ICCO Cooperation in Bangladesh

PARTNER TO ENTERPRISING PEOPLE ICCO Cooperation is an international organization, whose mission is to end poverty and injustice in the global south, in partnership with enterprising people. Our headquarters is based in the Netherlands with five regional and multiple country offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and USA. ICCO has a track record of more than 50 years globally and more than 47 years in Bangladesh. We focus on four thematic areas: economic empowerment, food security and sustainable consumption, responsible business and emergency response. We believe that long-term success can be achieved through programs and investments carried out by enterprising people and organizations.

For more information, please visit www.icco-cooperation.org

ICCO's PRIORITIES Blending

Youth Entrepreneurship

Financial inclusion is a necessary element in our work of growing inclusive markets and developing inclusive businesses. Blending grants + microfinance + loans + equity + guarantee should be the formula, as far as is practicable.

There are many potential opportunities in the agricultural sector. ICCO has chosen to focus on two of these: making work in this sector more rewarding, and creating more diverse jobs, outside of primary production.

Climate Resilient Food Systems

New Technologies

Climate change is posing huge, diverse and potentially conflicting challenges to the future of agriculture and food systems in different parts of the world. ICCO strives for the creation of “Climate Resilient Food Systems”, the name we give to our approach to realize three main objectives: 1) sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, food security and incomes; 2) adapting and building resilience to climate change; and 3) reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

We aim to use the multiplying effect of innovative and basic technology to further the impact of everything we do.

This involves making use of the increase in new technologies designed to improve the lives of low-income populations and the rising number of mobile phone users throughout the world.

PRESENCE IN BANGLADESH As early as the country’s birth, ICCO Cooperation in Bangladesh has actively supported the institutional build-up of the civil society, as contributors to social cohesion and innovative solutions for social, economic and political obstacles to equitable growth. Time and again we have teamed up with the best partners, together creating sustainable programs: not as once-off solutions, but with the goal of empowering national civil society organizations (CSO) in the long-term and reaching marginal communities, empowering them, and contributing to the inclusive development of the country. Today, many of these CSOs have evolved into highly respected large NGOs, including RDRS, CODEC, and CCDB, which implement projects in the most effective, efficient and accountable manner. Mobilizing rural communities and engaging them in developing inclusive sustainable and profitable income generating opportunities and building resilient local agro-food systems is the guiding direction of ICCO in Bangladesh. This is supported by lobby and policy work to demand a more effective enabling environment of the Government of Bangladesh. The approach is expected to lead to the effective inclusion of marginalized groups into the social safety net structures of the government and social protection of the population who remain under or just above the poverty line. Our programs are created and implemented in partnership with cooperative members in the Netherlands, and 17 local partner organizations, reaching more than 1.5 million people in the country to date.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE ICCO uniquely positions itself as an enterprising connector. We invest in the power and dreams of entrepreneurial people, stimulate their entrepreneurial spirit, and connect them with businesses, governments, and social organizations. ICCO has extensive experience in supporting local initiatives addressing BoP needs and formulating pro-poor development initiatives in more than 41 countries worldwide.

In order to achieve sustainable economic development in developing countries, a multi-stakeholder approach is needed. We call this the programmatic approach, wherein we collaborate in a coalition of organizations and companies on a common objective.

We believe that long-term success can be achieved through programs and investments carried out by enterprising people and organizations. We have put our non-profit and commercial entities under one umbrella and bring stakeholders together, benefiting from the particular strengths of each. With C4D Partners and Truvalu., two initiatives of ICCO Cooperation, we are investing in social- and financial-impact entrepreneurship, thereby offering viable and relevant social venturing opportunities.

FLAGSHIP PROJECTS “PROOFS - ” ensuring food security through BCC and secured nutrition

“Civic Engagement Alliance - ” stepping to establishing equality and justice The Civic Engagement Alliance (CEA) program through strategic partnership Dialogue and Dissent aims to ensure that in and by this partnership civil society organizations (CSOs) and civil society at large, both in the ‘global South’ as well as the overall global context, can contribute to decreasing inequality and injustice in societies. Central in the partnership are women in society as (productive) actors in their communities, as well as caretakers and consumers who have specific needs. In Bangladesh, the EUR 1.45 million project has 3 pathways, namely (1) Political space for CSOs, (2) Realizing the right to adequate food and nutrition, and (3) Small-producer empowerment and inclusive markets. The project focus on community capacity enhancement through lobby and advocacy. The program is funded by Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ICCO partnering up with Nijera Kori, CSA for SUN, HELVETAS and TLMIB are working to implement these pathways.

