Annual Report
2024-2025
Annual Report
2024-2025

Indonesia

Thanks to the efforts of the AgriCord alliance, of which we are a member, this was UPA DI's first project in Asia.

Project

UPSCALE

A Success Story in Indonesia

This project, aimed at developing sustainable and climate-resilient local businesses and implemented in collaboration with Trias and Bina Desa, ended in December 2024.

Since 2022, the project has been supporting  two cooperatives, Kooperasi Karya Manunggal (KOKAMA) and Himpunan Tani Ngudi Makmur (HTNM), in professionalizing their governance and management methods  and improving their services to members. The organizations have also been supported in structuring their advocacy activities in favor of organic farming.

Much has been achieved in just two years, and the last year of the project has been particularly busy. Activities mean results!

KOKAMA

This women's cooperative has undergone major changes during the project:

  • Members have developed real expertise in mocaf (modified cassava flour) processing, and KOKAMA is now recognized as a mocaf production development and learning center in the Central Java region. The organization has also set up a marketing service for approximately 60 mocaf products.
  • KOKAMA has become a key player in women's empowerment and is called upon to participate in consultation sessions with the local government.
  • The management team has acquired new skills in financial management, project management, and organization, in addition to implementing new transparent and efficient processes.

HTNM

The HTNM cooperative has also achieved interesting results:

  • HTNM has experimented with new collective mechanisms as well as administrative and financial tools, which have led to the establishment of a paddy rice marketing service.
  • Women and young members are now much more active and are encouraged to become more involved. Management and leadership training as well as consultation workshops are organized specifically to meet their needs.
  • The training provided has enabled young people to become better organized and to create a network of young farmers in Java.

Both cooperatives have also seen an increase in membership, including an increase in the number of women and young people.

We are very proud of the results achieved in this first partnership in Indonesia and wish the UPSCALE project's women and men farmers much success in the future! Semoga sukses terus!

UPSCALE was made possible thanks to financial support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Collective Marketing and Women's Leadership

As part of the UPSCALE project, two volunteers from the Agro-Innov Network, Gib, a cattle farmer, and Chantal, a human rights lawyer, visited the KOKAMA cooperative to share their expertise in collective marketing and gender equality.

Gib led practical discussions on marketing strategies and how to add value to cassava through its processing into mocaf flour, while Chantal held workshops on leadership and women's rights in agricultural organizations.

“Before, we didn't really understand collective marketing. Now we have the courage to get started,” said Aisah Sartini, president of KOKAMA.

This voluntary cooperation mandate proved to be rich in mutual learning and demonstrated once again that agricultural solidarity knows no borders.

Haiti
Mali
Martin Caron
President of the Board

The future of agriculture, here and around the world, depends greatly on the decisions we make and the actions we take today. Hence the expression, “The future starts now.”

This projection into the future calls for deep reflection. Are the necessary resources available? Is the sustainability of family farming assured? Are collective marketing systems alive and well? Are structural initiatives continuing to emerge? Does the next generation of farmers have confidence in the future?

Each of these questions is relevant and deserves careful consideration. If the answer to most of them is yes, we must continue along the same path. If the answer is no, we must act, innovate, unite, and collectively change the course of events —preferably sooner rather than later.

This concern for the future is central to the mission of UPA Développement international (UPA DI), which, since 1993, has drawn on Quebec's agricultural values to support the development of a large number of rural communities around the world.  To do this, we pilot environmentally friendly projects that are transferable to future generations and designed to enhance food security and autonomy for populations.

Our local farmers can take pride in all these projects, as well as in the many forms of representation that UPA DI provides to numerous international organizations. Reading this annual report will surely convince you!

Hugo Beauregard-Langelier
Chief Executive Director

While many are content to believe that the future will be the same as the past or trying to revive an idealized version of the past, others are forging ahead, dreaming of a future they are building. For them, the future is not something that simply happens to us, but something shaped by the actions we take.

These dreams to be built and actions to be taken, have been central in the past year at UPA Développement international (UPA DI).  All this leading to the adoption of a new strategic plan, an opportunity to reflect on the mark UPA DI seeks to leave in the evolving landscape of agriculture and international solidarity.

Rooted in its history, engaged in the present, and ambitious towards the future, UPA DI's vision is for those who feed the world and inhabit our agricultural lands to live with dignity from the fruit of their labour. This vision is built on ecological economic growth, strong collective action, and the socio-economic empowerment of women.

But the realization of these aspirations will inevitably depend on young people, the next generation, who will live in a time where the potential for technological and social innovation has never been greater, yet crises have never been more frequent or severe.

If, as they say, history repeats itself, we must trust these young people who will feed us tomorrow to rise to the challenges they will face, just as our ancestors did before us. And if history repeats itself, UPA DI will be by their side to dream, innovate, and build a future driven by collective action, solidarity, equity, social justice, respect, and democracy.

Happy reading!

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