USAID Biz+ marks International Co-op Day

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported Vega/Biz+ program brought together two of its cooperative business partners – the Moneragala-based Koularagama Industrial Cooperative Society Limited and the Mullaitivu-based Visuvamadu Farmers’ Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society – to share knowledge on sustaining and growing the businesses, as well as to create awareness and promote the ‘cooperative ideals’ of economic efficiency, equality, and peace. This was to commemorate the ‘International Day of Co-operatives’ which fell recently.

Chief of Party of the BIZ+ program, Michael Parr said, “This business exchange is an excellent example of the US Government’s and the American people’s commitment to economic and social progress in Sri Lanka.

Cooperative businesses have social enterprise and community involvement as the core of their business model.”

Both cooperatives have entered into investment partnerships with the USAID Biz+ program to improve and expand their business models.

The Koularagama Industrial Co-op is restarting the production and marketing of ceramic and clay products, creating new jobs, and increasing its membership.

Meanwhile, the Visuvamadu Farmers’ Co-op is currently upgrading technologies and improving the efficiency at its paddy milling facility, enabling the co-op to better serve its 2,000 members and to increase the number of local paddy suppliers.

The exchange visit, was presided over by Cooperative Development Officer, S. M. Sajith who represented the Commissioner of Cooperative Development for Mullaitivu.

The General Manager of the Visuvamadu Co-op, Sivagnanasundaram Sivaruban, expressed his eagerness to “cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship with a co-op from the South.”

Chairperson of the Koularagama Industrial Co-op, Mrs. S. A. Sriyani Subasingha said, “We have come from Sevanagala in Moneragala to meet our colleagues here in Mullaitivu and to recognize the principle of ‘cooperation among cooperatives’.

We are sharing ideas about how to better serve our members and rural communities, with the aim of working together so that our businesses improve and communities prosper.”

Through the program, USAID has invested more than Rs. 66 million (approximately US$460,000) to help four cooperative businesses to build, improve, and expand their operations, investing in equipment and specialized machinery. Biz+ also provides training and expertise in specialized areas such as technology transfer, quality improvement, and workplace safety.

Overall, the partnerships forged with cooperative businesses will generate hundreds of jobs and provide sustainable incomes in economically lagging areas of Sri Lanka. For the benefit of the visitors, the managers of the Cooperative’s rural bank and stores explained how they restarted the business in a camp for the displaced, after the war. Though they lost all their assets, the business has been rebuilt at the original location in Visuvamadu and is now growing and serving the area’s farmers and rural communities.