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People, nature and spices partnership (pens):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.

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USDA climate-smart commodities:this 4.5-year project (april 2023 - sep 2027) is funded by USDA/natural resources conservation service (NRCS)'s partnership for climate-smart commodities ($15,6 m). Its main goal is to build markets for climate-smart commodities and invest in america's climate-smart producers to strengthen u.s. Rural and agricultural communities. To achieve this, the project develops work around supporting, through technical and financial assistance, underserved puerto rican farmers in adopting climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices (csfa) meeting NRCS' practice standards for the production in 10,000 acres of land of climate-smart commodities -namely: rust/climate change resistant varietals of arabica coffee, shade, hardwood, and citrus. The project provides voluntary incentives to producers and landowners, including early adopters, to implement climate-smart agricultural production practices. It also works in measuring/quantifying carbon and greenhouse gas benefits associated with those practices; and engages in developing market opportunities for resulting climate-smart commodities. In total, the project expects to involve around 2,000 producers/farmers, distribute over 2 million trees, and establish over 30 new marketing channels. Among the work done to date, it is worth to mention the partnership with procafe which includes the distribution of over 15,000 trees.

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Indonesia spice trade alliance (ista):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 1.8 million improved seedlings/cuttings have been produced and distributed while over 7,000 ista farmers achieved certified status.

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Advancing food systems and nutrition:this usaid funded project ($15 m) was expected to be implemented in timor over a five-year period (sep 2023 to sep 2028). However, in january 2025 received a stop work order, and subsequently in february a cancellation notice. The main goal of this project was to strengthen the country's food systems by increasing the availability, access, affordability, desirability, and consumption of healthy diets that are safe, diverse, and made up of nutritious foods, particularly for women and children. It developed work in four target locations (emera, aileu, ainaro and dili) in partnership with the local cooperative "cooperativa cafe timor" (CCT) and hamutuk ita ajuda malu (hiam) health. The work carried out in 2024 helped to register 1,040 farmers keen on learning and growing nutritious foods for home consumption as well as for local traditional markets (farmer distribution: aileu: 269, ainaro: 284, dili: 235, ermera: 252). It also organized in collaboration with the ministry of health a community outreach event focusing on community's nutrition and good health -the event counted with the participation of 150 community members. A farmer-trade forum was organized in aileu to explore opportunities and challenges in marketing vegetables, and effective collaboration for farm products to reach local markets. Several assessments were carried out, including on environment, nutrition barriers, and water resources.

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Cooperative ecosystem and social inclusion (cesi):this usaid funded project ($9,4m) was expected to be implemented over a five-year period (oct 2023 to sep 2028). However, in january 2025 received a stop work order, and subsequently in february a cancellation notice. It included work with local sub awardees in peru and in madagascar, as well as with cooperatives in guatemala and kenya. Its main goal is to contribute to advance cooperatives in countries where usaid engaged, as part of its cooperative development program, to improve cooperatives' capacity, enabling environment, and resources generation and management. The project had as target beneficiaries 49 cooperatives (10 in madagascar, 16 in kenya, 11 in peru, 12 in guatemala), and about 197,000 members of cooperatives. Technical activities were organized under the following main categories: (i) cooperative capacity strengthening; (ii) cooperative enabling environment; (iii) learning applied to community's development. In kenya, the project supported work to enhance the cooperative bill as part of enhancing enabling environment for cooperatives, while in peru worked with the cooperatives association in carrying out learning activities for cooperatives.

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Strengthening the cooperative ecosystem:this 5-year (2022-2027) $4,6 m project funded by USDA national institute for food and agriculture (nifa) looks at strengthening the cooperative ecosystem for historically underserved farmers, ranchers, cooperatives, and their communities. It 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.

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Tudituale: this 5-year (nov 2023-sep 2028) funded project is led by the catholic relief services (CRS) and ncba clusa provides technical support services as sub awardee with approved total budget of $10,1 m. The project is expected to support local communities and authorities in the DRC (specifically located in the kasai central region) to address food, nutrition and economic insecurity, as well as lack of resilience to climate-related shocks. Within this context, ncba clusa leads technical work related to the strengthening of producer organization's governance and capacity, the development of small businesses, the access to market opportunities (for farmers), the improvement of the conditions needed for sustainable agricultural production, as well as those for access to quality food by local communities, especially those in vulnerable conditions. In 2024 ncba clusa carried out technical assistance work around these aspects -activities included: workshops for local community members, representatives of local inspection for rural development (local authority) and small-business owners, to exchange on opportunities and challenges for business opportunities development. Also work sessions focusing on water resources management, and practical measures to strengthen community-level collaboration dynamics.

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Rural financial inclusion plan in guatemala (rfip):this 5-year (nov 2023 - nov 2028) usaid funded project ($13m) received in january 2025 a stop work order, and subsequently in february a cancellation notice. It aimed at improving access and use of financial services by rural populations, especially small farmers, located in regions (western highlands and the vera paces) with high volume of local population trying to migrate to the u.s. Due to lack of opportunities in their communities/regions. It had as local sub awardee the national association of savings and credit cooperatives, and a local nonprofit with experience in financial services in guatemala (micoope). The project worked simultaneously around the following goals: 1. Increase the supply of financial products and services enabling financial services providers to increase their presence and capacity to deliver in-person and digital financial services as a path to financial and social inclusion and the creation of economic opportunities for rural populations. 2. Increase the demand from rural consumers (households, smallholder farmers, msmes) and market segments by addressing their unique needs and structuring their demand so they can build trust in formal financial services; and promoting financial literacy that drives the responsible and informed use of financial products and services. 3. Mobilize remittances towards savings and productive investments, reducing barriers for remittance senders and receivers to access and use financial services with the perspective of creating economic opportunities for themselves and their families. By the end of 2024, the project reached over 3,000 people with accessible financing products designed to meet the needs of the agricultural and microenterprise sector and facilitated the planning of the digital innovation for agricultural resilience and the volcano summit. It helped the interaction between private financial entities and local farmers, resulting in over $3,3m in agricultural financing credits granted.