Cooperative Development Program
Cooperatives (co-ops) are member-owned, democratically-governed enterprises. They allow members to direct and control their own development while increasing their incomes. More than 3,000 cooperatives serve African producers and consumers. More than 20 million rural people in the Philippines and Bangladesh are served by rural electric cooperatives. Credit unions meet the thrift and credit requirements of millions in the developing world.
USAID supports overseas cooperative development in partnership with US cooperative development organizations (CDOs). The CDP is a five-year competitive grant program that responds to the needs of local, host country cooperatives and other member-owned businesses by utilizing the expertise and resources of long-established U.S. cooperative organizations, their members, and volunteers.
The program focuses on developing, implementing and extending workable solutions to key cooperative development challenges, including:
- Restrictive cooperative law and regulation
- Policy-based governance
- Raising member financial participation as a major element in self-reliance
- Achieving scale consistent with quality
- Reducing the dependency that can result from external assistance
- Building mutually-beneficial business and trade relationships between U.S. and partner cooperatives
- Expanding access to cooperatives throughout USAID partner countries.
The program's public outreach also helps raise U.S. cooperative and member awareness of international development efforts.
Current programs include 10 partner CDOs and focus on savings and credit, health, housing, agribusiness, technology transfer, democratic institutions, rural telecommunications and electrification and private enterprise development. The current program began in mid-2010 and will end in 2015.
