Event Information

The USAID Bureau for Food Security is offering two sessions of its 3-day in person course "Catalyzing Finance and Investment for Agriculture" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 1-3, 2019, and Arlington, VA, on February 5-7, 2020. This course is targeted at USAID Washington and Mission staff; however, select partners may be able to participate. USAID will also share resources from the course on Agrilinks.

The course covers the fundamentals of agricultural finance and provides participants with the skills to use finance and investment tools in agricultural development programming. Participants will gain an understanding of how investors approach the agricultural sector and learn how to alleviate constraints and manage risks in order to catalyze agricultural finance and investment.

In this training, participants will:

• Sharpen knowledge of agriculture finance concepts, including the unique challenges and risks associated with agriculture finance.

• Identify a variety of tools and approaches that can be integrated into USAID programming to increase access to finance and investment, and explore relevant case studies.

• Learn how to apply agricultural finance tools, including practical elements of choosing the right tool to achieve programming objectives.

• Hear from USAID colleagues, finance institution experts, and investors on lessons learned from the field and how to collaborate to increase development impact.

• Discuss special topics within agricultural finance, including gender dimensions, design thinking to unlock solutions, opportunities to reduce risk and operating costs, and broader social and environmental impacts of agricultural finance.

Ethiopia Session

• Date: October 1 - 3, 2019, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

• Location: Golden Tulip Hotel - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Arlington, VA Session

• Date: February 5 - 7, 2020, 8:30am - 5:00pm 

• Location: USAID Washington Learning Center

USAID staff may register for either of these sessions through USAID University.

Note: Up to 20% of seats in this course may be available for non-USAID participants. We encourage USAID staff to identify other USG agency partners, donor counterparts, government counterparts, or implementing partners who may be interested in joining this training to advance our joint work. To register non-USAID staff participants, please email Murielle Brunache ([email protected]) with the person’s name and organization. For more information about the course, please contact: Patrick Starr, [email protected].