Work Plan for the Cuban Independent Agricultural Cooperatives Project for the period October 1, 2000 to June 22, 2001 Cooperative Agreement LAG-A-00-00-00012-00 June 23, 2000 to June 22, 2001 ACDI/VOCA
Washington, D.C. September 22, 2000

 I. INTRODUCTION

This activity was designed and proposed as an information and technology transfer project to assist Cuban private independent farmers to establish successful farming operations and independent agricultural cooperatives. These farmers had established a handful of small cooperatives in the mid-1990s, and the movement began showing positive signs of growth as small farmers saw the benefits of group action such as the sharing of equipment and labor. As a result, 14 such cooperatives had been organized by the summer of 2000.
The leaders of this movement created an apex organization in 1997 to guide and promote this growth. This umbrella, called ANAIC for Alianza Nacional de Agricultores Independientes de Cuba, became the defender of the interests of farmers, be they independent or organized in groups. A principal objective of ANAIC was to demonstrate the superiority of private agriculture and agribusiness - in this case cooperatives, over state-owned or government-dominated organizations and systems.
One aspect of their quest to look stronger than the competition was the need to access technical information and advice from abroad. They established a support group in Florida to act as a bridge to them from sources of external assistance. ACDI/VOCA worked with this support group, Grupo de Apoyo a las Cooperativas Independientes (GACI) de Cuba, in the design of the proposal leading to the approval of this activity.      
However, during the proposal period another purported support group called ANAIC-USA emerged, and in a February 10, 2000 letter to ACDI/VOCA they initiated a dialogue on how they, as the officially-designated ANAIC representative in Florida, would begin work in conjunction with us with the independent farmers on the island. At this point we looked into this situation and learned that indeed a splinter group had emerged and we were looking at a potential problem. Various respected individuals very familiar with the Florida scene recommended we avoid this minefield and work through another Florida group respected by all sides and currently delivering goods and services to groups in Cuba, some of these efforts coming with USAID support.
This attempted shift to a "neutral" collaborating/liaison group in Florida caused a scorched-earth response from GACI in the form of a July 30, 2000 letter from ANAIC leadership stating they had "unanimously decided to suspend all coordination" with ACDI/VOCA due to our stance vis-à-vis the competing groups. Subsequent telephone conversations with GACI representative Diosmel Rodriguez confirmed that any arrangement deviating from the approach outlined in the original proposal to USAID would be unacceptable to ANAIC.             
We revisited the Florida coordination modality with individuals conversant with the ANAIC-USA/GACI situation, and learned that the former group had essentially disintegrated. It appeared, therefore, that we could revert to the original liaison arrangement with GACI if they were amenable. Diosmel Rodriguez was invited to ACDI/VOCA headquarters to discuss a fresh start, and he accepted the invitation to meet here after the Labor Day weekend. He asked Antonio Gayoso, a trusted adviser to his group and a former board member of VOCA, to accompany him. Most of September 6 and part of the 7th were spent on proposed approaches for the project, and little mention was made of the earlier impasse. A work plan outline for the period October 1, 2000 to end of project on June 22, 2001 was developed, and it was agreed that the next step would be to discuss same with David Mutchler in draft, reach agreement on content, and submit the plan to USAID for approval. The discussion with Mr. Mutchler was held as planned, and ACDI/VOCA came away from that meeting with a clear picture of how to proceed. The plan presented below is the result of all the deliberations and tentative agreements by the parties cited here.

II.         TECHNICAL APPROACH   

This project is strictly informational in nature, and it is directed at providing ANAIC leaders and members with up-to-date information on:

• the role, organization, structure, management and operations of independent agricultural cooperatives in free-market economies;
• recommended agronomic, post-harvest and marketing practices relating to commodities produced by ANAIC members, thereby potentially enhancing their direct income from farming operations and demonstrating within Cuba the advantages of private agriculture and agribusiness over state models;
• practical ways to contact and interact with regional and international cooperative organizations that will offer advice, support and future membership options and technical exchange opportunities to ANAIC.

The information will be channeled toward ANAIC leaders and members through three direct approaches, with the understanding that some or all of the modalities could suffer from official interference or suspension on the Cuban end. The project will:

• provide a wide selection of technical publications in Spanish on agricultural cooperatives and farm and post-harvest topics appropriate to the current and planned production and marketing activities of ANAIC members;
• facilitate overseas study visits by ANAIC leaders/members to relevant country and agricultural cooperative situations, most probably in Central American countries but not excluding other options;
• end volunteer specialists in areas such as agricultural cooperative organization and management, rural development, and agricultural production and post-harvest handling to visit ANAIC members in their towns and villages to transmit technical advice directly to small groups (very small groups);
• take advantage of the travel in both directions to effectuate direct contact between ANAIC members and leaders and overseas cooperative members, leaders and organizations to expose the Cuban participants to the advantages (and challenges) of the cooperative model of doing business.

Finally, during the last month of the project, a one-day lessons-learned conference will be presented in Washington for all appropriate interested officials and individuals. At a minimum, ACDI/VOCA and GACI/Florida would report on the project's activities, results, impacts, and its prognosis for independent agriculture in Cuba over the medium term. Conditions permitting, we would also include personal commentary from the president of ANAIC, a trip report from at least one ANAIC member who was sent on a study visit abroad, and from one Latin American volunteer specialist who had provided technical assistance to ANAIC on the island.    

III.       PROJECT ACTIVITIES

A.        Technical Publications

We have already requested a list of the types of Spanish-language publications ANAIC would want. Many of these questions were answered in conversations with GACI, but a formal listing is desired. Bibliographies will be requested from Latin American cooperative organizations that have impressive selections of cooperative organization and management publications. At the top of this list of organizations are cooperative federations in Colombia and Costa Rica. Peace Corps, USAID, USDA, FHIA, ITDG, CATIE, Earth University and Zamorano offer several other sources of relevant publications. Several Central and South American rural development NGOs known to us will be the source of manuals and worksheets for setting up and operating accounting systems and on overall cooperative management.
With GACI's assistance, all of the selected publications will find their way to ANAIC's documentation and training center in the Havana area. The center functions as a technical library and a source of technical advice and training for ANAIC members. The center will also be the beneficiary of project-supplied equipment such as a fax machine, laptop computer and television/VCR. ANAIC will designate what cooperatives in its system should receive the other fax machines and laptops procured under the project. The TV/VCR will enable the center to utilize internally, copy and distribute technical videos provided by the project. All procurement will take place in the U.S. with current approved ACDI/VOCA vendors, thus ensuring optimum quality and favorable prices and strict adherence to USG procurement regulations.
The center will reproduce the sections of project-supplied publications deemed useful for wider distribution to members and other selected groups or individuals. In this way the project can avoid providing dozens or hundreds of copies of certain publications that might only have a chapter or two of information required by ANAIC. At least one copy of every publication provided to ANAIC will be submitted to USAID/W as addenda to the periodic progress reports.
This project component will take place over the three upcoming calendar quarters of the activity, with the lion's share probably distributed by the end of quarter two.