Evidence is growing that farm and forest producer organizations are at the heart of sustainable rural development, because it is only through organized groups that locally-controlled forestry can be scaled up to meet growing global demand for forest products, including environmental services and non-timber items. Forest and farm producer organizations can have a unique role in delivering the SDGs worldwide: although they are ‘merely’ local organizations they are capable of contributing to universal goals. Many SDG targets have direct or indirect links to forests and landscapes (particularly under...

The 2014 Annual Report on FAO's projects and activities in support of cooperatives and producer organizations (POs) provides evidence of how cooperatives and POs can be strategic partners for FAO and important agents of change, as clearly stressed in the FAO Strategic Framework 2010-2019. It is a yearly publication, now on its seventh edition. In the first place the 2014 Annual Report highlights key achievements obtained by FAO in 2014 in maintaining cooperatives and POs high on the global development agenda. Main attention is paid to acknowledgments achieved...

This module concerns the organizational dimension of capacity development, and hence how to strengthen the capacities of organizations. Topics include assessment of organizational capacity, change management and tracking organizational change. Tools are provided.dfdf  

Las cooperativas en el sector de la pesca de pequeña escala son una manera de maximizar los beneficios comunitarios a largo plazo para hacer frente a las amenazas que suponen una mala gestión en el sector pesquero la inseguridad en los medios de subsistencia y la pobreza, que son la cruda realidad de muchos de los pescadores en pequeña escala de todo el mundo.

Las cooperativas agrícolas (CA) han demostrado ser un mecanismo eficaz para atraer a las personas jóvenes a la agricultura, a la vez que aumentan las oportunidades de empleo juvenil a través de actividades en las explotaciones agrícolas y fuera de ellas. Como se destacó con motivo del Día Internacional de las Cooperativas 2011 con su tema “Los jóvenes, el futuro de la empresa cooperativa”, las CA equitativas y eficientes desempeñan una función fundamental al ayudar a los...