S.P.R.I.N.G

About

S.P.R.I.N.G [ Strengthening CSO’s Participation for a Responsible and Inclusive agriculture Growth through the development of rural cooperatives]

The Project is defined inside the framework of the EU CSOs-LAs Thematic Program and it is coordinated by Society for the Protection and Assistance of Socially Predicted (SPASDI) with the support of the Italian NGO Haliéus.

The SPRING project (Strengthening CSO’s Participation for a Responsible and INclusive agriculture Growth through the development of the rural cooperatives), The Project started from this approach for pursuing the General Objective of enhancing the Iranian CSO’s contribution to governance and development process. Their project will contribute to this general objective through a participative approach having the Specific Objective to “Strengthen the capacity of cooperatives and cooperative associations to promote inclusive and sustainable growth, by supporting the rural producers in the County of Bam”. SPASDI and Helieus shall cooperate to carry out the Project activities adopting a collaborative and participatory approach, ensuring the achievement of the Project impact.

Targeted Groups

The rural producers’ organizations and cooperatives are the targeted group of the Project. At least 20 managers and 20 women active in the agricultural sector will benefit from a capacity-building process directly. At least 300 farmers will participate in the awareness raising events. Moreover, this multi-stakeholder approach will be strengthened through the activation of a Consultation Mechanisms, involves the CSOs and at least 30 public and private stakeholders.

More broadly the producers in the agricultural sector of Bam (about 37,000), with particular attention to youth and women, represent the final beneficiaries of the SPRING Project. The local community of Bam (about 200,000 people) and Kerman province (about 2.5 million people) will also benefit from the Project activities carries out in the area.

Expected Results of the project

ER1.A new mechanism for consultation, coordination and cooperation on the rural development strategy pf the county of Bam, is established among public, private and civil society sectors.

ER2.An innovative development Strategy for the valorization of the agricultural products of the county of Bam is tested, implemented and scaled up through a multi-actor partnership

ER3.A system of permanent professional training boosting the capacity, professionalism and competences of agricultural cooperative managers, rural producers and women, is in place.

Local Narratives

The first priority was trust making, and, the think tank met this priority for local people. The think tank made local people hope that the project will have good achievements." In her explanation of the reasons for the local community's trust, she emphasized the project's executives, "This group has always been honest. It is its honesty and transparency that attracts people. The group emphasized that it will function as a facilitator for the villagers.

Mahdieh Tabasi Nejad, the rural mayor of Bagh Chamak Village

Development occurs when it comes to the smallest population scale. We need to make people think about change so that they themselves ask to move towards development. As a result, we require new thinking, method, and structure. If we claim that there are globally recognized monuments in Bam, it is the best Mazafati dates producer, and that there is a citrus grove in Bam, we should try to use these brands. To this purpose, we must first prepare ourselves. Development requires comprehensive development in order to take place. Infrastructure development does not suffice. Development needs to be homogeneous, and it requires universal thinking. To this end, empowering local communities is one of the biggest measures. If the status quo is properly managed, Bam becomes one of the most developed cities. With this approach, the governor supports such projects, which facilitate the government's efforts in rural development.

Hadi Shahsavarpour, Governor of Bam

The training took place during this visit was very influential to me as a female farmer in Bam. For example, the emphasizing pest control methods and how to increase the productivity of each land by correcting water supply and fertilization practices. I created a biodiversity in my own land by planting alfalfa and orange. Planting them has made the date palm trees breathe in the humid environment, thereby increasing the quality of dates.

Zahra Baran Zadeh, a farmer and a Posht Rud villager

During this visit, we recognized the irrigation under pressure well. I personally did not agree that that this irrigation system could be so beneficial because we used to believe that drip irrigation does not suffice for date palm trees.

Mansoor Jazini Zadeh, a farmer from Amir Abad village

Project site

The city of Bam is located in the province of Kerman and between the geographical latitudes 57 degrees to 43 minutes and 58 degrees to 37 minutes east and latitudes 29 degrees to 28 minutes and 29 degrees and 32 minutes north of the south east of Iran.

The city is about 15 square kilometers, equivalent to 27 percent of the province’s total area. Based on the last division in 2011, the city of Bam has two central parts of Baravat and four rural districts (Homeh, Dehbakri, Kark-Narjij and West Rudak). In terms of population, Bam County has about 7% of the province’s population and ranked 5th in the population of the province. 65% of the population lives in urban areas and 35% in rural areas.

Challenges identified by the date industry in the value chain

– Minority and lack of organization to manage production costs.

– Water shortage and drainage of Qanat water supply, which is the main source of irrigation of Bam dates.

– The lack of consistent and targeted marketing and of the information related to gardeners and packaging units.

– Excessive length of the license award process required for the establishment of a date storage facility, which reduce their capacity at 60-50%.

– The inefficiency of the existing rural cooperatives due to differences in the perceptions, performance and interests of some members.

– Inefficiency in distribution channels and brokers between manufacturers and consumers.

– Problems due to the reduced liquidity for the financing of local producers in the harvesting season and the purchase of primary equipment for the health of the product.

– Non-sanitary and non-standards rules for dates’ production, which reduces the quality and value of the dates. As the growing plague which is causing product losses.

– Lack of legal framework to comply with food health guidelines related to the date crop.

– Lack of access to modern technology in the production and packaging processes.

– Lack of competitive industries for date pastry, handicrafts and transformation, due to mistreatment of the high volume of palm leaves waste.

