2011-2015: ABCO, in cooperation with the Swiss NGO HEKS EPER, carried out the project of “Market Opportunities For Livelihood Improvement” (MOLI in Kakheti) funded by Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC).   Project‘s goal included facilitation to the rural development and poverty reduction in Georgia and particularly in Kakheti region through providing support to local Livestock and Dairy production within its target 5 municipalities (Sagarejo, Sighnaghi, Dedoplistskaro, Lagodekhi, Kvareli) of the region. Proceeding from the above goal, the project’s activities  aimed at increasing the income generation capacities of milk and meat producer farmers through improvements in the livestock market system, by supporting the  capacity building of local agricultural producers and service providers (dairy enterprises, slaughterhouses, input suppliers, feed-mills, veterinary service providers, etc.) as project’s partners, in order to make their products and services more easily accessible and affordable to local Livestock and Dairy farmers, provide improve cooperation and services between the milk supplier farmers and dairy enterprises, ensure the improved  introduction and observation of food safety standard, animal feed norms and methods among livestock farmers, dairy producers and slaughterhouses and other relevant activities. For its project interventions, MOLI project applied the M4P (market for the Poor) methodology approach. In scope of the “MOLI in Kakheti” project ABCO was engaged in activities that provided for:   Implementation of surveys within the local livestock farming/dairy production sector  to identify the level of availability/accessibility of relevant services for local farmers; -Identification and selection of target groups of beneficiary enterprises for the project; Development and delivery of relevant capacity building training programs, provision of  individual consultancy and business skills coaching to project’s partner enterprises; preparation of business plans for these businesses and their support in developing market linkages, etc;  Specifically  ABCO implemented the following scope of works: -Conducted 2 special surveys (preliminary baseline and post-activity) among the target farmer population (subsistence and semi-subsistence farmer households with focus on livestock farming) in the project’s 5 target municipalities, at the inception and finalizing phases of the project to identify currently existing situation within the local livestock/dairy production sector and  to evaluate the impact of the project’s completed activities; -Participated in identification and selection of the target beneficiaries/project’s partner agricultural service provider enterprises; -Developed and delivered the series of Training Programs (total 25 sets of training courses were conducted) covering such areas as: Business Plan Preparation, Farmer Organizations, Tax Accounting  and Cost Accounting, Agricultural Extension, Gender in Agriculture for the project’s beneficiaries; -Developed and delivered a special Training Program for  the project’s partner Cheese Production Enterprises, on topics covering  the methodology and implementation of marketing research on cheese products, development of marketing strategy and marketing plans, methods and techniques for advertising, promotion, presentation and sales of cheese products and the other relevant aspects of marketing and sale of cheese products. -Developed a “Milk and Dairy/Cheese Market Study” which focused on identifying market trends for milk and cheese products in Georgia and particularly in Kakheti region and on evaluating current volume and seasonality of local milk production, demand for raw milk and its consumption trends existing among large dairy producers, market share of powdered milk products in the country, relative cost structures of cheese products made of powder milk and raw milk, etc; -Implemented a “Survey of Inputs Suppliers for Livestock Production and Input Suppliers for Crop Production in Tbilisi having network in rural areas (focusing on Kakheti region). -Developed total number of 48 Business Plans for the project’s partner /beneficiary local enterprises; -Delivered individual Consultations and Business Skills Coaching to more than 50 project’s partner enterprises–agriculture service providers/suppliers/processors (dairy producers. Slaughterhouses, mixed-feed producers, input suppliers, etc.; -Assisted project’s partner enterprises in identification of production needs and selection of necessary equipment; -Provided support to the project’s beneficiary enterprises in development of Market Linkages for distribution of their products (more...);