Cooperative Development Program (CDP)

This CDP initiatives which runs from October 2021 to September 2026 involves three separate but interlinked components, an HQ learning and outreach component and country projects in Guinea and the Philippines. In Guinea, CDP will build on the current Siguiri Agriculture Development Activity (SADA) funded by USAID and the Société Anglogold Ashanti de Guinee to deepen and expand producer organization (PO) capacity with a goal towards formalization into inclusive cooperatives with improved business performance for increased sustainability and livelihood opportunities. These activities will build on learning from SADA that shows deficits in group formalization, literacy and gender, and social inclusion but a strong culture and history of forming groups and associations for economic and social activities. In the Philippines CDP’s goals are ambitious and include no less than a transformation of the agri-coop sector through dedicated and targeted support to key cooperative APEX organizations, at least 35 member cooperatives and the establishment of 10 cooperatives as Regional Development Hubs able to serve as practical vehicles for promoting self-reliance, economic development, and social justice to achieve inclusive growth. The final, but no less important program component, seeks to build ACDI/VOCA’s knowledge and expertise in the tools, approaches, and methodology surrounding cooperative development and to share this knowledge with the greater CDO community under the umbrella of USAID CDP and the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC). The learning and sharing agenda uses areas of strength within ACDI/VOCA including the Volunteer Program, the Technical Learning and Application (TLA) department and demonstrated thought leadership in cooperative development and inclusive market systems.