USAID Cooperative Development Activity 4: Our Impact in Rwanda

2018 - 2023

USAID COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY 4

OUR IMPACT IN RWANDA OUR IMPACT IN RWANDA

Abundant Food, Unlimited Potential.

On the Cover:

Members of a corn producing cooperative, COKUMAKI, share a light moment after leading a tour of their shared land. The members explain that support from the USAID Cooperative Development Activity 4 has helped the cooperative grow over the past few years, with stronger governance, improved business skills, and new infrastructure. From right to left: Marguerite, John, Ildephonse, and Epiphanie.

About Land O’Lakes Venture37

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit committed to helping communities around the world thrive through agriculture. Affiliated with Land O’Lakes, Inc., Venture37 has more than 40 years of experience implementing agricultural development projects in more than 80 countries around the world. Venture37 strengthens economies by improving local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. It delivers integrated solutions that help build and improve food and agriculture systems through more competitive markets, more resilient systems, healthier and more nutrition-secure communities, and more inclusive societies.

About USAID

USAID leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people progress beyond assistance.

The USAID Cooperative Development Activity 4

About the Activity

The USAID Cooperative Development Activity 4 (CD4) is a five-year activity implemented in Lebanon, Malawi, and Rwanda by Land O’Lakes Venture37. Since 2018, CD4 has increased the performance of cooperative enterprises to enhance the livelihoods of their members, with a focus on promoting inclusive and resilient cooperative organizations. It also strengthened research and learning efforts in the cooperative development sector. CD4 is part of the Cooperative Development Program that is funded out of USAIDWashington and implemented by nine other cooperative development organizations globally.

Nicknamed the “Land of a Thousand Hills,” Rwanda is a fertile country East Africa. It has a population of around 13.4 million, spread over 30 administrative geographical districts. With over 60 percent of the population employed in agriculture, the sector plays a crucial role in Rwanda’s vision for 2050. In Rwanda, CD4 operated in three districts to support the support economic transformation of 23 agriculture farmer-owned cooperative businesses.

Now, I can get seeds and fertilizer on time.

Above: Epiphanie, one of the longest-standing members of a corn-producing cooperative called COKUMAKI, gives a tour of their corn storage facilities. She shares how the cooperative has changed her business over the years. Before, it was difficult for her to get inputs for her farm. “Now, I can get seeds and fertilizer on time,” she says. Epiphanie also explains how the cooperative allows her to have certainty about sales that they’ll make for the coming year, whereas the market for individual sellers was much more volatile.

OUR APPROACH

Business Performance

Providing coaching services to cooperatives, equipping them with knowledge and skills to run their businesses profitably and efficiently. In Rwanda, our efforts improved the managerial capacities of partner cooperatives selling maize, legumes, fruits, and milk through training, coaching, strategic market linkages, and direct financing through grants.

Enabling Environment

Strengthening apex organizations as they support and advocate for their members while encouraging networking and harmonization of cooperative development efforts.

For example, CD4 has collaborated with the Rwanda Cooperative Agency to develop a five-year strategy governing the development of Rwanda’s cooperative sector. It also founded the first-of-itskind sector working group called the “Cooperative Learning Platform.”

Learning & Dissemination

Conducting research on various sticking points with Rwanda’s cooperative development sector and disseminating research findings, including potential solutions.

CD4 financed and disseminated five successful research studies in Rwanda, including its Gender Action Research, which highlighted challenges and opportunities for rural women in entrepreneurship.

Clemence, a cooperative member, attends a women’s leadership seminar hosted by CD4.

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BY THE NUMBERS BY THE NUMBERS

A male participant listens attentively during a gender training session hosted by CD4 in Rwamagana district.

Beata from Kojyamunge Cooperative attends CD4’s Women’s Leadership Seminar.

Our Outcomes

>> Boosting Revenues

Through our tailored business development services and coaching sessions, cooperatives learned how to diversify their businesses to increase their revenue. Primary cooperatives and apex organizations in Rwanda had a positive trend in their revenue of 58 and 335 percent, respectively. They also learned how to successfully apply for grants and other funding opportunities. In Rwanda, these opportunities helped our partners buy and distribute equipment like maize post-harvest handling machines and milk collection vessels.

>> Driving Inclusion

Throughout its activities, CD4 prioritized the inclusion of women and young people. The activity conducted a major research and training program – Gender Action Research – that is equipping women with financial literacy tools and more to help them move from traditional gender roles into income-earning roles. 887 people have been reached through training sessions on gender, women’s empowerment in business, and genderbased violence.

