Dear Members of the USAID Alumni Association Development Issues Group:
It is my pleasure to alert you to an upcoming special event of the Africa Discussion Group at DACOR-Bacon, a professional association familiar to most of you. At our upcoming meeting on Tuesday, December 17, we will have as our luncheon speaker Mr. John Leary, Executive Director of Trees for the Future. “Trees” is a development NGO with an innovative and efficacious model for small holder development that combines reforestation with agricultural development. Essentially it introduces a mix of fruits and vegetables within a perimeter of trees and shrubs. Its track record in several Sub-Saharan African countries has been to raise per-acre incomes from $2-400/acre to $1-2000/per acre, while improving food security for the farm family. Its goal is for the farmer to have something to harvest, eat and sell all 12 months of the year. John has been Executive Director since 2013, and has more than 10 years of agricultural development experience in SSA, including having lived and worked in a dozen of its countries.
The lunch will be at DACOR-Bacon House at noon, buffet format. We generally visit the buffet when serving begins a little after 12:00 PM, and our discussion starts around 12:30-12:45 PM. Cost is $20. I hope may of you will be able to join us. Please RSVP to me at goldthwaitce@yahoo.com or leave a voicemail at 202-244-6680.
Best regards,
Christopher Goldthwait, US ambassador retired