Governance

Organizational Structure

The Executive Committee (EC) as the ACA's governing body, provides strategic direction, genereal guidance and oversight to the ACA Secretariat, the coordinator of ACA's daily activities and meets twice per year. The EC is elected for 2 year terms by the ACA membership and consists of five cashew stakeholders from African cashew producing countries and 2 representatives from international businesses with investments in cashew processing or buying a significant amount of cashew kernels from Africa.

The Advisory Board consists of delegates from organizations providing more than USD 50,000 of funding per year. The Board has voting rights regarding the use of the ACA funds and provides guidance on ACA programming.

The Secretariat manages program development and implementation, and is responsible for the daily ACA operations, including activities, event management, marketing and promotion, communications, elections, membership and fundraising.

The Steering Committee provides input and is responsible for presenting proposals and country-specific information to the Executive Committee and the Secretariat. It consists of the National Representatives elected by ACA National Committees.

The National Committees: Consist of cashew stakeholders of each cashew producing country in Africa, newly established or on the basis of existing structures.Their role is to disseminate information on relevant cashew developments, promote the ACA to policymakers and donors and to elect two national representatives to participate in the steering committee for a three year term.

ACA Members: Members are individuals, private or public institutions involved in the cashew sector, who pay an annual membership fee. Every two years, ACA members elect the Executive Committee. To find out more information about the benefits of being a member visit our membership page.