New opportunities for small producers
The liberalisation of world trade has created new opportunities for small producers in developing countries. They can proactively and dynamically make use of the market possibilities arising from the increased demand for e.g. organic or fair trade products. Also the increased demand for transparency and traceability and for ethically responsible labour conditions offers opportunities.
Many producer organisations develop organically, through trial and error creating local structures that are owned by the producers themselves. However, small producers often face difficulties to survive on the world market. They lack the capacity, knowledge, influence, contact or appropriate infrastructure to compete. For such producer organisations, to strengthen their capacities and find suitable ways to move forward is the major challenge on the road to sustainable and profitable production for the world market.
A model to characterise and producer organisations
There are various ways to achieve capacity building. Several scientific models have been developed that can be applied to describe, to analyze and to diagnose organisations. They may be useful when deciding which aspect to address in the professional development of a producer organisation.
The Integrated Organisational Model (IOM) stood at the basis of this website. Download the explanatory text on the IOM (English) or the related ‘MIDCA Model.
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