Context Study Poland

This is a desk review and an attempt to capture a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the situation of Polish cooperatives today, rather than a detailed presentation of the evolution of the movement or its branches. It cannot do justice to the analyses and empirical material amassed over more than two decades or the presentations made Read More

Key Stakeholder Presentation and Dialogue – Philippines

This overview paper for the study “What Difference do Cooperatives Make?” in the Philippines sets out the initial findings of the recent research conducted by the International Cooperative Research Group of the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council. The research provides the important perspective of members of primary societies across sectors and across regions, compares and Read More

Key Stakeholder Presentation and Dialogue – Kenya

This paper provides an overview of the initial findings of recent research on the cooperative sector in Kenya and identifies some possible paths for policy and/or further debate and exploration. “What Difference Do Cooperatives Make?” in Kenya tells us that cooperatives are indeed making a significant economic difference in the lives of the members and Read More

Start A COOP 101

Start.COOP by International Labour Organization (ILO) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Start.COOP has been developed as a low-cost, easy to use training tool for those interested in starting and launching a cooperative in a participatory manner. It draws on technical content from existing materials in different ILO cooperative training tools Read More

Side Selling In Malt Barley Cooperatives

Self Help Africa (SHA) has been implementing a project since 2010 targeted at increasing the income of malt barley farmers in Ethiopia through more effective cooperative management in Arsi and West Arsi Zones of Oromia region. The project has been supporting Galema and Raya Kejewa cooperative unions to ensure efficient aggregation of products, better access Read More

Assessing Cooperative Training Needs in Developing Countries

It is widely known that a competent board of directors is an important factor in cooperative success. However, directors of local cooperatives in developing countries may be unfamiliar with democratic governance processes and the skills needed for effective directing. While there are significant impediments to good cooperative governance (e.g., inadequate training, weak leadership, and corruption), research Read More

Not Too Poor To Invest: The Case For Smallholder Farmer Ownership Programs

Experience has shown creation and growth of a member-owned capital base is crucial to the long-term sustainability of member owned businesses and can provide an effective savings tool and financial safety net for smallholder farmers. Information presented in the paper grew out of the results of an Equal Exchange (EE) project to introduce member equity Read More

Agricultural Cooperatives in Africa

This report is the first outcome of a joint project by the International Cooperative Research Group, a division of the US Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC), and the European Research Institute on Cooperatives and Social Enterprises (EURICSE). The purpose of the research is to provide an analysis of the legal, economic, and policy environments in Read More

Cooperative Development in Poland: A Legacy of USAID Assistance

USAID commissioned the International Cooperative Research Group (RG) of OCDC to carry out a legacy study to examine what, if any, lasting effects of the USAID assistance to cooperatives can be seen in Poland today, nearly 20 years after its conclusion. The RG carried out this study as a complement to the countrywide survey research Read More