Profitable Opportunities for Food Security (PROOFS) aims to ensure food security, sustainable consumption, and economic empowerment by empowering women and youth. The project is implemented through a combination of proven, innovative messaging, social marketing strategies, and market-led interventions in nutrition, hygiene, and agriculture. The interventions are complemented by an additional Vocational Education Training component targeting adolescent drop-outs and focusing youth empowerment opportunities. At the end line of the project, the HH income increased to BDT 21,121 from BDT 6,646 and the food security at beneficiary level increased to 90% from 66.57%. The EUR 11.25 million project targeted reaching 80,000 Base of the Pyramid (BoP) households located in the Northern and Southern regions of Bangladesh. ICCO has been directly implementing PROOFS as a lead agency in a consortium with IDE, BoP Innovation Centre and Edukans.

“The Salt Solution - ” regenerating saline infused farmland through innovative approach “Truvalu. Enterprises - ” investing to develop Truvalu.enterprises is an impact-investment company to work with pre-growth agri-SMEs in emerging markets like Bangladesh. Through a tailor-made set of investments and business development services, these companies are grown to full business maturity to increase overall social impact. The unique Co-entrepreneurship model strives to improve the economic viability of SMEs through technical assistance, training, and the use of financial services. Working in 10 countries, Truvalu makes equity investments ranging from 50-250 thousand Euros and provides an array of Business Development Services (BDS). In Bangladesh, it has been operating since October 2016 focusing on diverse sectors including dairy, livestock, coconut coir, horticulture. Truvalu.enterprises is a company from ICCO Group B.V in the Netherlands, in strong cooperation with Incluvest B.V.

Worldwide, land available for agriculture is decreasing. One of the reasons is salinization, the increase of the salt concentration in the soil. As a result, crops no longer grow on the land. While the growing world population demands more production of food, the amount of land suitable for agriculture continues to reduce. Salt Farm Texel (SFT) and ICCO Cooperation provide a new solution to this growing problem. Instead of fighting the salt in the soil, the approach targets the salt-affected soil to be able to be used for agriculture again. By introducing natural varieties of salt-tolerant crops, farmers can make the degraded land productive once again. Through this innovative approach, the project provide the sense of food security and sustainable economic empowerment opportunity to the farmers of the south. The EUR 2.1 million project funded by the National Postcode Lottery covers 30,000 households and operates in two divisions Khulna and Barisal. SFT being the technical partner, CODEC is the implementing partner of the project.

FLAGSHIP PROJECTS “SONGO - ” addressing undernutrition through nutrition governance To address child undernutrition in Northern Bangladesh, Sustained Opportunities for Nutrition Governance (SONGO) employs nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions through a lifecycle approach to deliver the right services and messages to the right person at the right time. The project mobilizes and trains local communities as well as public, private and civil-society actors to collectively take the necessary actions towards improved nutrition in the country. The EUR 9 million project is targeted to reach 112,000 household in the char areas of northern Bangladesh. The five year project is funded by European Union (EU).

“GEOPOTATO - ” Geo-data to Control Potato Late Blight in Bangladesh GEOPOTATO project designed and implemented a decision support service (DSS), an innovative technology for optimal control of late blight disease in potato. Information based upon satellite data and using various models are important aspects of the DSS. This continuously measures and forecasts weather using a Local Weather Station (LWS) and biomass growth of potato in relation to the late blight disease cycle. The DSS provides farmers with preventive spray advice when late blight infection is predicted to occur.

Priority is to build capacity and raising awareness within the farmers and other stakeholders on late blight and the DSS through establishment of demo-plots. Subscribed farmers receive SMS alerts during the potato season.

This increases confidence in potato farming as the farmers no longer need to rely on the advice of local retailers or agents. The demo-plots showed 8% higher yields accompanied with a 50% reduction in fungicide use using the GEOPOTATO service in combination with improved fungicides compared to farmer practice. As of now, the project has reached 30,000 farmers with 7,000 farmers who subscribed for the service. ICCO is mobilizing existing local network partners, including Department of Agriculture Extension, private input companies (like Bayer and Syngenta), agrochemical retail shops, and potato farmers through this intervention. The program funded by Wageningen University operates in Munshiganj and Rangpur.

“Emergency Response and Early Recovery - ” in support to fight an emergency Our core of the emergency response is to first provide the initial relief and then followed by different approaches like WASH and psychosocial therapy, capacity building, sustainable livelihood opportunities etc. While supporting the Undocumented Myanmar Nationals (UMN), the affected host community has been the major focus too. Through different interventions and projects ICCO support women from both Rohingya, and the Bangladeshi community hosting them to build up their income generating opportunities so that their reliance on aid is decreased. So far, the early recovery projects have reached 2,510 women and their families. The outreach through WASH infrastructure and food distribution 35,000 people and support is set to continue throughout 2019. ICCO focuses on early recovery phase and has been working in collaboration with Clown without Borders, CCDB and GUk in implementing the projects. These projects have been funded by IOM. DRA, ACT Alliance and KiA.

Want to know more?

ICCO Cooperation Bangladesh Country Office House 16 (3rd floor), Road 30 ,Gulshan 1, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh

+88 02 9861219 info@icco-cooperation.org www.icco-cooperation.org

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ICCO Cooperation has 5 regional offices and also a reprensentative in the USA. See our website to get into contact with our local experts.

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