Ecuador: Private Sector Cooperatives and Integrated Rural Development

摘要

After more than a decade of assistance to the cooperative movement, AID initiated a modest Improved Rural Life (IRL) component as an add-on to its cooperative institution development grant. The addition of IRL to ongoing agricultural production activities led to what could be considered an integrated rural development project. AID chose to evaluate this series of agricultural cooperative development activities as one approach to integrated rural development. The evaluation team concluded, that the IRL activities did not transform AID assistance to cooperatives into an integrated rural development project. Nonetheless, the team found ample evidence of cooperative communities seeking multisectoral services.