OPG Technoserve cooperative management

TA will be provided principally to production and user co-ops; some 8,700 co-op members and employees will benefit. Technoserve will help the co-ops to establish planning and production control systems, including rolling departmental budgets and cash flow programs, and to prepare short- and long-term development plans. Short-term action training will be provided to selected managers, employees, directors, and other co-op members in business management skills, decisionmaking, production systems, and financial planning and analysis. A new system of production/financial planning and of supervised credit utilization will be introduced in coordination with the Agrarian Bank of Peru (BAP). Under the system: (1) the co-ops will use administrative and economic targets and goals as management tools associated with credit flows; (2) BAP credit may be used to pay for TA (which is considered a necessary and profit-enhancing input). Technoserve will ensure adequate supervision of BAP credit. It will also coordinate with a public sector agricultural institution to provide the co-ops with appropriate agricultural technologies and technical backstopping. Finally, Technoserve will prepare a manual on development TA for co-ops, which will be in effect a guide to applying the TA methodology developed and tested under the project. Co-ops assisted under the project will be expected to pay at least 10% of the cost of TA initially, and more as their ability to contribute increases. In all, at least 25% of project costs will be derived from non-A.I.D. sources.