Building the capacity of cooperative unions on mechanisation activities and digitalizing the accounting practices-Phase II GIZ Ethiopia has a project named Agricultural Mechanisation and Technology for Smallholder Productivity (AMTP).  The objective of this project is to support smallholders to use a high-quality mechanisation services and technologies and thereby raise their productivity and income levels. In 2019 October month  Agriterra has got a paid assignment from GIZ and Agriterra has been worked under a six-month agreement ( Oct 2019 to end of March 2020) the objective was to create a basis for the professionalisation of mechanisation activities of three Ethiopian Farmers’ Cooperative Unions in the Amhara region namely Damot  Admass Injibara and Merkeb. The following activities have been done:Assessments have been conducted at 3 Unions and selected primary cooperatives with a focus on the mechanisation business case; mainly to identify the gaps and prepare an action plan to professionalize the Unions and primary cooperatives related to mechanisation.Stakeholder awareness creation sessions have been organized at three Unions separately. The objective of these sessions was to align all stakeholders on the mechanisation activities of the Union and to get support on the implementation.Advisory services and coaching support have been provided to the three Unions to make them ready for the current ploughing season and to improve their service delivery to their member farmers. In general  Agriterra has tried a lot to support these Union to organize and operate their mechanisation activities efficiently and profitably  serve the smallholders in the best way possible  and expanding their mechanisation activities in the long run.The three Amhara region Unions still lack the basic knowledge to manage their agri mechanization services. They are developing their skills and knowledge to run the tractors efficiently. The basic facilities for maintenance and repair are not yet established. Thus  these Unions still require advice and support to develop their services. In addition  rendering mechanization services is a business with its own organization  own business model with costs and income  profit or loss. Thus  the Union should put in place the right computerized accounting system for registering the costs related to mechanization. Agriterra has good experience in helping Unions to digitalize their financial management system and to support the Union in developing different cost centers for different cost items and see the profitability of different business units  like the mechanization.Besides the Unions in Amhara  GIZ is also working with Sekomendo and Oda Roba Unions in the Oromia region. These Unions are also working on agri mechanisation. There is a need from the Unions to also support them on developing their mechanization services. Agriterra will continue supporting the three Amhara region Union and start with the 2 Oromia region Unions. Thus  both parties agreed to collaboratively work on phase II project. This project will end by August 31  2021. The goal of the project is to create a basis for the professionalization of the mechanization activities of the five Unions. More specifically  for the 3 Unions in Amhara region  follow-up and advisory support will be provided  for the Unions in the Oromia region  an assessment will be done on Union and primary cooperative level to identify the gaps. This activity will be followed by an awareness creation session to align all relevant stakeholders and to share the identified gaps. The next step is to start with improving the planning between the Unions and their primary cooperatives through training on business planning. Furthermore  support to smallholders (e.g. PCs  model farmers) will be provided to keep records  and later data analysis will be made to reveal the productivity and profitability implications of mechanization technologies. The scope of the project will be the 3 Unions in Amhara: Merkeb  Damot  and Admas Injibara and their selected primary cooperatives. As well as the 3 unions in the Oromia region: Sekomendo and Oda Roba and their selected primary cooperatives  and Hetosa Union. The project plan has the following main elements:1. Follow-up on the 3 unions in the Amhara region(Damot  Admas and Merkeb)Business planning supportSupporting in collecting data to validate assumptions and calculations used for the business plans.Supporting the Unions to engage the key stakeholders to improve the enabling environment for the development of the mechanization services.Provide mechanization services management trainingCoaching and supporting the union on SAGE 50 software implementation2. Data on the farmers levelSupport smallholders (e.g. PCs  model farmers) to keep records.Analyze data to reveal the productivity and profitability implications of mechanization technologies.3. Supporting 2 unions in Oromia regions( sekomendo and Oda Roba)Assessment at 2 Unions + selected PCs.Organize multi-stakeholder awareness workshops.Business planning supportSage 50 accounting training and implementation4. SAGE 50 training and implementation to Hetosa Union5. Organizing evaluation workshopsTwo evaluation workshops will be organized; one for the Amhara region and one for the Oromia region.