Agricultural
Cooperative in Ethiopia (ACE) is designed to empower the small farmers of
Ethiopia to successfully achieve and profit from improved agricultural
production through competitive, profit oriented and professionally managed
cooperatives. Assistance from the project in the establishment of
secondary level unions and a national federation is expected to increase the
economic position of the cooperatives in the marketplace in both the purchasing
of farm supplies and the marketing of members products. By conducting
training activities at all levels in the cooperative system, the program will
also increase the efficiency of cooperatives through human resource development.
Some
of the expected outputs of ACE include: the formation of 27 unions over 5 years;
the formation of 27 saving and credit cooperatives; a total of 285 primaries
will receive training and technical assistance to strengthen their operations;
nearly 2000 cooperative board members and staff will receive management training
and overall, AEC will train nearly 400,000 farmers on the benefits of and
methods for organizing market-oriented cooperatives.
To
implement these activities, a total of 176 volunteers and 20 consultants will be
employed, two long-term expatriate advisors have been placed in the field and
the staff of the Regional Cooperative Promotion Bureaus (RCPBs) in each ACE
target region (4 initially with a possible expansion) are receiving extensive
training on a broad spectrum of topics from cooperative organization to teaching
on-farm natural resources management.
ACE
Objectives:
To
strengthen primary cooperatives and form cooperative unions enabling them to
operate at full capacity and increasing efficiency and to contribute to
broad-based rural development.
To
increase the bargaining power of cooperatives in order for farmer-members to
enjoy easier access to agricultural input and farm output markets, rural
financial services and business information, thus maximizing farmer-income.
To
upgrade the skills of cooperative members and management, the staff of
Regional Cooperative Promotion Bureaus, educators and support professionals
enabling them effectively to develop, manage and support sustainable
organizations.
To
increase the membership and participation of women in cooperatives.
To
increase environmental awareness and improved natural resources management at
the farm level.
By
focusing on cooperative development, ACE has the potential to not only increase
the capacity and incomes of individual farmer members but also to contribute to
the growth of stable rural institutions that will ensure that benefits to
individual farmers are built upon their own increasing abilities and are
therefore sustainable. |