Review of ACA

The Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) is a US non-profit, tax-exempt public charity founded in 1999. It was developed in response to the fires and destruction of the Brazilian parts of the Amazon, but with a focus on the higher Amazon and forest areas constituting the sources of the Amazon River.
ACA has its headquarters in Washington D.C. and channels funds to its two sister organizations Conservación Amazónica (ACCA) in Peru and Conservación Amazónica (ACCEA) in Bolivia as well as to other local partners in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. It is our understanding that funds are sub-granted to ACA’s partners as these are independent organizations registered in each country.
ACA has been a NICFI partners since 2016 (and received Norad funding since 2009) and the most recent NICFI grant was for NOK 25 million for the period 2021-2025. The funding was to support ACA’s Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) that provides satellite imagery to map deforestation in Peru and Ecuador and forest fires in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. In this project, ACA cooperates with ACCA and Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD) in Peru; and EcoCiencia in Ecuador. The focus of this review is on ACA’s NICFI-funded project being implemented in Peru.

Norad commissions organizational reviews of its partners in order to help the organizations improve its systems and structures and as a planning and follow-up tool for Norad. 

The objective of the organizational review of ACA is to describe, analyze and assess its capacity and systems in the following four main areas:
1. Organizational structure,
2. Governance,
3. Cost-efficiency,
4. Financial management,
5. Results management, and
6. Civil society strengthening.