NNA – International Day of Cooperatives
FAO Lebanon supports cooperatives through capacity building and grants.
On 1 July, the cooperative movement celebrates the 2023 International Day of Cooperatives. As natural vehicles of collaborative partnership and prosperity for all, cooperatives contribute to economic, social, and environmental sustainability across regions and economic sectors.
This yearrsquo;s theme is ldquo;Cooperatives: partners for accelerated sustainable developmentrdquo;.nbsp; The celebration will mark the 29th International Day of Cooperatives. This celebration is an opportunity for local, national, and international policymakers, civil society organizations and the public in general to learn about the contribution of cooperatives to a just and sustainable future for all.
ldquo;FAO recognizes the crucial role of inclusive and efficient cooperatives and producer organizations in empowering small and family agricultural producers,rdquo; said Nora Ourabah Haddad, FAO Representative in Lebanon. ldquo;Cooperatives empower their members economically and socially. They create sustainable rural employment through innovative business models that are resilient to economic and environmental shocks and contribute to the transformation of food systems,rdquo; she added.
In Lebanon, FAO with the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Directorate of Cooperatives, and the generous financial contribution n from the Government of Canada, implements a transformative project aiming at developing the entrepreneurial skills and improving the livelihoods of rural women in Lebanon.
Since its launch in 2019, the project has developed the capacities of more than 250 women groups (cooperatives, associations and informal groups) by enrolling them in Cooperative Business Schools (CBS)nbsp; to raisenbsp; awareness on gender equality and benefit from curriculanbsp; on business and entrepreneurship skills development, marketing, communication, and management.nbsp;
Coached and followed up by trained project facilitators, the women groups were able to develop business plans in a feasible and sustainable way. Their engagement in the project capacity development programme allowed 150 women groups to get a cash grant that they use to initiate or expand their income generating businesses. Grants reaching up tonbsp; USD 18 000 were used to rehabilitate the facilities, procure machinery, equipment, packing material, raw material and other needed inputs to implement their business plans.
In parallel, the project is supporting the General Directorate of Cooperatives by strengthening its Management Information System, which hosts sex-disaggregated data from cooperatives for improved analysis, management and coordination.
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