>> Promoting Food Security

By linking cooperatives with better markets and inputs, CD4 helped cooperatives leverage their strategic geographic positioning and improve their leaders’ professionalism. These improvements meant that cooperatives started to serve as service hubs to their members and other smallholder farmers in their vicinities. For example, at RWAMACU and GILICU cooperative unions, members were able to access extension services and inputs that increased the production of maize and milk, respectively. GILCU saw a 617 percent increase in the value of services provided to its members, and Rwamacu saw a 58 percent increase.

Bridging the Financial Literacy Gap: Carving out Space for Female Entrepreneurs

CD4 has carved out dedicated spaces for female entrepreneurs. The project calls these efforts “gender action research” — a research and training program that is empowering women to move from traditional gender roles into income-earning roles. This includes a training program that CD4 has implemented in direct response to some of the findings from their research on women’s roles in agriculture cooperatives. Women are appreciative of the women’s-only learning space: they are learning budget keeping methods, customer care skills, consumer preferences, and other concrete business skills that are helping them boost their businesses.

Above: Cooperative members Philomene, Bernadette, Clementine, and Marie Chantal stand outside KAMA’s milk collection center.

Unlocking Business Opportunities

For example, Philomene, a member of a dairy cooperative called KAMA who has participated in these training sessions, explained that the business skills she has learned have helped her build out her milk collection operation. She collects and supplies milk to the cooperative on behalf of her neighbors.

With the business skills she learned, she shares that her “business is moving swiftly”: She is now collecting milk from 140 different farmers in Rwanda’s Gicumbi district, and she has nearly doubled the quantity of milk that she is supplying to the cooperative, from 400 liters to 750 liters per day.

In a world where the financial literacy gap transcends borders, and where women face higher economic insecurity than men, carving out dedicated training sessions for women is an important way to ensure that they have access to learn the business skills that they need. CD4 participants found the finance-related training sessions especially useful: they all cited how they learned skills related to budgeting, loans management, and financial literacy.

Philomene feels that she and her peers are now becoming model citizens for other female entrepreneurs in the agriculture space. “People are wondering what our secret is!” she says, referencing the fact that she and her peers are now improving their incomes at unprecedented rates. She laughed at the fact that the participants’ children are now calling their mothers instead of their fathers when they need money to pay for school fees.

People are wondering what our secret is!

Turning a New Leaf: A Burgeoning Corn Cooperative in Rwanda’s Rwamagana District

COCUMAKI’s core business is corn production, and the cooperative hosts more than 50 smallholder farmers that collaboratively run the business. The corn is dried and sold annually on contract, used to produce corn flour, which is turned into porridges and animal feed. In 2019, COCUMAKI connected with CD4 to begin to tackle some of these challenges and grow their business. CD4 began a coaching program to help members learn about governance, financial management, and business development. Almost immediately, new members began to join and production increased.

Above: Ildephonse (left) and John (right) lead a tour of their new plot. The cooperative was able to rent 7.5 hectares of land after receiving a grant from CD4.

Doubling Production

After receiving a CD4 grant in 2022, COCUMAKI rented a new plot of land — 7.5 hectares, or roughly 18 acres — which has helped it nearly double its production from last year’s harvest. From its original production of 7 tonnes of corn back in 2015 to its 95 tonnes now, the cooperative has come a long way.

Building Leadership Skills

One of the national cooperative laws that COCUMAKI’s leadership team must follow is requirements regarding its election process: presidents are elected every three years and may run for a maximum of two terms. With advisory support from the outgoing president, Ildephonse, a new president John is learning the ropes of leading the coop, while benefiting from the governance training sessions from CD4. John seems appreciative of how the training sessions have helped all members learn leadership skills: “Every single member has benefited from CD4 [training sessions.] Any member of the cooperative could now be president.”

New Infrastructure

COCUMAKI managed to increase its retained earnings and access to external funding, which allowed it to begin constructing a drying shed. Before partnering with CD4, they had no drying and storage facility. The drying shed will be able to hold 35 tonnes of corn at a time. Through new infrastructure, stronger governance, and improved business skills for all members, the Cooperative Development Activity has supported COCUMAKI in turning a new leaf for their burgeoning corn cooperative.

CONTACT US

Kari Onyancha

CD4 Chief of Party; Land O’Lakes Venture37

kmonyancha@landolakes.com

Willy Nyirigira

CD4 Deputy Chief of Party; Land O’Lakes Venture37

wnyirigira@landolakes.com