Improving Institutional Capacity:

Strengthening Farmer Organizations in the OIC Member Countries

Security and Nutrition, a coalition of more than 70 global and local private sector companies,

has dedicated more than USD 3.75 billion to this end.

In 2013, USAID signed cooperative agreements for the provision of farmer-to-farmer volunteer

services for international agricultural development. From 2014 to 2018, the program will

operate in 22 countries and consist of nearly 3,000 volunteer technical assistance assignments

averaging three weeks’ duration to respond to the local needs of host-country farmers and

organizations. USAID also conducts many agricultural capacity development initiatives and

individual country initiatives, such as the five-year project to boost farmer incomes and

promote local organizations in Northern Haiti.

Cooperative-focused development agencies

ILO

, or the United Nations International Labor Organization,

focuses on job creation and

enterprise development with an emphasis on cooperatives and gender issues. In recent years,

the ILO has among other activities increasingly promoted cooperatives in the Arab States

region through technical consultations with government and cooperative movement

representations.

It has also helped shape policy and legislation, train government and

cooperative staff, and design and implement technical cooperation projects to strengthen the

capacities of cooperatives, and continues to offer technical training on cooperative policy and

legislation to member governments on request. Within the Decent Work Country Programmes,

the ILO’s main vehicle for engagement, cooperatives particularly take part in job creation

schemes for target groups including women, youth, disabled, indigenous, and tribal peoples.

The ILO also makes use of its Challenge Fund, a financing mechanism to allocate funds to field

projects. The CoopAfrica Challenge Fund is set up to be a demand-driven programme, allowing

the cooperative community in a given country to influence the investment of available funds,

giving grants in response to proposals for amounts between US$20-50K twice a year.

CoopAfrica reported that between 2008 and 2010, cooperatives in 9 African countries created

124,852 self-employment opportunities and 3,954 direct jobs

. The program has supported

1,150 cooperatives directly in this time, benefiting 225,437 members, and supporting 70

projects in Eastern and Southern Africa to date.

The ILO is also the driving force between Recommendation 193, an internationally-recognized

statement of policy principles that encourage strong co-ops and farmer organizations.

Recommendation 193 is discussed below in Section 4.3.2.

The Overseas Cooperative Development Council (

OCDC)

is a prime example of collaborative

efforts toward sustainable development for agriculture cooperatives and consists of eight

member organizations: Agricultural Cooperative Development International, America’s

Association of Cooperative Insurance Societies, CHF International, Communications

Cooperative International, Land O’Lakes Inc., National Cooperative Business Association,

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association International, World Council of Credit Unions,

Inc. The OCDC aims to combine humanitarian concern with business discipline to create tools

and build institutions that can reduce poverty and involve large numbers of people. It is a

member-owned body that seeks to improve cooperatives’ business practices and membership

participation, acts to strengthen national and regional apex organizations, and facilitates an

improved economic environment.

ILO Co-operatives in the Arab World, 2010