National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA)

Usaid advancing nutrition was awarded on september 1, 2018, to help countries reduce malnutrition by improving nutrition services through routine health service, making food systems more nutrition-sensitive, and strengthening markets to keep nutritious and safe foods accessible year-round. To do this, we will intensify our engagement with the private sector, civil society organizations, and government stakeholders and support nutrition in humanitarian, as well as developmental, contexts. We will also strategically integrate nutrition interventions with the early childhood development (ecd) sector as well as with health, agriculture, and other established service platforms and systems that can positively impact nutrition. Project ended december 30, 2023.

Ncba clusa's 5-year (2018-2023) creating an environment for Cooperative expansion (cece) project, funded by usaid's Cooperative development program (cdp), operates in guatemala, peru, kenya, madagascar, tanzania, and ecuador to achieve 3 main goals: 1) improving enabling environments, 2) enhancing support to cooperatives, and 3) improving performance of cooperatives. To achieve these goals, activities focus on improving the legal and regulatory framework for cooperatives, building the capacity of local support institutions to provide quality Cooperative development services, and providing targeted technical assistance to more than 60 cooperatives through tailored coaching plans. To date, Cooperative law reform proposals have been developed and submitted in all 6 countries through multisectoral and participatory stakeholder engagement, with the bill in ecuador getting passed in 2023. 64 agricultural cooperatives and savings and credit cooperatives representing nearly 180,000 members have actively participated in coaching activities, with an emphasis on women's inclusion, empowerment, and leadership. From 2020-2022, improved co-op governance and financial management resulted in $40m net revenues; $8.3m increase in member equity; and over $12.6m in loans. Additionally, the cece project partners with more than 30 local Cooperative supportive organizations and other private sector partners to enhance services to cooperatives.

the safe agriculture/food export (safe) project (known locally as progana) was awarded to the National Cooperative Business Association clusa international (ncba clusa) to lead the consortium of the dominican agribusiness board (jad), Texas a&m university's borlaug institute (tamu), fundacion rural economic development (reddom) and genex Cooperative. Safe is a seven-year project being implemented in the dominican republic from september 2015 to december 2023 to strengthen the dominican beef and dairy value chains. Safe supports the dominican livestock sector by strengthening the capacity of producers, producer organizations, processors, and government institutions in 11 provinces to increase the use of good farming practices, Business development services, access to financial services, organizational capacity, best manufacturing practices, marketing, and access to markets, among other activities. the project has the following two objectives: improve productivity in the livestock (beef and dairy) value chain and expand trade of beef and dairy products. Over the past few years, ncba has provided technical assistance to support the government of the dominican republic to comply with usda fsis equivalence standards for the export of raw beef products to u.s. markets. Ncba has bolstered the capacity of beef producers and processors to comply with National and international food safety standards.ncba has implemented trainings to increase the application of good agricultural practices; animal health; nutrition and husbandry practices; haccp; bpm; sps; and industry food safety standards.

Wadata is a 5-year, $50m usaid/bureau for humanitarian assistance (bha)-funded resilience food security activity (rfsa) engaging over 27,836 households (approximately 194,852 people) in 683 villages across four communes in the zinder department (guidiguir, damagaram takaya, guidimouni, and mazamni), while creating positive spillover effects for over 134,000 additional people. It is implemented by a consortium of organizations including save the children, ncba clusa, the kaizen company, and demi-e. the wadata activity is sustainably improving food security and resilience among extremely poor and chronically vulnerable households through layered interventions targeted to communities, households, and individuals. Wadata continues to intensive community- and household-level implementation of a comprehensive, multi-sectoral package of resources, training, and systems strengthening that uses differentiated pathways to address the specific needs of extreme poor and chronically vulnerable households. the project is in year 6 of implementation.

the usda-funded indonesia spice trade alliance (ista) project is a seven year (2019-2026) implemented by National Cooperative Business Association clusa international (ncba clusa). the project collaborates with leading organizations in spice sector including u.s. companies such as mccormick & company, leading indonesia agribusinesses as well as local cooperatives and farmers to increase productivity and efficiency in three indonesian spice value chains (black pepper, cinnamon, and vanilla) through strengthening the capacities of farmers, cooperatives, and other private entities; and to improve and expand the production of these crops through improving quality to meet international standards; strengthening cooperatives; strengthening public-private partnerships; connecting farmers and cooperatives with indonesian and u.s. international spice traders; improving environmental resiliency, sustainable certifications, and spice crop diversity; and linking recent university graduates to careers in extension services. To date, ista has helped 10,054 individuals in agriculture to apply improved management practices and technologies on 4,900 hectares; and generate $6 million in annual sales. Over 1.5 million improved seedlings/cuttings have been produced and distributed while 6,730 ista farmers achieved certified status.

