What we do
Africa Development Promise serves as a catalyst to accelerate the development of sustainable, well managed, and profitable cooperatives.
The cooperative model is a natural extension of the neighborhood and kinship system that has helped rural communities survive. It allows members to pool resources to create economies of scale. Cooperatives are also structured to balance member needs, community welfare, and the need for profitability. Unlike conventional businesses, cooperatives offer all members an equal stake and they share the responsibility through the good or hard times—one member, one vote. The governments of Rwanda and Uganda also promote cooperative enterprises as a tool to reach their development goals.
Cooperative enterprise Management support
Africa Development Promise works with women's cooperative that are at various stages of development . We provide strategic guidance to develop appropriate business models that achieve sustainable outcomes for the cooperatives and their communities. We offer a range of training based on needs and priorities. Examples of training include: financial management, cooperative governance and democracy, leadership development, marketing and inter-cooperative networking. The end goal is growth and development and operational efficiency.
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Agricultural solutions
To help cooperatives reach their strategic goal of increased production, Africa Development Promise, works with a diverse range of consultants from agronomist, engineers, veterinarians and business development consultants (BDS). Most women’s cooperatives have small plots of land with poor, overused soil quality due to inappropriate land management practices. Beside training, we support them with modern techniques such as greenhouses production, machinery, irrigation, improved seed, fertilizer, and other complementary inputs.
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renewable energy solutions
Empowering women and supporting their efforts to achieve economic independence requires increased productivity, access to affordable electricity that can power tools that can relieve the of drudgery. In Uganda, Africa Development Promise is piloting a solar kiosk business model that will offer the cooperatives and the local community a range of solar lighting products. Through the kiosk agricultural and other rural enterprises can access a selection of battery operated tools such as dryers, sprayers, rollers, saws, batteries and drills to help enhance efficiency and productivity. Clients can buy, rent, or rent to own the tools.
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Water Infrastructure solutions
Another issue that must be address when empowering women economic development is access to water. Overall rural women work long hours because besides farming they have household responsibilities such as food preparation, childcare and water-collection chores. Africa Development Promise works with cooperatives to address their multiple water uses such as drinking, irrigation, livestock rearing, etc. Reliable water access provides greater availability and quality of crops year-round, allowing them to generate income in the dry season.
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Sustainable network building
Rural cooperatives are geographically isolated leaving them at the mercy of middlemen. Africa Development Promise works alongside cooperatives, in partnership with government agencies, businesses, and other NGOs to build their networks allowing them to share market information; demand and distribution channels; storage facilities; and link them to financial institutions, etc. As these partnerships grow, they begin to operate interdependently creating a sustainable environment where all parties can thrive.
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Document and collect data
To make informed decisions and appropriate program corrections, it is important to establish and conduct annual monitoring assessments both for Africa Development Promise and the cooperatives we serve. Working with the cooperatives, we conduct simple surveys and as the cooperatives understand the value of gathering data, we will develop more sophisticated information that will guide both the cooperatives and our decision-making process.
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