The Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada (CDF Canada) is a national non-profit and social impact partner advancing sustainable, inclusive economies through the co-operative model. We work alongside communities in the Global South to strengthen co-operatives and credit unions through leadership development and capacity building—so they can design and lead their own solutions.
Rooted in shared co-operative values, we help build community-owned systems that reflect local priorities, knowledge, and leadership—ensuring change is led from within, not delivered from outside.
By investing in people and co-operatives, we help build stronger communities, more resilient local economies, and a future shaped by those who live it.
| Our Mission
To partner with communities to achieve sustainable economic and social development through the co-operative model. |
| Our Vision
A world where self-reliant communities flourish. |
What Makes CDF Canada Unique?
Our Values
Our values are not invented for us. They are the values of the co-operative movement itself, shared with every co-op and credit union we work with.
- Self-help and self-responsibility. We back what communities decide to do for themselves. Capacity, not charity.
- Democracy and equality. One member, one vote. Ownership and governance sit with the people who use the enterprise.
- Equity and solidarity. We work deliberately with those the formal economy leaves out — women, youth, smallholder farmers, displaced people.
- Honesty, openness and accountability. We hold ourselves to a zero-tolerance standard on exploitation, harassment, discrimination and corruption, backed by independent third-party reporting.
- Concern for community and for the planet. Gender equity, financial inclusion and environmental resilience run across everything we deliver.
- We measure results, share what we find, and adapt — with our partners, not about them.
Our Approach: Empowering Communities Through the Co-operative Model
- Enhancing Business Planning and Growth
CDF Canada helps co-operatives generate income. We provide technical assistance to design business plans that increase the value of the cooperative enterprises, working with local partner organizations to help smallholder farmers, traders, and producers. By identifying and responding to market opportunities, supported by research and data, we’re able to establish and strengthen cooperative and credit union enterprises.
- Strengthening Capacity
CDF Canada works with individuals and communities to build their skills and create economic opportunities based on cooperative principles. We mobilize individuals to learn innovative tools, skills, and approaches, including marketing, negotiation, agricultural production, and gender equality framework.
- Enabling Policy and Regulation
CDF Canada works directly with co-operative representatives and government officials to create and improve policy and regulatory environments for credit unions and other financial intermediaries such as farmers and agricultural producers, and micro, small, and medium-sized co-operatives, and enterprises.
- Mobilizing Knowledge and Learning
CDF Canada is a learning organization that continuously improves its work and the work of its partners. We empower our project partners and their co-operative members to identify training opportunities and improve their operational efficiencies. Additionally, we employ a Results-Based Management approach to projects, focusing on outcomes, performance measurement, learning, and adaptation.