MADISON, Wis.-The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded the World Council of Credit Unions approximately $7.9 million through the Food for Progress Program to help finance CU development aimed at providing agricultural extension services and financial access to farmers in Ethiopia.
The four-year initiaitive is WOCCU's first long-term technical assistance program in the country.
WOCCU said its "Enhancing Food Security and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia" program will assist rural savings and credit cooperatives (RUSACCOs, as the credit unions are known) to finance agricultural production and investment, mobilize savings and provide a range of non-financial services such as providing market information and training to their members. The program will also support small infrastructure investments to improve farmers' access to markets.
"WOCCU has provided training in our methodology and tools to a range of rural and urban SACCOs over the past few years," said Brian Branch, WOCCU executive vice president and COO. "In early 2007, we began looking for opportunities to increase our efforts in Ethiopia.
The RUSACCOs will work with WOCCU to improve their ability to extend new agricultural financial products and services specifically tailored for small farmers and other rural entrepreneurs. The program will target farmers who rely on agriculture as their primary source of income, but who struggle to produce sufficient food for their families. The program is designed to increase farmers' productivity, connect them to markets and formalize farmer cooperatives for group training and support, WOCCU said.
