We developed an integrated organizational assessment model (MIDCA) which we apply to producer organisations, to assess their capacity on specific levels. The outcome of the MIDCA provides insight into the producer organisations’ stronger and weaker points.

Producer organisations are assessed on:

• Production (membership base, product and services),
• Internal organisation (staff capacity, capital and finance, long term perspective),
• Market (sales and relationships),
• Sustainability (environmental and social),
• Resilience (soil and water, biodiversity and diversification, energy and climate).

The MIDCA can be applied in two different situations:

• As an assessment of the producer organisation at the start of a project and is conducted every year to understand the progress of the organisation.
• Upon request to identify the main challenges within a struggling producer organisation to make an emergency plan.

Progreso supports producer organizations with tailor-made projects.

There are several conditions for starting a project with Progreso:

• We work with producer organizations, cooperatives, or associations. We do not work with individual farmers.
• The producer organization focuses on coffee and/or cocoa as the main product.
• The producer organization is owned by smallholder producers and is willing to work according to fair and sustainable trade principles.
• The producer organization has the intention to grow in terms of volume and revenue, to diversify their markets, improving the quality of their products, create added value for their members, and become an economically sustainable business.

Within the projects, Progreso works together with producer organisations on five components:

• Access to finance: to enhance financial management and secure credit readiness.
• Capacity building: to strengthen the agronomic knowledge within the organisation, the internal management skills, and to guide the professionalization of the internal administration.
• Access to markets: to ensure access to the best fitting buyer, depending on quality differentiation. We search for collaboration with reliable off-takers who are willing to add more value to the farmer.
• Diversification: to develop sustainable businesses with multiple income sources.
• Sustainability: to increase the resilience of the producer organization to environmental impact and climate change.

The specific focus of the project can be on one or more components depending on the needs of the producer organization. We make sure to think along with producer organizations and to involve all partners of the supply chain in order to respond to new market developments, stakeholders’ interests, and environmental changes.

If you think your producer organization can comply with the above conditions and could benefit from support on the components mentioned, please contact us and provide us with the following information:

• describe your producer organization,
• identify what your main challenges are,
• highlight your specific needs for assistance.