Under an ILO project held by the Employers' Specialist in the Regional Office of the Arab States, My.Coop modules were adapted in June 2017 to the Lebanese context using as a basis the outputs of a qualitative agro-food cooperatives survey of 150 formally registered agro-food cooperatives in Lebanon.

In October 2017 ILO supported the National Federation of Lebanese Cooperatives by training 16 trainers on My.Coop methods and contents. Following this initial training, in November and December 2017, four of the sixteen trainers actively participated in the regional roll-out of My.Coop and travelled to the regions of Baalback, Begaa; Tyr, South; and Zgharta, North to pilot the adapted My.Coop package and to support cooperatives to improve their management practices.

In both Baalbak and Tyr participation was high with cooperative attendance exceeding the initial target of 12, while in Zgharta eight cooperatives were trained. In general those cooperatives that participated in the trainings were quite well-aware of the cooperative principles and values, and had adequate knowledge on the institutional frameworks concerning them. The trainings were particularly useful for cooperatives in introducing the concept of advocacy and common action to push for governance changes within them.

Cooperatives in the Beqaa and the South have a relatively good knowledge regarding marketing tools and plans, and using My.Coop pilot training allowed to further improve this knowledge and operationalize it through the provision of marketing planning tools. Cooperatives in the North were less knowledgeable about marketing tools, and for them the training helped in providing basic marketing elements. The training also helped cooperatives in increasing their knowledge on the importance and dynamics of value chains.

Overall, the cooperative movement in Lebanon is still relatively weak, particularly in the North, and cooperatives are requesting for more training and coaching opportunities made available for them. My.Coop can be one useful tool in achieving improved performance, and as it has now been adapted to Lebanese context, there are more opportunities for using it among cooperatives across the country.

For more information on the My.Coop and its adaptation, see the Guide for Potential Users.