VEGA is leveraging expert volunteers from 16 leading economic growth organizations to conduct programs in 21 countries throughout the world. These programs serve to stimulate economic growth in developing nations and include the:

African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA+)
Country: Ethiopia

VEGA’s African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA+) program focuses on increasing Ethiopian public and private sector knowledge of trade issues through business linkage faciliation strengthening of Business Support Organizations and technical assistance to private sector firms and trade-related public sector entities.

Agricultural Market and Enterprise Development Program (AMED)
Country: Sudan

VEGA’s Agricultural Market and Enterprise Development (AMED) program is designed to help achieve comprehensive economic recovery and growth in the presently fragile state of the Southern Sudan. The goal is to create economic opportunities that provide increased household income and employment, thereby contributing to improved food security, local nutrition and environmental conditions in selected areas of Southern Sudan.

Community Development Program (CDA-P2K)
Country: Afghanistan

VEGA’s Community Development Agriculture Program for Paktia, Paktika and Khost and Southeast Ghazni Provinces (CDA-P2K) is to generate increased income, employment and sales of agricultural products for communities in the P2K region, with secondary support to south-eastern Ghazni province. CDA-P2K program will support increased productivity in key sub-sectors, market-led production of higher-value products and improved technologies that lead to greater production of commondities at lower cost per unit.

Long-Term Business Advisers Program (LTBA)

VEGA’s Long-Term Business Advisers (LTBA) program leverages the business management knowledge and technical expertise of recent graduate student volunteers to provide long-term technical assistance in support of USAID Mission program needs. Advisers are generally placed with a “host” business or organization where they can provide management assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries. This program has been conducted in Armenia, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

South African APS Grants Administration (SAAGA)
Country: South Africa

VEGA’s South African APS Grants Administration (SAAGA) program manages USAID/South Africa’s small grant program in support of its employment generation initiatives. VEGA is responsible for the evaluation of applications, execution, management and monitoring of sub-grant awards: and compilation, reporting and dissemination of data which reflects progress toward targeted results under each sub-grant.
 

Completed Programs

Business Trade Development Program (BTD)
Country: Bulgaria

VEGA's Business Trade Development (BTD) program focused on building effective Business Support Organizations (BSOs) that can, on a market-driven basis, provide a combination of general and industry-specific technical & managerial services to support the long-term growth of small and medium-sized enterprises within Bulgaria.

Export Trade Training Program (ETT)
Countries: Morocco and Bahrain

VEGA’s Export Trade Training (ETT) program was designed to assist the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in producing successful trade agreements between the U.S. and Bahrain and the U.S. and Morocco.

Cyprus Partnership for Economic Growth Program (CYPEG)
Country: Cyprus

The objective of the program was to support the US Government's facilitation of the reunification of Cyprus by supporting economic growth in the Turkish Cypriot Community (TCC) and providing island-wide economic interaction.

Improved Access to Credit Program (IACES)
Region: West Africa

VEGA’s Improved Access to Credit program for West African Export Ready Companies (ERCs) and Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises Project (IACES) facilitated greater trade competitiveness by improving the ability of export-ready companies to provide requisite loan request materials and materials and also improving the capacity of the banking sector to channel credit and provide appropriate financial products to ERCs and SMEs. VEGA IACES coordinated with Ecobank Ghana Limited and West Africa Trade Hub Accra to coordinate activities and launch workshops.

Lebanon Assessment for Growth and Opportunity (LAGO)
Country: Lebanon

VEGA’s Lebanon Assessment for Growth and Opportunity (LAGO) program was a short-term program designed to assist USAID/Lebanon in developing a new country strategic objective, Economic Equality in Utility Investment Transferred into Yields (Equity). This strategy is focused on creating viable economic and social development at the municipal level via decentralization.

Private Sector Development Initiative Program (PSDI)
Country: Iraq

VEGA's Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) in Iraq promoted the expansion of a competitive and efficient private sector through buisiness training and other business support services to Iraqi entrepreneurs. Iraqi professionals, trained by America volunteers, will provide training, consulting and business incubation services.