Specific Expertise

In capitalising its rich experience gained on basis of the different projects and mandates combined with its in-house capacities, Intercooperation acquired a unique blend of expertise specific to the context of Bangladesh .

Empowering Communities
One of Intercooperation's main strengths is building competencies at the community level to support self-directed development strategies. They can prioritize their own objectives and decide the means in which to pursue them. In this regard, two main processes are being used: 1) Annual Plan of Operations (APOs) and 2) Cluster Platforms. The APO process integrates the CBOs livelihoods strategy analysis and a selection of different micro-projects. Cluster Platforms are made up of groups of 3-6 CBOs. These groups stimulate local dynamics in marketing and service provision as well as increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of community arranged activities.
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Women's Mobilisation and Gender Mainstreaming
Intercooperation promotes gender balance in all its projects and structures. This includes gender audits of staff and program participants, task forces and access to information. They even coach female mentors who act to advocate for other women experiencing gender related problems in their communities. One of the greatest achievements has been the success of organising participatory gender analyses, followed by action plans which address the issues of discrimination against women.
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NGO Capacity Development

Intercooperation works in partnership with NGOs, providing them with various forms of support. Information and technical assistance in addition to linking projects beyond the national sphere has profited the NGOs and enabled them to operate more successfully. Intercooperation has supported more than 35 NGOs since 2000.

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Promotion of Professional Nursery Organisations

Intercooperation has assisted in creating commercially viable nurseries and their professional associations. These associations play a vital role in the production and distribution of quality planting materials (mainly fruit and timber tree saplings). They have expanded from Upazila level to secondary organisations at the district level, promoting new associations. The concept has spread to other regions through partnerships with BRAC and Proshika. Currently, Intercooperation supports a network of 5,700 professional nurseries, under 260 Upazila associations and 45 district unions.

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Working with the Poorest

Reaching the poor and extreme poor is a primary challenge for development organisations. In this regard, Intercooperation has adopted two approaches. The first is to incorporate the poorest in mainstream project activities. This can be achieved when CBOs recognise the problems faced by the poor and take appropriate actions to eliminate them. The second is to work exclusively with the extreme poor. The demands of socially and economically excluded groups (e.g. Adivashi) need to be met with flexible and creative strategies.

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Horticulture and Agroforestry

Intercooperation has developed a process to improve the knowledge and skills of small-scale farmers. The process is based on the Farmers' Field School (FFS) and Participatory Innovations Development (PID) approach. Farmers liaise with government, research organisations and the private sector to gain support and expertise regarding vegetable, fruit and timber tree production. Through this process 78,000 farmers have improved their horticulture and agroforestry management skills resulting in increased production and additional income of 25%.

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Promotion of Private Services

Our experience had demonstrated that only using the Business Development Services (BDS) approach had little impact on the poorest, therefore an alternative was required. IC now provides three types of support in rural areas: (i) developing the skills of local resource farmers to become technical service providers (ii) reinforcing service provision from market actors and (iii) facilitating linkages with Upazila level service providers (usually non-farm activities).

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Market Development and the Value Chain

Intercooperation promotes three approaches to market development. The first is Marketing Extension, which aims to empower villagers to identify and exploit market opportunities. The second is the Value Chain Approach which assists CBOs to scale up existing marketing activities. The third approach is designed to strengthen the Micro and Small Enterprises that have developed from the two previous interventions.

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Research into Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

Promoting medicinal and aromatic plants in Bangladesh has been a pioneering endeavour for Intercooperation. A joint study by Intercooperation and SEDF revealed that there is considerable potential for this sector to contribute to the socio-economic prosperity of Bangladesh . A large number of stakeholders were presented with the findings in 2003, which resulted in the creation of a platform on medicinal plants. Pilot activities in promoting medicinal plants have since been incorporated into ongoing community projects.

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Experience Capitalisation on Approaches, Innovations and Practices

Intercooperation records changes during and after the life of various interventions. Experience capitalisation deals with what outcomes are achieved and how and why these were achieved. This management tool is a valuable process of documentation which captures changes to use in improving projects and strategies.

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Experience in Local Governance

In its local governance programme, IC is working with a total of 100 UP in Sunamganj and Rajshahi. Through a process of self-assessment the UPs evaluate the current state of local governance and based on that develop a ‘local governance improvement plan'. Based on those plans, the project supports the UPs in implementing these. The project also provides co-financing to the UPs.

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Poverty Monitoring

Appropriate tools and methodologies were developed by Intercooperation to monitor poverty. Different stakeholders at district level were guided in constructing this system for the use in their areas. The system links with the national Poverty Reduction Strategy but accounts for local specificities.