CDP) (USAID Cooperative Agreement # AFP-A-00-04-00034-00) Final Report, July 2004-November 2010
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COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (CDP) (USAID Cooperative Agreement # AFP-A-00-04-00034-00) Final Report, July 2004-November 2010 Submitted To: Mr. Tom Carter Cooperative Development Program Manager Office of Development Partners (ODP) United States Agency for International Development Washington, DC Submitted by: Stephen McCarthy CDP Manager-ACDI/VOCA Washington, D.C. 20001 CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND TERMS ............................................................................................................................................. 3 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 4 II. RUSSIA ............................................................................................................................................................................ 6 III. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. ……. 6 IV. STRATEGY & PROBLEM ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................ 8 V. SUMMARY OF ACTIONS AND OUTCOMES ....................................................................................... 11 LESSONS LEANRED ...................................................................................................................................................... 17 PROJECT OUTCOME ................................................................................................................................................... 17 THE SURVEY RESULTS ................................................................................................................................................. 30 SUMMARY/CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 35 SOUTH AMERICA .......................................................................................................................................................... 37 BRAZIL ............................................................................................................................................................................... 38 WASHINGTON, D.C BASED CENTER OF EXCELLENCE ...................................................................... 62 OCDC AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ACRONYMS AND TERMS CDP Cooperative Development Program CDP-R Cooperative Development Program-Russia Duma Russian congress, similar to the United States House of Representatives MAC Mobilizing Agricultural Credit Program NAMMS National Partnership of Microfinance Market Stakeholders in Russia National Project The National Project is a Putin Administration initiative to support certain social/economic sectors including Agriculture and rural credit cooperatives NSAU National Special Audit Union- the amendments to the Law on Agricultural Cooperatives (Nov 2006) require that all Agricultural Cooperatives belong to a NSAU that will have self-regulating power and responsibility. A NSAU must have at least 40 SAUs as members Oblast, Krai & Republics Federal subjects, similar to U.S. states; there are 85 federal subjects in Russi Raion A region similar to a state county RAL Russian-American Lending Program administered by RCCDF RCC Rural Credit Cooperative RCCDF Rural Credit Cooperative Development Fund Rosselkhozbank State-owned bank, which serves as a conduit of the Government credit and finance policy in the agro industrial complex of the Russian Federation SAU Special audit union; under amendments to the Law on Agricultural Cooperatives (Nov. 2006) all Agricultural Cooperatives must belong to one SAU with a membership of at least 25 SME Small and Medium sized enterprises 1st tier RCC First tier Rural Credit Cooperatives are membership-based Credit cooperatives serving rural areas. 2nd tier RCC Second tier Rural Credit Cooperatives serve 1st tier RCCs by providing lobbying, financial monitoring, additional financing and training and its members are credit cooperatives, not individuals 3rd tier RCC Third tier Rural Credit Cooperative: this is the national-level credit cooperative established by leading 2nd tier RCCs; main function is to attract additional financing and to manage excess liquidity (savings) from regions that are successful in attracting more savings than needed towards regions that need additional loan funding Union of RCCs The Union of Rural Credit Cooperatives USAID U.S. Agency for International Development EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The ACDI/VOCA Cooperative Development Program (CDP) began on July 1, 2004 and included the countries of Brazil, Paraguay, Russia and the Washington, D.C. based Center of Excellence. All of these activities were continuations of the previous ACDI/VOCA CDP program that ended in 2004. The 2004 CDP program was intended to run for five years, but due to various extensions, the program concluded after six years on November 30, 2010. Under CDP, ACDI/VOCA provided technical assistance and fostered local, national and international partnerships that helped rural cooperatives increase competitiveness, create employment opportunities and improve the overall socio-economic conditions of rural communities. ACDI/VOCA used the resources of the program to promote a learning agenda to address issues in several areas articulated in the Cooperative Development Framework, these issues included: 1) Achieving scale and salience 2) Strengthening planning and information systems 3) Identifying principles of sound cooperative law and strategies to improve the legislative and regulatory environment; and 4) Identifying and introducing change strategies While the strategy of the CDP program varied depending on the country i.e. the local enabling environment and cooperative culture and history, ACDI/VOCA was able to successfully promote and assist cooperative development both overseas and through the Washington, D.C. Center of Excellence. RUSSIA (2004 – 2010) Partnering with the Rural Credit Cooperative Development Fund (RCCDF), ACDI/VOCA managed a Russian- American lending program that supported improved access to financial resources and institutions for farmers. Under ACDI/VOCA’s previous Mobilizing Agricultural Credit Program (MAC), ACDI/VOCA established a fund for financing agricultural credit cooperatives, which since 1998 has been successful in increasing the number of rural credit cooperatives (RCCs) 40 times over and membership by 162 times. As of July 1, 2007, through the efforts of MAC, CDP and the Russian Government National Project, there were over 136,000 members in 1,698 RCCs. In order to secure the future of cooperatives in Russia, CDP encouraged favorable legislation for agricultural cooperatives while strengthening a three-tier network of cooperative financial institutions, including a national credit cooperative and regional credit cooperatives. In particular, CDP focused on achieving a greater scale of financial assistance and strengthening support organizations such as the Training and Advisory Center, Union of Rural Credit Cooperatives and Special Union of Rural Credit Cooperative Auditors (Special Auditors’ Union). PARAGUAY (2004 – 2010) The Cooperative Development Program in Paraguay focused on the institutional strengthening of agricultural cooperatives and producer associations. ACDI/VOCA provided hands-on advisory services at the local co-op level, while placing greater priority on targeting specific thematic areas deemed to be central to producer organization business success and sustainability. These areas included governance/member needs and enterprises' salience in communities and the marketplace, with the accompanying requirements of competitiveness and sustainability. Intensive training of members, management and leadership of client enterprises in the corresponding rights and responsibilities of each group, business planning and recommended business practices, internal controls, and the production and marketing of competitive products were features of this program. Technical assistance expanded opportunities for income generation for farmers and entrepreneurs along the entire food chain, emphasizing commodity specific, market-driven initiatives. BRAZIL (2004 – 2006) The Amazon region activity, supported under the Cooperative Development Program (CDP), focused on the sustainable development of agricultural co-ops. The program focused only on cooperatives with marketable products that would be readily available. In each locale, the program engaged all appropriate sources of support built around value chains such as Brazil nuts, dairy and ecotourism in a project consortium. Partners included mayors, chambers of agriculture and commerce, state secretariats of agriculture, development bank staff, agricultural and environmental NGOs and state-level co-op organizations. Under this program, ACDI/VOCA delivered formal programs in governance, member participation and control, and all aspects central to achieving salience in the community and competitiveness in the market. ACDI/VOCA advisers to the co-ops conducted intensive training activities while preparing realistic short-, medium- and long-term business plans and focusing on environmentally sound and cost-competitive production and handling of a high-quality product. CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE (2004 – 2010) With funding from USAID’s CDP, ACDI/VOCA developed the Resources for Cooperative and Association