History of The Cooperative Fund

The Cooperative Fund established in 2017 initiated by CARE, on the basis of the agricultural cooperatives, supported under the ENPARD cooperatives project. It assists agricultural cooperatives in Georgia to develop their businesses, through increasing their access to financial and technical resources.

The Cooperative fund is a not-for-profit entity, with high social responsibility, that provides low interest loans and tailored payment schedules to its member agricultural cooperatives, both for capital investment and working capital. The fund also offers technical assistance and capacity building. Different from the typical financial institutions, the fund is focused on the financial well-being of its member cooperatives.

The Cooperative Fund is a member based organization with a unique governance structure, democratic control and decision-making that allows cooperatives to be involved in management, have reasonable control over the resources and make their decisions for their own development.  Currently, the Cooperative Fund unites 39 agriculture cooperatives from 5 regions of Georgia.

Objectives include:

• Helping smallholder farmers’ gain access to much needed credit
• Transform subsistence farms into commercial businesses
• Increase cooperatives’ access to information and knowledge
• Build resilience and sustainability of the cooperatives through adoption of innovative solutions and climate smart agriculture
• Support the cooperatives to become social actors and change agents in their communities