Background
After the successful completion of Strengthening Smallholder Enterprises of Livestock Value Chain for Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth in Nepal (SLVC I), Heifer International Nepal has designed a second phase of the project (SLVC II) and partnering with Himalayan Community Development Forum (HICODEF) to implement the project in Nawalparasi East district. This four-year project aims to support the project families to reach annual living income benchmark (NPR390K/family) by 2021. The project will work with SmallholderFarmers’ Organizations and Value Chain actors to improve market systems primarily in Goat Meat and Dairy value chains along with Back Yard Poultry (BYP) and Horticulture value chains.
The sub-award activities mainly focus on strengthening the capacity of cooperatives (Institutional, Governance, Financial Management, and Business Development Services). The project will cover six women cooperatives and support them to become financially-viable and sustainable entities. These will be empowered Lead Firms, having forward and backward linkages with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) owned by its members. The cooperatives will have a commercial relationship with its member MSMEs, buying and selling various products, services, and solutions.
The products, services and solutions offered by the cooperatives will directly contribute to the growth and profitability of the MSMEs contributing to the project goal, bringing beneficiary families to annual living income and achieving resiliency. At the same time, the cooperatives effort will be targeted towards a quality product (goat, dairy, vegetables, backyard poultry-BYP) as demanded by the market at a required volume and specifications. This will help to establish the farmers’ organization as a strong value chain actor leading the way in fair share distribution and efficiency in the targeted value chain.
