About Us
Global Co-operative Learning Program
The Global Co-operative Learning Program is an initiative of a group of co-operative development professionals working around the globe. As specialists working to support, facilitate and 'incubate' co-operatives in Asia, Africa and in North America the platform was born out of a desire to connect practitioners and members. We are seeking to uncover new opportunities, showcase best practice, and highlight leading-edge learning on effective co-operative development.
This Global Learning Platform captures key learning from co-operative development projects and invites the participation of members worldwide in order to feed into future co-operative development programming. The platform is a component of the Global Communities' Global Learning Strategy. This platform allows that learning to be shared widely and integrates others into the learning process.
This Global Learning Platform captures key learning from co-operative development projects and invites the participation of members worldwide in order to feed into future co-operative development programming. The platform is a component of the Global Communities' Global Learning Strategy. This platform allows that learning to be shared widely and integrates others into the learning process.
|
See a slideshow of our work here.
|
Global Communities is managing a Global Learning Strategy to capture key learning from their two co-operative learning programs in order to feed into future co-operative development programming and to inform the field more broadly:
USAID EMIRGE |
Started in October 2010, the Global Communities’ co-operative development program, Enabling Market Integration through Rural Group Empowerment (EMIRGE), is an institutional learning grant, funded under USAID’s Cooperative Development Program that aims to develop, test, and disseminate co-operative development approaches to economic development. Based on analysis of high-potential agricultural value chains, EMIRGE integrates groups of marginalized economic actors into the mainstream economy by linking them to the services and markets that will drive growth in productivity and income. The project catalyzes early-stage economic cooperation by responding to local market-based incentives and a member-driven agenda, gradually strengthening social capital, productivity, and organizational capacity to advance group enterprises. In doing so, EMIRGE confronts the challenges of rural poverty commonly faced by millions of marginalized farmers by designing and employing methods to collaboratively mobilize rural resources toward attainable market opportunities. EMIRGE operates in Mongolia and Rwanda.
|
USAID DESIGN |
The Global Communities’ co-operative development program, Developing Economic Strengthening Interventions for Group Production (DESIGN), is a unique co-operative development, learning, and research project funded by USAID in 2013 and operating in Uganda. The objective of DESIGN is to develop and institutionalize a new and innovative method for working with co-operatives and seeing them thrive. Global Communities has developed a partnership that combines practical on-the-ground assistance to farmers with a rigorous study of issues integral to sustainable cooperative development.
|
This Global Co-operative Learning Platform and Learning Strategy is managed by EcoVentures International (EVI). EVI designed this strategy with USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning & Learning’s Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation (CLA) framework in mind. CLA promotes continuous learning and iterative adaptation of programs to meet development objectives. EVI visited co-operative development programs in Mongolia, Rwanda, and Uganda to inform this strategy.