Through valuable donations of money and time
the Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada provides communities around the world with opportunities to:
- Grow co-operative enterprises
- Mobilize savings and loans
- Learn new skills
Discover the power of Co-operatives to build a better world!
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We help pave the way for resilient, self-determined futures.
Explore our ProjectsDiscover some of our featured
co-operative innovation around the world.
CDF Canada is closing the gap on gender inequality, promoting financial inclusion and strengthening the resilience and sustainability of co-op communities.
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Sierra Leone ACCESS
Mamie Conteh and her husband rely on their local credit union for small loans to increase the size of their rice fields. Today, Mamie is a model of success for her sound savings and borrowing habits. CDF Canada has a goal to bring credit union services within reach of 100,000 Sierra Leoneans, like Mamie, by 2025.
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Northern Ghana Food Security Through Co-operatives
Linda Adafude and her co-op are winning the battle to close ‘hunger gaps’ – periods where food and money are scarce after recurring droughts and floods -which is prevalent among farmers in Northern Ghana. Now complete, this project saw nearly 100% of participating households reach food security for up to 9-12 months of each year.
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Colombia Impact
Rural Colombian women, like Luisa Fernanda Padilla (left, with her parents), are finally earning income. They produce artisanal cheese for their cattle ranching association. Their husbands now help with household chores while they’re at work. Thanks to CDF Canada’s IMPACT project, more trailblazing women like her are entering the workforce in rural Colombia.
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Malawi Invest Co-op
Hampered by unpredictable rainfall, farmer members of Nyanja Co-operative in Malawi are negotiating better prices for their soya thanks to their training through CDF Canada’s INVEST Co-op Malawi project. The project helps over 50,000 men and women farmers learn conservation farming practices and minimal-loss post-harvest handling to improve and market their crops through co-operatives.
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Mongolia Invest Co-op
Learning how to tuft carpets created new income for Mongolian herder Munkhtur Bolormaa. Traditional herders like him must compete with larger wool producers, and declining income spells poorer nutrition and interrupted schooling. CDF Canada is training 3,000 women and men dairy and herder families in co-operative herd management, wool processing, and marketing services. The project also focuses on developing existing co-operatives to assist women and men herders’ ability to access new markets, extension services and low-cost quality inputs. Overgrazing and unsustainable herd size are all contributing factors to environmental issues in Mongolia. The project aims to reduce herd size while increasing productivity and value with each animal—ultimately reducing the environmental impact of the herders’ work.
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Peru Invest Co-op
Thanks to Isella Torres and other co-op members, farmers in Huachumo have learned to grow and market organic coffee and panella. They’re shifting focus away from liquor production, and creating more gender-equitable communities. CDF Canada’s INVEST Co-op Peru project brings needed training and production and marketing opportunities to small producers, and will benefit 4,091 farmers.
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Indonesia Invest Co-op
Siti Rafiah Darajat (pictured right) shows seaweed farmers that planting larger seedlings farther apart will produce more and better crops. Climate change causes unpredictable weather and damage to their equipment. CDF Canada helps farmers adopt resilient seaweed varieties, and employ more sustainable infrastructure so farmers can adapt to the challenges presented by climate change.
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Ethiopia IRFITCO
IRFITCO is building the capacity of national credit union apexes to improve financial inclusion. In Ethiopia, where no credit union apex exists, CDF Canada is working with our partner, the Irish League of Credit Unions, to develop the appropriate framework to support a healthy credit union system, ultimately enabling people to access fair financial services and products.
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Myanmar MyFINANCE
CDF Canada’s country managers Renia Salines and Yolanda Alim are reorganizing two financial co-operatives in Myanmar. There, many farmers are forced to borrow from informal lenders or take inputs on credit from suppliers charging high rates of interest. CDF Canada is supporting the development of sustainable co-operatives to bring needed financial services to 65,000 farmers.
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Philippines PREMIUM
Merle Yboa is one of 1,600 sari sari convenience store owners in CDF Canada’s Premium project. She took in her siblings and their children when Typhoon Yolanda destroyed their homes, and now she’s learning to purchase and sell micro insurance to help entrepreneurs like herself rebound from disaster. Her business and family are more resilient.
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Rwanda RCAG
Andre and Anastasie Samvora and their children are enjoying much better nutrition after learning new farming, business, and gender equality practices through CDF Canada’s Rwanda Co-operative Agricultural Growth project. Now completed, production and sale of rice and maize by participating farmers increased four-fold (432%), and post-harvest losses dropped by 79%.
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Ukraine Grain Storage and Marketing
"This project is a proud part of the rebirth of co-operative agriculture in Ukraine," says project manager Sergii Kurdytskyi. CDF Canada’s’s project in Ukraine is addressing constraints faced by small and medium grain farmers through the establishment of co-operative storage, marketing and handling of grain, to improve their market conditions and increase market activities.
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Canada Women’s Mentorship Program
Since taking part in CDF Canada’s Women’s Mentorship Program, Obenewaa Yeboah has improved practices at the small credit union she manages in Kumasi, Ghana. The number of dormant accounts has been lowered by one-third and delinquent loans are down 60%. So far, 227 women from 21 countries have been mentored at credit unions across Canada.
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News & Resources
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CDF Canada receives the Reginald J. Cressman Award
05.31.2019
READ MORE >The Association of Cooperative Educators (ACE), one of the most prestigious co-op education associations in…
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Video address Women’s Mentorship Program
05.17.2019
READ MORE >Madame Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Canada, addressed the following video…
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