Category Archives: Updates

Archer Daniels Midland Company To Fund Construction Of Bridges And Wells In 24 CÔTE D’IVOIRE Cocoa Villages

News & Updates, Updates

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Archer Daniels Midland Company

4666 Faries Parkway

Decatur, IL 62526

October 14, 2010

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND COMPANY TO FUND CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES AND WELLS IN 24 CÔTE D’IVOIRE COCOA VILLAGES

Infrastructure projects will benefit 120,000 people in cocoa farming communities

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) today announced that it will donate more than US$576,000 to Opportunities Industrialization Centers International to fund bridge and well construction projects in 24 villages throughout Côte d’Ivoire.

The projects, to be completed by OIC International over a two-year period, include the construction of 16 clean water wells and eight small bridges with culverts.

“Working with OIC International to fund these crucial infrastructure projects is another example of ADM’s commitment to improving the lives of cocoa farmers and their communities,” said David Loué, sustainable development manager for ADM Cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire. “Construction of the clean water wells and bridges will lead to better health and more reliable infrastructure, resulting in improved farm incomes for 120,000 people in these communities, including 18,000 cocoa farmers who provide ADM Cocoa with approximately 18,000 metric tons of cocoa beans per year.”

The 16 wells will be installed in rural communities throughout Côte d’Ivoire to make clean water more readily available and to help reduce the incidence of waterborne infectious diseases. The wells will also lessen the burden on women who typically must travel long distances to obtain water for their families. Eight wells will be constructed in 2010 with the remaining eight completed in 2011.

Eight bridges will be constructed near rural cocoa communities to facilitate travel between villages. Six bridges will be constructed in 2010 with the remaining two completed in 2011. These bridges will also improve the cocoa bean collection and transportation processes, helping to broaden the marketing opportunities for cocoa farmers.

“Over the long term, the bridges and wells constructed through this program will also help to increase school enrollment rates for children in these areas,” said Loué. “Bridges will make it safer and easier for young children to travel to school, and ready access to clean water will improve the overall health of children in the area. The potential for increased farm incomes will also allow more families to afford to send their children to school.” (Continued)

ADM grinds approximately 16 percent of the world’s cocoa crop. In Côte d’Ivoire, the company operates the UNICAO cocoa processing facility in Abidjan, two cocoa conditioning and storage facilities in Abidjan and one cocoa conditioning and storage facility San Pedro where beans are cleaned, checked for quality and prepared for export to ADM’s cocoa processing facilities around the world.

These infrastructure projects in Côte d’Ivoire are being funded through ADM Cares, the company’s corporate social-investment program. ADM Cares strives to drive meaningful social, economic and environmental progress in communities where the company has a presence. Learn more about ADM Cares at www.adm.com/admcares.

About OIC International

Opportunities Industrialization Centers International is a non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life of low-income, disadvantaged individuals in developing countries. OIC International has earned a reputation for its unique approach to creating sustainable institutions operated by local citizens, and for implementing effective programs that help disadvantaged individuals, households and communities become more self-reliant.

About ADM

Every day, the 29,000 people of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) turn crops into renewable products that meet the demands of a growing world. At more than 240 processing plants, we convert corn, oilseeds, wheat and cocoa into products for food, animal feed, chemical and energy uses. We operate the world’s premier crop origination and transportation network, connecting crops and markets in more than 60 countries. Our global headquarters is in Decatur, Illinois, and our net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, were $62 billion. For more information about our Company and our products, visit www.adm.com

From:

ADM Media Relations

217/424-5413

media@adm.com

OICI brings people above the line

News & Updates, Updates

In Cameroon, there is a line that separates people.

It is not a physical line. You can’t see it and you can’t feel it. It doesn’t separate two parts of the country and it is not a border between two towns. It is a line that has a much greater impact than any physically tangible line. It is a thick line of poverty that separates those with the means to live a healthy life and those without those means, who cannot afford many of the daily necessities we take for granted, such as food.

OIC International is proud to announce that we are bringing people above the line. We saw people who couldn’t rise up, who couldn’t do anything to move their families to a more comfortable life, and decided it was time to do something about that thick line.

Since 1986, our training programs in Cameroon have been helping individuals gain the skills necessary to become employed, empowering them to access the means to a healthy life. In 2010, we have expanded our operations in Cameroon with a new Textile and Fashion Design Department.

Our new department has launched trainees in seven different types of jobs. This year, we are empowering two hundred and eight males and seventy-six females to rise above that thick line of poverty. Additionally, we are training seventy-five people in hotel catering, seventy in metal fabrication and many more in areas such as Wood Work, Auto Mechanics, Information and Communication Tech, and building construction.

Celebrate Women-Farmers

News & Updates, Updates

Global economists are all saying the same thing: Women-farmers are a key ingredient in ending poverty.

