1 / 50

Co-operatives in Africa: where do we come from

Co-operatives in Africa: where do we come from. Develtere P. & Pollet I. HIVA - KU Leuven. ILO Research Conference, Addis Abeba, 13-15 March 2006. Who are we?. Pollet Ignace and Develtere Patrick, University of Leuven, Belgium Teigist Lemma, consultant, Ethiopia

Sharon_Dale
Download Presentation

Co-operatives in Africa: where do we come from

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Co-operatives in Africa: where do we come from Develtere P. & Pollet I. HIVA - KU Leuven ILO Research Conference, Addis Abeba, 13-15 March 2006

  2. Who are we? • Pollet Ignace and Develtere Patrick, University of Leuven, Belgium • Teigist Lemma, consultant, Ethiopia • Fredrik Wanyama, Univ. Maseno, Kenya • Anthony Tsekpo, Univ. of Ghana • Herment Mrama, consultant, Uganda • Sanda Maman Sani, consultant, Niger HIVA - KU Leuven

  3. Who are we? • Joao G. Mendonça, consultant, Cabo Verde • Mohamed A. Aal, Cairo University, Egypt • Anselm Enete, Univ. of Nigeria • Jan Theron, Univ.Cape Town, South Africa • Jean D. Nyamwasa, consultant, Rwanda • Abdou Ndao, Institut Fondamental d’Afrique noire, Senegal HIVA - KU Leuven

  4. Overview • Traditions • Literature – hypotheses • 15 country-rapid survey HIVA - KU Leuven

  5. Why look at co-operative traditions? • The co-operative sector was introduced by the colonial authorities – not “home grown” • Path dependency: legacy • Export crops • Co-operative culture • Co-operative structures and networks • Position in society and economy…. • Has been modified to some extent HIVA - KU Leuven

  6. The five traditions • Unified model tradition • Social economy tradition • Social movement tradition • Producers’ tradition • “other: South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia – sui generis” HIVA - KU Leuven

  7. The kick-off • British colonies: • Protest against middlemen • Cooperative legislation: “constructive cooperativism” (1940s) • French colonies: • Sociétés indigènes de prévoyance (1910) HIVA - KU Leuven

  8. The kick-off • Belgian colonies • Co-operatives for colonists • Indigenous co-operatives from 1921 • “public co-operatives” • Portuguese colonies • Corporatist state: rural extension work • Big export-oriented farmers HIVA - KU Leuven

  9. The systems • British: • Ordinances, Acts,…one size fit all • Registrar: register, supervise, audit, arbitrate, dissolve • Not registered “protest co-operatives” (e.g. Uganda African Farmers’ Union) • Later: national unions • French: • French “liberal” legislation • Different departments – animation rurale • Resistance to national unions HIVA - KU Leuven

  10. The systems • Belgian • Non-competitive • Paternalist: economic + education • State interventionist: e.g. prices • NGO’s en trade unions • Portuguese • Metropolitan legislation • Restrictive and state interventionism HIVA - KU Leuven

  11. Post-colonial evolutions • populist-nationalist strategies: • same pattern • more state intervention • integrated in single/dominant party system • new co-operative models • co-operatives without co-operators • co-operatives in patron-client system HIVA - KU Leuven

  12. Effects: legislation • Until 1990s: laws inspired by “tradition” • Unified model: accent on registration/control • Social Economy model: liberal & diverse • Social Movement model: liberal & diverse • Producers’ model: agricultural co-operatives • in addition: integration in national development strategy HIVA - KU Leuven

  13. Effects: co-operative support agencies • Unified model: • Registrar or Commissioner • Co-operative Colleges • Social economy model: • Different ministries • INADES,... • Movement: NGO (e.g. Iwacu in Rwanda) • Portuguese: Ministry of Agriculture HIVA - KU Leuven

  14. Effects: co-operative networks • Unified Model: • Federations • Apex bodies • International Co-operative Alliance • Social Economy Model: • Federations or Unions • Francophonie HIVA - KU Leuven

  15. Effects: co-operative networks • Social Movement Model: • trade unions and farmers’ unions • NGO’s en associations • Portuguese: • national unions of farmers • Organizaçao cooperativista dos Povos de Lingua Portuguesas HIVA - KU Leuven

