Towards increasing membership and becoming a financially sustainable organization

The Ethiopian Poultry Producers and Processors Association (EPPPA) is a membership-based association established in 2010 initially by 10 volunteer poultry producers in Bishoftu town. Currently, its memberbase increased to 45 Ethiopian poultry farmers, ranging from small to big enterprises. EPPPA is a beginning association lacking a good service portfolio and institutional capacity to serve the Ethiopian Poultry sub-sector in general and its members in particular. Though the importance of the association is acknowledged by its members, non-members, board, government and other stakeholders, EPPPA needs advisory and financial supports to fully grow in order to perform its roles and professionally represent the poultry producers and other related sector actors in Ethiopia. In order to professionalize EPPPA, Agriterra in partnership with Agribusiness Support Facility (ABSF) in 2014 developed a funded Action Plan towards strengthening and establishing the management function of the association through subsidizing management staff, setting up a governance structure, technical backstopping to help the association analyze and understand the poultry sub-sector, development of 3 year strategic plan, and various trainings and exchange visits. EPPPA also in 2015 worked with Agriterra during which its significantly increased its lobby activities and changed the organization from focussing only on poultry producers to both producers and processors. The 2016 Action Plan will mainly focus on 1) increasing the membership base of small-scale poultry producers through actively approaching these potential new members and through putting extra effort on organizing activities or lobby results that provide significant benefits to the members, 2) identifying new sustainable (paid) services to its members, and 3) sustaining the financial operations of the association through assistance in accessing various other funds and membership fees.