography supports the aspirations of national and local governments to expand and diversify income opportunities in the livestock sector, climate-smart technology, and more. We help strengthen policies and local systems to foster sustainable livelihoods and the successful management of natural resources.

4. Enhanced and sustainable food security Many Ethiopian grain farmers are locked in a vicious cycle of poverty driven by low-quality seed, manual cultivation, and small plot sizes. Rooted in our deep history of agriculture, our program in Ethiopia is one example of how we are helping farmers grow much-needed food, improve their productivity with high-yielding seed and mechanization, and minimize post-harvest losses.

Over the last 60 years, we have leveraged relationships with local partners and our affiliate organizations to achieve a broader development impact, as you will see in the stories that follow. Envisioning our work through these four impact areas helps us see even more clearly how, together, we are making an impact. Timothy Beans Chair, Board of Directors Sylvia J. Megret President & CEO