  16. Effects: international support • Unified model: ICA, WOCCU,..anglophone world • Social Economy model: francophone world • Social Movement model: NGOs, unions • Producers’ model: CoopAfrica, INSCOOP HIVA - KU Leuven

  17. Literature - hypotheses • Earlier findings: • UNRISD (1969-71) • Alien models: compulsion • Weak performance & limited impact • Perpetuation of dependencies HIVA - KU Leuven

  18. Literature - hypotheses • Top-down approach (Oakley & Marsden, 1984) • Engineered economic and social change (Cernea, 1985) – methodology of intervention (Verhagen, 1986) • Donors weak in institution building (WB, 1986) • Clientelism and patronage (Holmén, 1990) • Cooperative sector – no cooperative movement (Develtere, 1994) HIVA - KU Leuven

  19. Literature - hypotheses • Porvali (1993) – Hussi (1994) • Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda • Significant support, short term project objectives • No viable, self-managed organisations • Inappropriate policy framework • Coops as extension of govt ànd projects HIVA - KU Leuven

  20. Policy Conclusions Worldbank (1993) • Reduce role of government agencies • Simplify legal requirements • Cooops must be free to determine their own lines • Sufficient returns for trading • Not subject to imposed price controls • Adequate share capital contributions • Movement-based support organisations HIVA - KU Leuven

  21. Hypothesis: market environment • liberalisation = increased competition, efficiency & effectiveness • But also: production increase & higher prices for farmers • Coops bring institutional framework for market relations HIVA - KU Leuven

  22. Hypotheses: members • Members motivation = access to money, decent income (not: training, policy debate) • Participation of women is weak – serves to legitimatise and perpetuate inequalities • Low presence (of credit coops) in rural areas • Members profile = social stratification outside the coops • Cost of participation too high for bottom-poor HIVA - KU Leuven

  23. Hypotheses: employment • Primarily employment supportive role • Workers’ coops have as much difficulty to survive as SME • Workers coops work if (a) ideological support and (b) market orientation HIVA - KU Leuven

  24. Hypotheses: poverty reduction • Coops have welfare-enhancing capability for small traders and producers because of (a) market information; (b) reduction of transaction costs; (c) pooling risks, (d) more bargaining power • Coops can shorten the marketing chain and eliminate inefficiencies: income gains! HIVA - KU Leuven

  25. Hypothesis: social protection • High demand for emergency loans • Coop and mutual insurance = strong positive effect on health service consumption HIVA - KU Leuven

  26. Rapid Survey • 15 countries: • Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Moçambique, Tanzania • Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Cabo Verde HIVA - KU Leuven

  27. Legislation • Changed in the 1990s • Except: Egypt, Moçambique, Senegal, South Africa • Credit unions in coop legislation in english-speaking countries HIVA - KU Leuven

  28. Government involvement • Personnel assigned: 10 to 900 • Functions: • Information gathering • Promotion • Registration • Audit and control • Technical assistance and training HIVA - KU Leuven

  29. Number of coops • > 50.000: Nigeria • > 10.000: Egypt, Kenya, Burkina • 5.000 – 10.000: Eth., Uganda, Tanzania • 1.000 – 5.000: Sen. , Niger, Zimbabwe • < 1.000: Madagascar • ?: Moçambique, South Africa HIVA - KU Leuven

  30. Number of coops • Not all are ‘active’ • Not all are part of federation or apex • Pre-coops? • Self-help groups? • Same for members! HIVA - KU Leuven

  31. From evidence to support… • Evidence: WHAT? • Success: WHEN? • Support: HOW? HIVA - KU Leuven

  32. Evidence: WHAT? • From cooperative sector to social economy?: • Liberalisation of laws: catering for coops and other types of associations • Also from social economy to coop? • Cf. task force in Rwanda • Cf. new law in Ghana caters for farmers’ groups • Coop advantage: Liability – raising money – scope & growth HIVA - KU Leuven

  33. WHAT? • Insurance coops • Capitalisation problem: Uganda • ‘old’ insurance coop in South Africa • Insurance coops as commissioners • CIC Kenya (owned by coops) HIVA - KU Leuven

