ILO organized workshop on cooperatives for local producers in the Cahul region

The workshop was the second capacity building activity on cooperative development in the honey sector in the Republic of Moldova, organized with the financial assistance of the International Labor Organization within the “Promotion of youth employment” project.

The first training took place in October 2019 using the first module of Think.Coop, an orientation guide developed by the ILO on the cooperative business model, and the first module of Start.Coop, a step-by-step ILO guide to launch a cooperative. In order to strengthen the capacities of the beekeepers and sheep breeders and to understand the new business model that cooperatives mean, Mr. Alessio Vici, certified Trainer on the ILO toolset OUR.Coop  provided the training.  Participants examined the feasibility of a business idea, prepared a business plan and studied the organizational set-up of a cooperative.

“The development of a co-operative enterprise is all about increasing the capacities of individuals and guiding them in research and development processes. Training and coaching are the key activities as we are going forward,” said Mr. Alessio Vici.

Participants were also mentored using video contributions and interviews from the Italian A.R.A. (Associazione Romagnola Apicoltori) Cooperative, that have visited the honey producers of Moldova in October 2019.

“Thanks to the training and coaching, I am improving my understanding of the business model and its functionality. It improves my skills and my ability to analyze the information available to me. I am really satisfied with the support we received and convinced that the cooperative we established will be successful,” said Iulian Bacaliuc, President of the Cooperative.