The Global Agriculture and Economic Growth Division works with communities to address issues to improve their food security now and in the future. 

Broadly defined, food security includes the availability of food for households and their communities, the financial means to purchase food and a level of physical health to utilize nutrients. Counterpart International (Counterpart) works with communities to increase the quantity, reliability, variety and nutrition of their food supply. Counterpart helps families to create sustainable livelihoods and earn enough income to buy additional foods. Counterpart also assists communities to support better health, hygiene and nutrition, particularly among mothers and children.           

Counterpart works closely with communities to identify and address the full spectrum of issues affecting food security:

Increasing the Availability of Nutritious Food:

• Increasing crop and livestock production; 
• Increasing household access to agricultural inputs and credit; 
• Linking agricultural output with regional and national markets; and
• Improving natural resource management.

Increasing Access to Food:

• Assisting poor families to feed their children by providing a daily nutritious meal to pre- and primary schoolchildren; and
• Providing loans, skills training, and access to markets to smallholder farmers and micro-entrepreneurs.

Improving Utilization of Food:

• Supporting communities to address child malnutrition prevention, screening, referral, and treatment;
• Preventing common maternal and childhood infectious diseases; and
• Promoting good health, hygiene and nutrition behaviors.

The Global Agriculture and Economic Growth Division has a global staff of about 150 and a portfolio of 20 programs valued at approximately $120 million. Most of our activities are concentrated in West and Central Africa, scattered among food security, agriculture and economic development projects in Senegal, Mauritania, Ghana, Niger and Cameroon. 

Core Practice Areas:

• Agriculture and Livestock Development
• Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition
• Microenterprise Development 
• School Feeding

Photos: © Kyla Springer/Counterpart International.