  34. WHAT? • The counting question! • Individuals or households? Depends on system of production • Also burial societies? Edir? HIVA - KU Leuven

  35. WHAT? • Proliferation of primary societies – deficient apexes • Aid-lobbying coops (Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda)? opportunistic • Weak primaries split – sustain weak federations • Shift from primary agric. coops to sacco’s: imitationeffect • No organic link with federations • Deficient apexes: not new phenomenon – no democratic system of formation of sec./tert. coops • Federations: union + coop functions (Rwanda) HIVA - KU Leuven

  36. WHAT? • Dormancy: reasons • Criteria: not holding annual meetings, annual audits • Some never started • Ownership problem – participation deficit • Leadership & Management problems • Viability problems (e.g. privatisation, globalisation) HIVA - KU Leuven

  37. Success: WHEN and WHY? • Egypt: • Village Market Coop • Coop for workers • Nigeria: • University Women Coop • Uzondu coop • Niger: Mooriben • Ghana: Kuapa Kokoo • Senegal: housing coop HIVA - KU Leuven

  38. Success: WHEN and WHY • Cabo Verde: Unicoop Fogo • Kenya: Dairy Coop • Ethiopia: Oromia Coffee coop • Rwanda: Banques Populaires • Uganda: • Teachers sacco • Nucafe • South Africa: Rooibos Coop HIVA - KU Leuven

  39. Key-factors of success • Group identity – ‘associative life’ • Independent leadership • Well-articulated needs (individual and collective) • Vision: result orientation, realise/accept that environment has changed • Organisational model (coop, trust, GIE,..) HIVA - KU Leuven

  40. Social elements • Ownership (no external patronage) • Local embeddedness – social cohesion • Improvements in genderrelations reflected in coops • Significant social benefits for members HIVA - KU Leuven

  41. Governance elements • Internal accountability • Organic links between different tiers of organisation • Transparency • Democratic governance • Education and training • Professional & qualified management staff HIVA - KU Leuven

  42. Economic elements • Commodity – Value - Marketing chain • Market/demand oriented • Mixture: production, marketing, credit, insurance,… • Business-support to members • Reward of quality • Growth oriented (asset base, business turnover, profit,..) • Prof. staff acquisition and retention policies • Significant financial/economic benefits for members HIVA - KU Leuven

  43. External relations • Co-operation with other coops • co-operative/collaborative relationship with external partners (horizontal) • Linkages with research centres, ngo’s, fair trade organisations,.. HIVA - KU Leuven

  44. Hindrances to overcome • Infrastructure • Loan recovery • Inadequate visibility of the sector as a whole • Gender • Lack of business training of members • Tax law • How to live with competition • “political/representational deficit” of the sector HIVA - KU Leuven

  45. Support: HOW? • Support to coops: narrow, broad, social economy? • What role for secondary and tertiary structures? • Quality or expansion? • A knowledge-generation, acquisition, sharing programme or more? • The ‘facility’ as (a) yet another dev. partner or (b) coalition of dev. partners or (c) joint undertaking? HIVA - KU Leuven

  46. The papers – the book – the net • Most papers are done • Except: • Paper Senegal – 31th march • Case study Nigeria • Small revisions possible: 31th march • To be verified by each: • Bibliography • Sources (when tables) • Electronic version of case-studies (full text) HIVA - KU Leuven

  47. Editing process • Translation french – english • HIVA does Editing = shorten, subtitles, amendments,… • Researchers do last reading of their text (approval) HIVA - KU Leuven

  48. The book • “Co-operating out of poverty – Renaissance of the African co-operative movement” • Ch. 1: The co-operative traditions • Ch. 2: The 1990s • Ch. 3: 11 country-reports • Ch. 4: Analysis • Ch. 5: Conclusions HIVA - KU Leuven

  49. The book • Publisher: ILO or… • 1000+ copies • End of the year • Launching HIVA - KU Leuven

  50. The net • ICA Research Committee • Codesria • Scientific journals • The Cooperative Facility for Africa HIVA - KU Leuven

More Related