There are no quick solutions to poverty, but by supporting the matriarch of the household, the entire family thrives. When you teach a woman to farm, she teaches her children and the people around her. When a woman is in charge of her family’s finances, she invests it in her family’s and community’s well-being.

The hands that she uses to comfort and nurture are the same hands that bring her family and community prosperity through hard work.

And yet, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, while women produce between 60% and 80% of the food in developing countries, they own only 2% of the land. That’s why OIC International doesn’t give hand-outs – we provide the tools and training needed to change the lives of these women-farmers, for themselves and for their communities.

Through training courses in farming and marketing, funds to start a small business or a plot of land to being her journey, OIC International is there to empower and support the vital resource that are women-farmers.

Celebrate these women with us and create change in the world. By visiting OIC International’s brand new website, www.oici.org, you’ll find the tools that you need to start a woman off on her journey.

Sincerely,

Your OIC International Team

P.S. Hand in hand, we can create a better life for millions of women and their families by supporting their small businesses and celebrating the end of poverty.

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Water, Water Everywhere – But Not a Drop to Drink?

News & Updates, Updates

More than 300 million Africans lack access to safe water. At the same time, Africa has abundant water sources, most of which are not being used to their full effectiveness, including 17 large rivers and more than 160 major lakes. In fact, Africa only uses about 4 percent of its total annual renewable water resources.

One of the greatest current challenges to ensuring all Africans have access to clean water is to getting water from where it is to where it is needed the most. OIC International’s Clean Water and Sanitation programs therefore concentrate on improving a community’s access to water, as well as sanitation control, thereby helping provide the people of Africa with clean, drinkable water.

These programs in Africa vary from drilling wells and boreholes to forming locally-managed Water and Sanitation committees to provide training in hygiene education. By tapping into local resources, OIC International creates efficient programs that are sustainable and encourage local self-reliance and entrepreneurship.

Health and wellness in areas such as Ghana and Guinea starts with access to clean water. Without it, disease prevails. We need your help to make clean water available to those who need it the most.

Donate now, or visit our site today to learn more about Africa’s water crisis.

Sincerely,

Your OIC International Team

P.S. Your help can necessary water resources to those who need it the most. Donate today.

ramadan

Truly Celebrate Ramadan with OICI by Giving Sadaqa

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To be truthful, to be righteous, to give back: as every Muslim knows, Zakat or Sadaqa, “alms giving,” is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It is the fair or just share that every person should give to the poor and needy. One does not only give because one feels like it, but because it is the right thing to do. A true gift is one that is voluntary. That is why during Ramadan, we are encouraged to give Sadaqa.

As many of the people that we work with and for approach the close of their most important holiday, Ramadan, they contemplate their own gifts of Sadaqa. And they need the gift of it as well.

We have been trying to give Sadaqa to countries throughout Africa. In addition to immediate necessities, such as food and medicinal support, we believe in the type of charity that empowers individuals, institutions, and communities through the transfer of knowledge and skills. During Ramadan, many citizens will fast from dawn to dusk.

ramad

While celebrating their piety, we at OIC International work to ensure that fasting is a choice of religious observance – not a life in deprivation. This is why we have been working on creating more productive farming practices, so that the month of Ramadan is the only time a person goes without food. To achieve these goals, OIC International offers agricultural assistance and nutrition education. We also work to improve food security, providing houses with more technical assistance, better storage systems, and better soil management techniques. These and other projects have benefited over 180,000 Guineans.

No matter what your religion, embrace the joy and opportunity of Sadaqa. Help us continue to give Guineans food security and basic health services by donating here.

900 Million People Cannot Read this Message

News & Updates, Updates

Reading and writing is what first enabled us to partner with you, communicate with you, and improve the lives of people in developing nations. Yet around the globe, there are nearly 900 million illiterate adults and children who are at a disadvantage due to a lack of educational infrastructure, war, or poverty. Two-thirds of illiterate adults are women. Sadly, it’s no coincidence that the places in the world that have the highest illiteracy rates are the same places where gender inequality, severe poverty, and violence are rampant. In OICI’s work around the world, literacy is a crucial tool for personal empowerment, gender equality, and more peaceful and just societies. That’s why we are celebrating the United Nation’s 44th International Literacy Day on September 8th. We hope you’ll join us in the celebrations as a Partner in Literacy.

OIC International integrates literacy initiatives into our programs to empower and enable the incredible men, women, and children we work with. In Ghana, HIV/AIDS orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS are taught reading and writing along with health and vocational education. In Liberia, we reach out with literacy to give refugees and war-affected youth options for their future. In Sierra Leone, we use literacy and skills training in our work to rehabilitate former child soldiers. In our micro-enterprise programs around the world, we help men and women create sustainable employment for themselves by teaching literacy in conjunction with business skills training.