Amman, July 28 (Petra) – The Cooperative Development Fund is set to
begin financing operations early next year after the government
allocated JD3 million over three years to support its launch, Jordan
Cooperative Corporation (JCC) Director General Abdul Fattah Shalabi
said Tuesday.

In an interview with the Jordan News Agency (Petra), Shalabi said the
fund is in the final stages of completing its administrative and
organizational procedures. Established under the 2026 Administrative
Organization Bylaw recently approved by the Cabinet, the fund will
serve as a financing arm to strengthen cooperatives and support
development and productive projects across the Kingdom.

He said the fund is also designed to attract financial support from
local and international donors through strategic partnerships, in
line with the Economic Modernization Vision, royal directives and the
public sector modernization roadmap.

Shalabi said financing programs will be based on local development
priorities and the needs of the cooperative sector. Grants and loans
will be awarded according to transparent criteria, including project
feasibility, management and repayment capacity, and expected
development impact. Projects receiving funding will remain subject to
oversight under the Cooperatives Law No. 13 of 2025.

He added that the corporation will ensure equitable distribution of
funding among governorates based on development needs, the number of
cooperatives and available investment opportunities, while providing
technical assistance and follow-up to enhance the sustainability of
funded projects.

Shalabi said regulations governing the fund’s capital management and
banking operations are being finalized to ensure transparency,
accountability and sound governance in line with approved legislation
and international best practices.

He also announced that the Cooperative Development Institute, whose
headquarters has been completed at the corporation’s premises, is
expected to begin operations once the remaining administrative
preparations are finalized.

The institute will provide internationally accredited training
programs, prepare feasibility studies, conduct research and
statistical analysis, automate the corporation’s services and
establish a national database for the cooperative sector to support
policymaking and sector development.

Shalabi said the corporation has partnered with the International
Labor Organization (ILO) to deliver internationally accredited
training programs tailored to the Jordanian context, including “Think
and Start Cooperatively,” “Think.COOP and Start.COOP,” and the
Agricultural Cooperative Management program.

He noted that 24 trainers from the corporation and partner
institutions completed training this month under the “Think and Start
Cooperatively” program. All training programs are offered free of
charge, with their impact to be evaluated through field applications
and performance indicators.

The Cabinet-approved bylaw also established the Cooperative
Development Institute to strengthen the capacities of cooperatives,
their members and JCC staff through ILO-accredited training programs,
while supporting the preparation of feasibility studies and sector
statistics.

//Petra// AJ