Working Papers

• WP 1 - Reinventing the wheel? African cooperatives in a liberalized economic environment ( pdf 1.44Mb),
  Fredrick O. Wanyama, Patrick Develtere and Ignace Pollet, CoopAFRICA Working Paper No.1, (2009)
  Cooperative development in Africa can be said to have traversed two main eras: the era of state control and that of liberalization. The first era lasted up to the early 1990s and saw the origin and substantial growth of cooperatives on the continent. During that period, different models of cooperative development were introduced on the continent. We distinguish a unified cooperative model, a social economy model, a social movement model, a producers' model and an indigenous model. But in all cases, cooperatives were engulfed into state politics. However, little is known about the impact of liberalization measures on these models. Our research in 11 African countries reveals that cooperatives in Africa have survived the market forces and continued to grow in number and membership. We see a slow but sure erosion of the unified model and the adoption of a social economy model. Cooperatives in Africa are re-examining their organizational forms and diversifying their activities in response to members' interests and needs.

• WP 2 – Enterprise future lies in cooperation – Entrepreneur Cooperatives in Africa (pdf 1.28Mb),
  Nicole Goler von Ravensburg, CoopAFRICA Working Paper No.2, (2009)
  Entrepreneur Cooperatives are a form of organization that can help private sector businesses, professionals or public bodies to improve their effectiveness through enhancing access to goods and services that otherwise would not have been available. This working paper seeks to analyse the features and benefits of Entrepreneur Cooperatives and how they might be used in Africa. It indicates those features that would allow for replication of the model in Sub-Saharan Africa and provides a number of strategic recommendations on the promotion of Entrepreneur Cooperatives in Africa.
  

• WP 3 – African cooperatives and the financial crisis (pdf 1.04Mb),
  Emma Allen and Sam Maghimbi, CoopAFRICAWorking Paper No.3, (2009)
  The volatility occurring in global financial markets noted from mid 2007 onwards has brought with it serious and long term consequences for the real economy, including escalating foreclosure or downsizing of enterprise leading to increases in unemployment and volatility in commodity markets that entails loss of income and decreasing in household budgets. This paper considers how cooperatives in Sub-Sahara Africa are being affected by the financial crisis. The paper provides an analysis of the triggers of the crisis and considers how sectors of the economy, particularly those concerned with export markets and the financial sector have been affected by the crisis. The article draws focus on cooperative financial institutions and agricultural cooperatives, particularly those concerned with export markets.
  

• WP 5 – Social economy approaches to mainstreaming HIV/AIDS – the case of the Kasojetua Youth Group (pdf 1.25Mb),
  SIAPAC Ltd, CoopAFRICAWorking Paper No.5, (2009)
  
  Members of a Namibian based youth group called ‘the Okondjatu Kasojetua Youth Group came to the realization that there were many unmet needs within their communities, especially regarding HIV, which they could respond to if they organized themselves and worked in a collaborative manner with existing regional constituents and community structures. This case study explores the activities of the Okondjatu Kasojetua Youth Group and how these activities respond to community need for HIV support and educational services. Programmes include a musical band, a choir, a home-base care programme as well as a programme to support orphans and vulnerable children in their education. The study finds that the actions of the youth group are particularly innovative as they mainstream the issue of HIV across all their core activities. This provides the community with many different opportunities for learning about HIV/AIDS, while also providing access to HIV related services that are friendly and accessible to all members of society.
  

• WP 6 – Fair Trade - Fair Futures: The Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union scholarship programme for Orphan and Vulnerable Children made vulnerable by AIDS (pdf 809Kb),
  Faustine K. Bee, CoopAFRICA Working Paper No. 6 with ILO/AIDS, (2009)
  The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a major development challenge for most developing nations, including Tanzania. The epidemic has seen the number of children who are orphans and/or vulnerable increase. In response to this trend many community based initiatives have emerged to address this challenge. This study reports on one of these initiatives - The Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union scholarship programme for Orphan and Vulnerable Children, which is financed through revenues generated from the sale of coffee through Fair Trade. The study finds that the initiative is contributing to the process of human capital development, which is very much needed to increase agricultural productivity in the long term and concludes by identifying some measures that could be taken for strengthening the impact of the initiative.
  

