Canada will provide $19.7 million to Canadian organization Société de coopération pour le développement international (SOCODEVI) to promote the growth of small and medium-sized dairy businesses in Ukraine, particularly those led by women. The project assists 10,000 dairy farmers in four of Ukraine’s most important dairy-producing regions—Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Kherson and Ivano-Frankivsk—to improve the quantity and quality of the milk they produce, establish more successful farm businesses and increase their household incomes.
The targeted farmers will form at least 24 larger membership-based dairy cooperatives, following Canadian best practices. The project will help the members of these cooperative to connect with local institutions (such as agricultural colleges, suppliers of inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, advisory service companies and lending organizations) that individual farmers would not be able to access on their own. The project also aims to set up 270 new family-run dairy farms and create or support 50 businesses that support the dairy sector, such as veterinary services, artificial insemination services, and machinery services.
Key project activities include:
- providing training to advisory service companies and participating farmers on business development and environmentally sound farm management;
- providing technical assistance to two regional milk testing laboratories;
- providing training to farmers on cooperative best practices;
- providing equipment and technical assistance to dairy cooperatives;
- developing a credit guarantee facility for farmers;
- assisting local agricultural training institutions to develop new courses and curriculums for effective and environmentally sustainable dairy farm management; and
- facilitating dialogue between government and private sector partners to develop policies and programs that support the growth of dairy cooperatives and farms.
Canada will provide $13.5 million over six years (2013–2018) to a consortium of Canadian organization SOCODEVI, University of Sherbrooke, and the Canadian Co-operative Association to address the limitations of small and medium-sized grain producers in Ukraine. The project will help these farmers organize into effective service cooperatives, based on Canadian best practices, to gain access to financing needed to build grain storage and processing facilities. These facilities will be owned and managed by the cooperatives, and will enable farmers to add value to their crops and increase their profits. The project will also build the capacity of agricultural institutions to assist farmers to establish strong cooperatives by developing short- and long-term training courses in the management and administration of agriculture service cooperatives.
Canada will provide $18.8 million to Agriteam Canada to assist Ukraine's national and subnational governments to develop and implement transitional and long-term governance and economic reforms in a more inclusive and transparent way. The project will deploy Canadian technical advisors to share their expertise in these areas with Ukrainian officials and citizens.
Activities will include:
- assisting Ukrainian officials and stakeholders to develop and implement transparency and anticorruption policies and programming;
- coaching officials at the national and subnational levels to plan, coordinate and implement reform plans in priority sectors;
- training officials to create and manage tools and processes to sustain change management; and
- coaching representatives from governments and civil society organizations to promote citizens’ participation in public decision making to ensure transparent public services delivery.
Ukraine’s economy has been hit hard by Russian aggression and years of mismanagement. The Ukrainian government is focusing its efforts on stabilizing the economy and implementing the necessary reforms to return to growth. To support Ukraine in economic stabilization and reform, Canada is providing up to $100,000 in additional support to the Economic Advisory Council, a group of leading international economic experts, headed by Canadian professor Dr. Basil Kalymon, of Western University. This additional support will enable the council to continue to provide independent and high-level advice to senior officials of the Government of Ukraine on key economic stabilization reform issues.
Economic stabilization and growth is a key priority for Canadian support of Ukraine. With today’s announcement, the Government of Canada has contributed more than $315 million in assistance to Ukraine, which includes support for economic stabilization, democracy and human rights, humanitarian assistance and security. This also includes a $200-million bilateral loan in support of Ukraine’s economic, social and political stability during the period of transition.
