I am very familiar with the cooperative development initiative, the CDI, as someone who has submitted projects. We obtained funding to do feasibility studies, prepare business plans or provide support. As well, co-operatives that had obtained CDI funding used to meet annually at a forum where best practices and knowledge were shared. I led and facilitated those meetings. The initiative meant that, instead of development taking five or six years, it might only take a few months with no need for additional funding because people would support each other. The money from the CDI was essential.
In my brief, I even suggested reinstating a similar program. What counted most was not the huge sums of money, but rather the fact that money arrived at exactly the right time for projects to be developed. People have to do the work, they have to identify the need in the communities they want to address, they must organize, they must create a structure. They must also invest in their projects. Sometimes, the lack of one little skill or an unfamiliarity with one little practice can result in a project being abandoned after it has started. The CDI provided a little start-up capital to get a project going. It also allowed people who were starting and managing their projects to acquire the necessary skills that they could then apply.
The CDI was really an important program. I can tell you that less development is taking place today because there is less capital to help businesses get going.