• WP 7 - Cooperatives in Africa: The age of reconstruction – synthesis of a survey in nine African countries (pdf 1.54Mb),
  Ignace Pollet, CoopAFRICA Working Paper No.7, (2009).
  
  This paper aggregates the findings from nine country studies and from recent literature upon African cooperatives. The presence of cooperatives and people covered by them was found to be significant, though erratically documented. The current growth of the movement is largely driven by expansion of Savings and Credit Cooperatives. However, building and maintaining a movement’s structure presents a challenge. Federations often struggle with legitimacy and operate at a mere subsistence level. Cooperative colleges do not sufficiently cater for members and staff of primary cooperatives. The extent to which governments pursue a policy of actively creating an enabling environment for cooperatives proves to be the key factor in reconstructing the cooperative movements. The paper further discusses the significance of cooperatives for other policy domains and the position of cooperatives as a vehicle for development.
  

• WP 8 – Cooperatives and development: a case of citizen economic empowerment in Botswana ,
  Thabo Lucas Seleke and Mogopodi Lekorwe, CoopAFRICA Working Paper No.7, (2009)
  In Botswana cooperatives were established by the government immediately after independence and operated to facilitate the interests of government. The movement experienced phenomenal growth in the first two decades of operation and made substantial contributions to rural development. However, reforms undertaken to mobilize liberalization signaled a new era in cooperative development, leading to stagnant growth, donor flight, decline in membership, poor sales and poor management. Emerging multi-purpose cooperatives encountered stiff competition from large chain stores and marketing livestock cooperatives suffered huge setbacks associated with Foot and Mouth Disease. As a result the cooperative movement in Botswana witnessed tremendous decline and is now in a near state of collapse. The paper highlights the relatively recent emergence savings and credit cooperatives as the only hope for rejuvenating the Botswana cooperative movement.

• WP 10 – Surviving liberalization: the cooperative movement in Kenya (pdf file, 1.44Mb),
  Frederick O. Wanyama, CoopAFRICAWorking Paper No.10, (2009)
  It is over a decade since the liberalization of the cooperative movement in Kenya, which sought to create commercially autonomous member-based cooperatives that would be democratically and professionally managed; self-controlled; and self-reliant business ventures. However, since then very little is documented and communicated about the unfolding status of the movement. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the current trends, structural organization and performance of cooperatives in Kenya. A quick appraisal of the situation reveals that cooperatives have largely survived the market forces and continued to grow in number, membership and income. The market forces have triggered a structural transformation that has seen the fading away of the inefficient cooperatives, including the National Federation and some cooperative unions, as primary cooperatives seek better service provision. Similarly, cooperatives are increasingly diversifying their activities and introducing innovative ventures in order to respond to their members’ needs. The well-adapted cooperatives are subsequently recording better performance than they did in the previous era.
  

• WP 16 – Bearing the brunt of liberalized economy: A performance review of the cooperative movement in Zambia (pdf 1.44Mb),
  CoopAFRICA Working Paper No.10, (2009)
  Currently the contribution of the Zambian cooperative movement to the country’s socio-economic development does not appear to be significant. The cooperative movement is generally weak in its income base and organizational structures. Many cooperatives are either defunct or non-performing. It has been observed that some cooperatives have been formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of government support programmes. The “collapsing” of the cooperative movement in Zambia can be attributed to lack for planning for policy transition on behalf of the government as well as a manifestation of fragile cooperative institutions, whose internal organization was not robust enough to withstand the liberalization reforms. The continuing inertia exhibited by most cooperatives constitutes a serious threat to the development of an autonomous cooperative movement. Of paramount importance is the need for the cooperatives themselves to appreciate the meaning and objectives of the cooperative model of enterprise.