Geneva (ILO on line) - The Cooperative Facility for Africa - CoopAfrica - is an ILO technical cooperation programme for the promotion and development of cooperatives in Africa. CoopAfrica is part of the larger ILO Cooperative Programme (EMP/COOP) and is based in the ILO Office in Dar-es-Salaam. The programme is a direct contribution to the promotion of the decent work agenda, covering currently nine countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. It pursues the overarching goal of mobilizing the cooperative self-help mechanisms and to improve their governance, efficiency and performance in order to strengthen their capacity to create jobs, access markets, generate income, reduce poverty, provide social protection and give people a voice and representation in society. The programme is mainly funded by DFID and receives financial support from SIDA, AGFUND and the Government of Finland.

The CoopAfrica website - www.ilo.org/coopafrica - provides a description of the programme, its partners, and areas of work as well as information on the countries covered. It also provides references to modalities of financing, publication and tools, news and events from the cooperative movement in Africa, press releases and useful links. The website is dedicated to co-operators in Africa and elsewhere as well as the public at large.