Accenture awards Concern Worldwide an additional US$3.25 Million to equip farmers
Accenture and Concern Worldwide have recently announced that the Accenture Foundations have awarded Concern an additional grant of US$3.25 million to continue its funding of conservation farming programs in Zambia and Malawi. This grant will build on an established agri-business skills training program which educates and assists farmers and communities in sustainable farming practices. The latest grant brings Accenture’s direct support to Concern to more than $4.75 million since 2010.
The award is part of Accenture’s global corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed, which plans to equip 500,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. The three-year grant will help increase the income of more than 12,100 farmers through agriculture and farm management skills training and will help them to run their farming businesses more successfully. Since 2010, approximately 6,400 farmers have completed the training program.
“In Zambia and Malawi, farmers, their families and communities face hunger, malnutrition and abject poverty in the rural, isolated and under-developed areas in which they work and live,” said Mark Ryan, country managing director, Accenture in Ireland. “This grant will enable access to agricultural skills training and education that will provide them with the infrastructure and tools necessary to improve production, income and food security.”
In addition to the grant, Accenture will continue supporting Concern with pro-bono consulting services, which range from advice on developing the agency’s business strategy to volunteering hands-on support for the organization.
“Farming is one of the main employment opportunities in Malawi and Zambia. With Accenture’s support, we can ensure a more sustainable future for thousands of farmers, their families and their communities through agriculture skills training,” said Dominic MacSorley, Concern Worlwide CEO.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 266,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. Through its Skills to Succeed corporate citizenship focus, Accenture is committed to equipping 500,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com
About Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to reducing suffering and eliminating extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Since its inception in Ireland in 1968 Concern has worked tirelessly across the world to eliminate poverty and to help individuals and communities obtain the resources necessary to assert their human right to food shelter health and education. Concern’s mission is to help people who are living in extreme poverty achieve improvements in their lives, improvements that are sustainable in the long term and which in the future will exist with Concern support. For more information on Concern please visit www.concern.net
