Avec Congo
Its manager, Jean Claude Ntadi, is from Brazzaville and studied economics at university and researched rural development in Congo and Burkina Faso. In 1988 he started working in Congo in the Pool region (around the capital Brazzaville). He has been involved in the promotion of agriculture and livestock farming within the framework of various projects managed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Since 1993 Jean Claude Ntadi has also been involved in reviving the cultivation and marketing of local agricultural products as part of the development initiatives of the Congolese Caritas.
In 1996 Jean Claude met Hervé Devos, who worked in the agricultural development projects managed by Avec France in the same region. Hervé Devos and Jean Claude Ntadi shared their skills and experiences and, following this exchange of knowledge, Jean Claude Ntadi established Avec Congo and started a partnership with Avec France. Together, Avec Congo and Avec France have designed and implemented a sustainable, equitable and sustainable development strategy that privileges the role of local populations in the definition and implementation of projects. The initiatives implemented within the framework of this partnership have contributed decisively to the revival of agricultural and commercial activities in the region and to the end of a period of crisis caused by the poor management of these activities since their nationalization in the ’60s.
The results obtained by Avec Congo were erased by the 1997 war. During this conflict, Jean Claude Ntadi engaged in humanitarian actions. He took care of feeding and defending against militia violence the 20,000 refuges set up in a camp in Brazzaville with the support of the French authorities and local clerics. In addition, he worked for the management of food emergencies in the Pool region, one of the most deeply affected by the war, by distributing tools, seeds and knowledge to revive small agricultural activities with the support of the FAO and the French Embassy.
Since the end of the conflict, Avec Congo has been involved in the reconstruction of small-scale agricultural and livestock activities and in supporting education in the Pool region.