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Inclusive Development and Co-operatives

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Abstract

This article considers the proposition made by many international organisations that co-operatives promote inclusive development. The article examines this proposition through an analysis of field data from two large co-operative unions and their wider contextual setting in Malawi. Positing that low-income and disadvantaged people are adversely included rather than excluded from development, the article analyses the potential of, and the challenges facing, co-operatives in improving conditions for their members. The analysis focusses on the dimensions of economic control, voice and agency, and shows that co-operatives can promote inclusion. However, co-operatives are inevitably influenced by the wider context in which they are constituted and are therefore part of an ongoing, and often contradictory, process of change. These dynamics need to be understood and addressed by members, co-operative leaders and policy-makers alike, as well as international organisations supporting co-operative development.

Resume

Cet article se concentre sur l’argument avancé par de nombreuses organisations internationales selon lequel les coopératives favorisent un développement inclusif. L’article examine cet argument à la lumière d’une analyse des données de terrain issues de deux grandes coopératives et de leur environnement au Malawi. L’article avance que les personnes à faible revenu et défavorisées sont incluses de façon négative, plutôt qu’exclues du développement, et il analyse le potentiel et les défis représentés par les coopératives pour améliorer les conditions de leurs membres. L’analyse porte sur les dimensions du contrôle économique, sur la capacité à se faire entendre et à faire des choix, et montre que les coopératives peuvent promouvoir l’inclusion. Cependant, les coopératives sont inévitablement influencées par l’environnement dans lequel elles évoluent et font donc partie d’un processus de changement perpétuel et souvent contradictoire. Ces dynamiques doivent être comprises et prises en compte par les membres, les dirigeants de coopératives et les décideurs, ainsi que par les organisations internationales qui soutiennent le développement de coopératives.

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Notes

  1. See, for example, the Inclusive Development Index (IDI) of the World Economic Forum’s System Initiative on the Future of Economic Progress: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Forum_IncGrwth_2018.pdf; accessed 06/06/2018.

  2. https://www.un.org/development/desa/cooperatives/international-day-of-cooperatives/2017-2.html; accessed 28/07/2018.

  3. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1137203/icode/ accessed 06/06/2018.

  4. http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:R193; accessed 28/06/2018; the values and principles were adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance in 2002.

  5. https://www.ica.coop/en/en/the-alliance/about-us; accessed 310718.

  6. https://www.ica.coop/en/our-work/international-cooperative-development?_ga=2.99216606.1123497243.1554203719-503245459.1376662926; accessed 020419.

  7. Co-operative unions are federations of primary co-operatives. They are also known as secondary co-operatives.

  8. There are many forms of association based on co-operation but which may not be legally co-operatives.

  9. Bijman et al. (2016) argue that this is happening to co-operatives engaged in agricultural markets in particular.

  10. Malawi ranks 170th out of 186 countries examined by the Human Development Index: http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/MWI; accessed 07/06/2018.

  11. These data are from: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malawi; accessed 17/07/2018.

  12. https://www.rbm.mw/Statistics/InflationRates; accessed 05/06/2018.

  13. http://www.mw.undp.org/content/malawi/en/home/countryinfo.html; accessed 13/03/2018.

  14. Data provided by the Department of Co-operatives, Ministry of Industry and Trade, 2013.

  15. Personal data are anonymised throughout the article: MZ represents a MZCPCU source, while M is MUSCCO; MA refers to the Malawian Federation of Co-operatives (MAFECO); the numbers refer to the specific interview or focus group; only the year of the interviews or focus groups are included for ease of reading.

  16. https://www.future-agricultures.org/publications/policy-briefs-document/smallholder-coffee-commercialisation-in-malawi/; accessed 06/07/2018.

  17. ‘The 4C Association aims to unite all relevant coffee stakeholders in working towards the improvement of the economic, social and environmental conditions of coffee production and processing to build a thriving, sustainable sector for generations to come’ http://www.4c-coffeeassociation.org/about/overview; accessed 07/07/2018. The 4C Association is now part of the Global Coffee Platform; see http://www.globalcoffeeplatform.org/about/overview; accessed 03/01/2017.

  18. http://www.mzuzucoffee.org; accessed 03/03/2018.

  19. Calculated from data at http://www.muscco.org/index.php/media-centre/statistics/11-2014-annual-statistics/file; accessed 24/07/2018.

  20. http://www.muscco.org/index.php/about-muscco/mission-values-vision; accessed 03/12/2017.

  21. http://www.muscco.org/index.php/muscco-members/list-of-saccos; accessed 03/03/2017.

  22. http://www.muscco.org/index.php/services; accessed 03/03/2017.

  23. Calculated from data at http://www.muscco.org/index.php/media-centre/statistics/11-2014-annual-statistics/file; accessed 24/07/2018.

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The funding was provided by Leverhulme Trust (Grant No. RPG-2012-533).

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Borda-Rodriguez, A., Johnson, H. Inclusive Development and Co-operatives. Eur J Dev Res 32, 976–997 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-019-00249-9

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