Ncba clusa's 5-year (2022-2027) strengthening the Cooperative ecosystem for historically underserved farmers, ranchers, cooperatives, and their communities (hu) project, funded by usda National institute for food & agriculture (nifa), operates in the United States, and in puerto rico. the project is focused on providing access to usda services, including preparing grant applications, increasing capacity and technical assistance opportunities for farmers and cooperatives to create Business plans and conduct feasibility studies for their Cooperative. This project provides small grants to cooperatives for programming and educational resources. Our main objectives include increasing awareness of the Cooperative model among historically underserved farmers, ranchers, foresters, and the organizations that assist them; creating culturally appropriate resources to develop and run cooperatively owned businesses; providing educational and training opportunities to develop a cadre of Cooperative developers with economic and cultural ties and experience with historically underserved communities; and researching policy and regulatory factors that encourage sustainable Cooperative development.

Ncba clusa's raising incomes through sustainable export-agriculture (rise) is a $9.5 million five-year activity implemented across nine of timor leste's municipalities and funded by the new zealand government to diversify the country's export revenue away from oil and gas toward high-value export crops such as coffee, cacao, and spices. In partnership with cooperativa caf timor (cct), ncba clusa will recruit and provide services to 16,250 farmer households to participate in rise. the project will invest in improving the knowledge and skills of farming families in health and agriculture; the long-term production of expanded cocoa and spice crops; and ongoing increases in productivity from rehabilitated coffee trees. Overall, the activity aims to (1) rehabilitate 10,000 coffee farms across five municipalities, (2) provide farm extension support and inputs to 5,500 farm households to establish new or expand existing cocoa production, and (3) provide farm extension support and inputs to 1,100 farm households to establish new spice (vanilla, pepper, and cloves) production. To date, 10,957 farmers (17.6% female), supporting a further 48,320 individuals, actively participated in rise across nine timor leste municipalities. Rise activities of coffee rehabilitation and crop diversification has resulted in an additional 1194.9ha of improved farmland. In addition, 2.35 million coffee trees have been pruned through rise, covering nearly 941 hectares. Combined with pre-existing pruned coffee trees on farms, 43% of 8,450 coffee farms are now stump pruned. Farmers have received 105,000 coffee seedlings and 122,000 shade-trees to further rehabilitate farms. Beyond coffee, over 1,750 cocoa farmers are now participating in the project, receiving training, seedlings, and tools to expand their cocoa crop with 63,500 rise cocoa seedlings. Lastly, these activities have had a positive impact on health and well-being with over 57,750 patients who have utilized cct's clinical services, and health extension workers have reached 21,151 individuals, primarily women and young children.

This five-years project (sep 2022-sep 2027) is funded by usda/food for progress ($23 m) to sustainably increase the productivity and trade of three spices (ginger, oregano and turmeric) produced in peru and following a cost-effective model. This is expected to have a positive social, economic and environmental impact, including improving local farmer's income, the use of environmentally friendly production practices, and the strengthening of local associativity capacity -including women, youth and indigenous associations. the project is expected to directly benefit 12,100 producers within the ginger, turmeric, and oregano value chains, 90 producer organizations and cooperatives, particularly in the geographical areas of piura, lambayeque, san martn, junn, cusco, arequipa, moquegua, and tacna. Project actions are grouped into seven clusters, as follows: cluster 1 facilitating access to financial services; cluster 2 training of agricultural extension agents with focus on delivery of high-quality agro-services; cluster 3 training on agricultural production techniques (with focus on organic production and eco-friendly techniques); cluster 4 capacity building on relevant quality standards and certifications with focus on organic production; cluster 5 capacity building to strengthen producer groups and cooperatives, with focus on associativity and management skills; cluster 6 facilitation of buyer-seller linkages as a way to enhance access to markets; cluster 7 -support to relevant local-level regulations and policies, including updates to strengthen competitiveness and work of technical committees. the project's baseline was approved by usda in november 2023, and official project launch followed in 29 november. Between dec 2023 and march 2024, the project has been identifying beneficiaries for project activities, signing mous with strategic partners, developing training material for capacity building activities, and engaging in the organization of activities facilitating buyer-seller linkages.