Project profile — Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada - Volunteer cooperation 2020-2028



Overview 

CA-3-P007292001
$10,115,149
Canadian Co-operative Association (CA-CRA_ACR-3118875517)
2020-03-31 - 2027-12-31
Operational
Global Affairs Canada
MFM Global Issues & Dev.Branch

Country / region 

• Malawi (32.10%)
• Ethiopia (10.90%)
• Senegal (1.00%)
• Ghana (30.10%)
• Kenya (25.90%)

Sector 

• Democratic participation and civil society:
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (10.00%)
Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (20.00%)
• Banking And Financial Services: Education/training in banking and financial services (24081) (10.00%)
• Agricultural development:
Agricultural development (31120) (15.00%)
Agricultural education/training (31181) (15.00%)
Agricultural co-operatives (31194) (20.00%)
• Industry: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development (32130) (5.00%)
• Unallocated/ Unspecified: Promotion of development awareness (99820) (5.00%)

Policy marker 

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)

Description 

This project supports 275 volunteer placements, and intends to capture the experience and expertise of skilled Canadian volunteers to improve the economic and/or social wellbeing of the poorest, most marginalized and vulnerable people, particularly women and girls, with a view to contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. These volunteers work to increase the capacity of developing country partners to deliver sustainable development results in response to local needs. In addition to increasing engagement of Canadians in international development and key global issues, this project aims to increase the performance of developing country partners to deliver more inclusive, innovative, and environmentally sustainable initiatives that advance gender equality. Cooperatives and credit union are vital tools to provide access to economic empowerment for poor and marginalized populations, in developing countries around the world. Project activities include: (1) recruiting and training skilled and experienced volunteers on gender equality and their volunteer placement; (2) providing training to primary co-operatives on women’s economic empowerment, inclusion, environmental sustainability, governance, production, business practices, management and advocacy, value chains, and market access; (3) providing training to individual producers on improved agriculture and business practices, literacy, and financial literacy, soil management and erosion control; (4) developing a training curriculum to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of the partner towards provision of quality cooperative education, training, research, innovations and community outreach services, particularly for women and girls, that will widen the opportunities to the cooperative sector; (5) providing technical assistance for cooperatives to invest in developing strong, inclusive management systems and accounting models e.g. budgeting, internal and external accounting; and (6) establishing a Strategic Innovation Fund enabling volunteers to facilitate the initiation of innovative volunteer-led initiatives to create products, services, processes or tools to support the inclusion of the most vulnerable populations, particularly women and girls, in program activities.

Expected results 

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased performance of developing country partners in country projects to deliver more inclusive, innovative and environmentally sustainable development initiatives that advance gender equality; and (2) increased engagement of Canadians in international development and key global issues.

Results achieved 

Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) supported delivery of 109 volunteer mandates that contributed to increasing partners’ capacity to design and bring inclusive, innovative, environmentally sustainable development initiatives. These initiatives promote gender equality with 6 organizations in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Senegal; (2) supported 71 volunteers (47 women and 24 men) to provide technical support for sustainable innovation initiatives, monitoring and evaluation, women’s mentorship, environmental sustainability, and organizational development. This directly benefited 20,160 people (12, 660 women and girls), including persons living with disability, individuals below the poverty line, those in remote or rural areas, widows, the elderly, and those living with chronic illness; and (3) mobilized 111,798 Canadians through public engagement activities.

Budget and spending 


Original budget $0
Planned disbursement $1,865,165
Transactions
Transaction Date Type Value
26-09-2024 Disbursement $405,403
Country percentages by sector
Type of finance Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Collaboration type Bilateral
Type of aid Donor country personnel
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