DECEMBER 2018

pTop: USAID provided food aid to help Wilfred Charles to build community irrigation for agriculture. Bottom: USAID supported Doaa Mohammed
Bakr Turky of Egypt with her duck farming enterprise. (Photos: USAID)
USA
USAID awards $60m for co-operative development
Ten US organisations have received
funding from the government to promote
co-operative development.
The US Agency for International
Development (USAID) granted $60m
(£46.04) over five years (2019 – 2023)
for the Cooperative Development
Program (CDP). Dating back to 1962,
the programme enables US co-ops and
their members to work on projects with
co-operatives in developing countries.
The US Overseas Cooperative
Development Council (OCDC) and its
member organisations received funding to
expand their work on agriculture, finance
and health.
Paul Hazen, OCDC executive director,
said: “The CDP is the only programme
within USAID that is focused on
co-operatives and the programme’s
impact has been significant, lifting
millions of people from poverty by
leveraging private funding to amplify
public funds.”
The eight OCDC members who received
funding are Cooperative Resources
International, Equal Exchange, Global
Communities, HealthPartners, Land
O’Lakes International, NCBA Clusa,
NRECA International and World Council
of Credit Unions (Woccu). Frontier
Cooperative Herbs also received a grant
from USAID.
In addition, OCDC was granted $6.9m
through the CDP to research the impact
and effectiveness of co-operatives in
international development.
One of the OCDC members to benefit
from funding, Woccu is running
a co-operative development project on
Technology and Innovation for Financial
Inclusion (CDP TIFI). The initiative
will increase sustainable lending to
small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
by deploying Woccu’s SME Lending
Toolkit and building a global
knowledge-sharing platform.
For this project, Woccu is working
with a number of regional partners – the
Confederation of Financial Institutions
of West Africa (Confédération des
Institutions Financières de l’Afrique
de ‘Ouest, CIF) in Burkina Faso; the
National Federation of Savings and
Credit Cooperatives (Federación
Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y
Crédito, FENACOAC) in Guatemala; and
the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit
Co-operatives (KUSCCO).
Land O’Lakes International
Development was awarded funding
to support new agricultural capacitybuilding
and food safety programmes in
Georgia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Lebanon,
Rwanda and Malawi.
John Ellenberger, executive director
of Land O’Lakes International
Development, said his organisation
“welcomes the ongoing partnership
of USAID and USDA as we
continue leveraging the expertise
of a nearly century-old, farmer-owned
co-operative to improve livelihoods
and enhance agriculture worldwide.
“We’re excited to build collaborative
efforts for international economic
development that unite host country
agricultural stakeholders, Land O’Lakes,
Inc. farmers and technical staff,
government leaders and academic experts
to maximise results.”
16 | DECEMBER 2018