– Scattered, unorganized and non-government support that does not follow a specific plan and the involvement of the Rural Cooperative Organization.

Work Packages

Work Package 1

Value chain analysis of dates - Bagh Chamak Village- November 2018

Value chain analysis of dates - Posht Rud Village- November 2018

Presenting the results of the group discussions of the think tank members- November 2018

Prioritizing solutions for improving the value chain analysis of dates- March 2019

Identifying the expectations of think tank members- August 2018

Evaluating costs of dates production- January 2019

Presenting solutions for improving the value chain analysis of dates- January 2019

Feasibility Study into the improvement solutions for value chain analysis of dates - March 2019

Work Package 2

Date Vinegar Recipe by female villagers

Interims visits of the instructor to examine date vinegar- December 2018

Date Vinegar Making Workshop- Posht Rud Village- October 2018

Date Vinegar Making Workshop- Amir Abad Village- October 2018

A session to develop date Vinegar branding- March 2019

Teaching the use of date palm fibers in vinegar packaging - March 2019

Mandana Shahamat, Artist and Entrepreneur from Bam

A session to examine date vinegar samples- March 2019

Work Package 3

Modern packaging workshop and its necessity - February 2019

Visiting groves – November and December 2018

Learning soil sampling techniques- January 2019

Members of the rural think tank on a training tour- January 2019

Visiting groves – November and December 2018

Team

Ardeshir Modafe' Behzadi

Local Coordinator / MA in Management

In July 2018, I met a team that introduced me to unknown management skills and experiences. I was pleased to cooperate with the SPRING team in this short period, and I learned that bias is one of the biggest problems of understanding and connecting with others. You can have a lasting effect on others and your life with the right behavior, even without talking.

Mona Kananiyan

Consultant and Specialist in Local Economic Development/ MA in Development

Economy is a gateway to enter the local community. The pure practice of social empowerment is a blind, purposeless, and unsustainable practice. Fortunately, in this project, adding value to the villagers' products was the focus of work from the very beginning, and I hope the project will continue its valuable activities with proper guidance.

Meghdad Takloozadeh

Agricultural Economics Consultant / Ph.D. in Food Industry

My major experience while working with a professional and humble team is summarised as follows: I learned that the key to success in collaborative projects is to find a common language among target audience in the local community and the professionals. I know that believing in people, valuing their role, and working with people instead of working for them will attract their involvement and increase dynamism in a development project.

Goli Ahmadifard

Social Facilitator of the Project/ MA in Leadership and Relationship Management

To work in the local community, you have to be open-minded, open-handed, a good listener, and an honest person with steady steps. In other words, as the saying goes, "You should become all soul until you become deserving of the sweetheart (beloved)". This is what Bam and its citizens deserve. After a year, we have fellows among villagers who think of small but effective works, hoping to create successful stories, encouraging other locals to implement innovative initiatives for rural development.

Javad Mahmoudi-Rad

Project Manager / MA in Sustainable Development Management

My experience involved implementing a participatory approach in the project management; its feature is to establish a logical connection between transparency in individual roles and ambiguity in their duties, such that people showed creativity in doing their activities freely, through which the team participation reached its peak. I appreciate Mona's commitment and earnestness, Goli's steadfastness and unbiased listening, Meghdad's trustworthiness, Ardeshir's morale and decency, and Erfan's hope and loyalty.

Erfan Zamani

Project Photographer / Bachelor of Architecture

During this year, I found out that the greatest advancement occurs when each person changes from within and wants to change his own position.

Partners

This project is co-funded by the European Union.

[The website contents are the sole responsability of SPASDI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.]

[Project S.P.R.I.N.G ref: CSO-LA/2016/382-250]

SPASDI

SPASDI is a non-governmental, non-profit and community-oriented institution founded in 1999. SPASDI’s main purpose is to achieve new successful methods for intervention in times of crisis, for preventing social damage and raising awareness among the various beneficiaries, especially families. SPASDI aims to attract the participation of local authorities to highlight their key-role for ensuring a regulatory environment that is able include, in the local and national agenda social policies and methods that are respectful of human dignity in the private sphere of individuals. SPASDI fully supports more than 100 families with orphans born with AIDS, living all over the country and holds the consultative status from the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Halieus

Haliéus NGO was founded in 2005 as the initiative of experts and representatives of the Fishery department of Legacoop (National League of Co-operatives and Mutuals), sharing as a vision a “world in which communities are able to undertake sustainable development pathways, through a good management and valorization of the natural resources, and the progressive increase of individual capabilities”. To this scope, the Association promotes the cooperative enterprise as a vehicle of empowerment for both individuals and communities and valorizes the best experiences and the know-how of the Italian cooperatives enterprises ensuring a high impact on the communities of the partner countries in a co-operation for development perspective.

Media

Meeting of Haliéus and Legacoop agents with the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jihad and the director of the Central Organization of Rural Cooperatives- March 2018

Meeting of Haliéus and Legacoop agents with the Chairman of the National Association of Iranian Dates- March 2018

Date Vinegar Making Workshop- Amir Abad Village- October 2018

Landscape of Bam city

Chilok is a rope made of date palm leaves as handmade craft

Landscape of Baravat

News

All News

Contribution of Cooperatives to peacebuilding

Project SPRING was included among the case studies analyzed in the Report on the "Contribution of Cooperatives to peacebuilding", issued…

Contact us

No. 2, Jafarzadegan St., North Kargar St., Enghelab Sq. Tehran, Iran

E-mail: spring@spasdi.ir Phone: +98 (21) 6693-5124