The Council for Education and Development (COPED) - Burundi

The Council for Education and Development (COPED)

brief description

COPED is an ASBL created by Ministerial Order No. 550/242/89 of September 25, 1989. It is an ASBL which is involved in the supervision and promotion of local communities grouped together in associations and groups of socio-economic self-development. It has proven its worth in associations organized in solidarity mutual societies for savings and credit according to the model of the approach commonly known as MUSO.

These are associations that evolve locally in the fields of production, trade or services. COPED intervenes by providing organisational, structural, methodological, functional, technical/technological, financial, coordinating and monitoring and evaluation aid for the beneficiaries.

It thus contributes to the specific objective of improving access to financial and social services through the structuring of communities . COPED facilitates access to knowledge resources for shared self-development. With the knowledge acquired in financial and other educational training, with their own resources and those of support from COPED, the beneficiaries grouped in associations can develop and produce quality goods and services in sufficient quantity for them and for local and global (local and/or global…) markets.

Solidarity Mutualities - MUSO: A mark of COPED

COPED invests a great deal in capacity building and community structuring. Capacity building involves raising the level of education, training especially on financial inclusion, access to production factors/resources, financial education, supervision, capacity building for production and the commercialization of production constitutes the basis of entrepreneurship and women's entrepreneurship in particular. Women in associations or in groups, who are moreover in the majority in the latter, are not left out.

To this end, COPED practices the Mutuelle de Solidarité – MUSO approach, which implements axis 3 of the national gender policy and implements resolution 1325. The Mutuelle de Solidarité (MUSO) program is intended, in fact, to the vulnerable and deprived population of the rural world, which has no access either to the traditional banking system or to the micro-finance system . Its objective is to help beneficiaries improve access to financial and social services through the structuring of communities into mutual societies and/or into groups and cooperatives whose members can in turn help and support each other. develop.

Currently COPED supervises about 500 MUSOs and functional groups in Burundi. Belonging to these groups gives members access to technical and financial information resources allowing them to carry out daily production and trade operations on local and even global markets. According to Ms. MURERWA Claudine, Food Security and Nutrition Program Officer at COPED, access to markets is indeed the bottleneck in women's entrepreneurship. This situation is detrimental both for the associations and for the organizations that support and supervise them because those who produce and have no outlet market are frustrated. He often gives up.

COPED services

COPED offers support services by making available to beneficiaries:

• resources in terms of expertise, infrastructure, coaching,
• by monitoring and evaluating
• by building capacity in different areas such as the agricultural value chain.
• by supervising the beneficiaries to enable them to initiate and undertake innovative and income-generating activities in the areas in which they are engaged.

COPED therefore helps the beneficiaries of its supervision and support by:

• The organization and structuring of MUSOs, groups and cooperatives
• Capacity building and supervision of the various structures
• Financial, technological and organizational education of the different structures
• Support in production inputs, equipment for groups
• Organization of MUSOs around GICs (Common Interest Groups) and around value chains from production to market.
• etc.

Partners and activities of COPED

COPED works with various partners. This is particularly the case of:

• EU, FAO via PRO-ACT Project,
• World Bank via prodema, Italian Episcopal Conference, Caritas Spain, Manos Unidas, Kindermissionswerk/Germany, etc.
• Mother's Union and Christianaid as a partner in the SL-CREGEB project
• Beneficiaries who are trained, mobilized and grouped into associations and groups and/or ^3rd category cooperatives and even connected to microfinance institutions.

etc.

The purpose of the supervision of the members is to bring the beneficiaries to get involved in this process, to accept it and to take entrepreneurial initiatives. The education and structuring process begins with the establishment of MUSO groups for members benefiting from support; then it is followed by training such as those relating to:

• project development,
• credit management,
• savings management etc.
• Access to knowledge and efficient and adequate equipment
• Conflict and risk management.

The products resulting from the activities of the MUSOs and the groups supervised by COPED are mainly sold by the producers themselves. They are sold or traded in the local market and even abroad.

Conditions required to be a beneficiary

Beneficiaries must, however, fulfill their obligations and commitments to donors. In cases where the groups have contracted credits repayable after harvest, technically known as 'warrantage credits', the products are sold by mutual agreement with all the parties involved.

Other organized services: fairs

The cooperatives supported by COPED also hold exhibitions from time to time in well-targeted public places in markets for fairs. COPED organizes events in the form of fairs/exhibitions to show and help producer groups to sell their achievements/productions and contribute to the enhancement of the value chain.

COPED thus contributes to networking by promoting the entities supported at the local, regional and even international level in collaboration with various partners. The exhibition fairs are also designed to facilitate the networking of members with other actors.

Address

COPED is established throughout the country although originally it was the product of the Diocese of Bururi. From 1974 until 2000, COPED's main area of intervention included the Provinces of Bururi, Makamba and Rutana, with the head office being in Bururi. Since 1974, the Council for Education and Development (COPED) is a non-profit Burundian association (ASBL) which works for the sustainable development of the Burundian population. Originally having the status of a diocesan development office, COPED became an ASBL by ministerial ordinance n° 550/242/89 of September 25, 1989 .

contacts:

The headquarters of COPED is located in Bujumbura in Mukaza Commune.
Building House of Works” Av Pierre Ngendandumwe no 32;
Rohero I district; Bujumbura, Burundi,
Tel: +257 22 24 83 76; +257 22 24 26 27, Fax: +257 24 37 56,
BP: 3792 Bujumbura 2 – Burundi Email: Coped@coped.org