The Guidelines Fot Strenghtening Agricultural Cooperatives In The Asean Region

The majority of the populations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are small and consists of poverty farmers. The governments of almost all countries in the region employ agricultural cooperatives as a tool to tackle poverty and the problems of farmers. However, many cooperatives in this region have similar problems of how to manage their business in response to members’ needs and environmental changes. Data and insightful information were drawn from a series of training courses and workshops during 2013-2015. The main objective of this paper is to present the guidelines for enhance cooperatives organizational capability. The series of learning intervention programs, study visits in both Thailand and Germany, strategic planning, business plan formulation, plan implementation, monitoring and supporting as well lesson learned summarization, have been integrated for building up organizational capability. The outcomes are emerging of new business and services of four pilot cooperatives in Vietnam. The model for strengthening Vietnam’s cooperatives can be applied to other countries in the ASEAN region.