This research began in 2011, and is due to be completed in 2014. It is undertaking a case study of two primary dairy farmer co-operative societies in Kenya, one with one with a stable and well-functioning governance system (Co-operative A), and one which had faced a number of governance challenges (Co-operative B). In Co-operative B a recent vote of no confidence had been passed on the board of directors, leading to its dissolution and the election of an interim board in its place. The research focused on two villages to understand the impact of each co-operative – Village A and Village B, where Co-operatives A and B respectively had a large number of members. A five-year study period was chosen, from 2007 to 2012, which coincided with the governance challenges experienced by Co-operative B.

Primary data collection was undertaken in Kenya between July and October 2012. Research methods included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and a number of different participatory exercises including matrix scoring. At the household level, the research focused on seven member households (two active and two inactive) and seven non-member households in each village. This article will present some preliminary findings on the differences identified in each village, and then explore the links between these differences and the governance of the respective co-operatives.

Changes identified in Village A and B

Changes in Village A

In Village A, eight out of the twelve participant households in Village A that owned dairy cows in 2007 confirmed that the size of their herd had been increasing over the five year study period from 2007 to 2012. A non-member, who bought his first dairy cow in 2006, described his growing herd: “They’ve been giving birth – got all these cows from this first one … “[1]. Through a breeding process, Participant A33 increased his herd of one dairy cow in 2006 to four in 2012. In Village A, all five active members also confirmed an increase in milk yields per cow. Members talked about how “[T]this cow now is producing more milk than the one I had in 2007″[2]. Another member explains why:

“We are feeding them [the cows] with the right kind of feeds. We have more knowledge now on how to take care of our cattle than we did in 2007. In 2007 we were using local bulls. Now using AI [artificial insemination].” (Participant A15)

Participant A15 describes changes to feeding and rearing practices as well as to breeding practices, and links these changes to improved knowledge. Four out of the five active members in Village A also confirmed increasing income from dairy farming over the five year period from 2007 to 2012.

Changes in Village B

In Village B, only three out of the 10 member and non-member households that owned dairy cows in 2007 confirmed an increasing herd. Unlike in Village A, not all active members in Village B confirmed that milk production per cow had been increasing over the five year period. An increase was confirmed by three out of the five active members, and with only two out of the five reporting an increase in income from milk. One member stated:

“I was better off earlier when doing dairy farming – income was high. Now have only small income from one cow – so income has decreased.” (Participant B4)

Unlike in Village A ,the majority of active members in Village B did not associate any increases to their household income with dairy farming. The household matrix scoring exercise on milk yields showed that although active members in Village B had increased milk production per cow overall from 2007 to 2012, this was at a much lower rate than active members in Village A – a 29% increase in milk production per cow occurred in Village B, compared to an 82% increase in Village A.

Links between the findings and co-operative governance

Over the 2007 to 2012 study period, co-operative members in Village A were found to have increased their dairy cow herd at a faster pace than members in Village B. They were also able to increase milk production and their income from milk at a greater rate. A number of different areas were linked to these improvements including access to training, access to farm inputs and access to credit from the co-operative. This section will focus on one area – training, and explore its links to co-operative governance. In response to a question on who organised the training, a Participant responded:

“The Society [Co-operative A]. They organise most of them. They invite us, bring the teacher and educate us.” (Participant A14)

Co-operative A was repeatedly linked to the training that took place in Village A, by both members and non-members. Rather than delivering the training itself, Co-operative A was found to act as a conduit through which others could access its membership area. Its board directors and staff had established good working relations with both the membership and with external actors in the local area. This was reflected in the way the staff gathered data from the membership through surveys, and then analysed this data and used it to improve the delivery of training to the area. It was also reflected in the way the representative board director for Village A interacted with his members through regular meetings and in the way he disseminated information at the village level. These processes, which were linked closely to the way governance structures were set up and used in Co-operative A, meant that they were able to successfully identify training needs in Village A, attract appropriate training providers (such as different government ministries, private farm input suppliers and NGOs), and successfully mobilise farmers to receive the training.

In Co-operative B, over the five year study period there had been regular resignations of directors representing Village B – three different directors had been in place over the five year study period (directors are usually elected for a three year term), compared to one in the area for Village A. The current representative for Village B was involved in long protracted meetings at the co-operative to identify a way forward for the society and was not able to commit to any regular interactions with the membership. In Village B previous directors talked about how they had been active in organising educational visits and farmer-to-farmer training. However, they explained that during recent terms held at the co-operative they had not been able to focus on the wider needs of their members due to the ongoing governance issues in their co-operative. In Village B the co-operative had also been unable to successfully mobilise farmers for training in some areas. For example, they had not been able to gather sufficient interest from within the membership to mobilise a women’s savings and loans group. In Village A, a similar group was found to have been running for over a year, and was being used by an NGO to access women for training in a number of different areas. Co-operative B had also not been able to develop as many external links to actors in the local area. This meant that it had no working relations with an important training provider in the locale – the Ministry of Agriculture, and had been unable to facilitate agricultural training into Village B.

Conclusions

The preliminary findings suggest an important link between co-operative governance and the extent of impact that the co-operative can have on people’s lives. Co-operative governance processes and structures that are able to maintain a more responsive link to the membership, and establish good working relations with key external actors, are better able to mobilise members and attract other actors into the area to deliver wider services that can help improve people’s living conditions.

The co-operative apprenticeships developed by the College typically last between nine and 12 months. They incorporate an NVQ qualification as well as a unit on the values and principles, which is part of the Award in Applying Co-operative Values and Principles, a nationally-recognised, accredited qualification. The award is part of the Co-operative Progression Framework which has been developed by the College. Working with partner organisation Business Impact UK, the College has trained Business Impact UK’s assessors on what co-operatives are and the co-operative values and principles, so they are equipped to deliver apprenticeships in a co-operative context.

The first cohort of learners, who represent Phone Co-op staff of all ages, recently attended an induction at the Phone Co-op’s base in Chipping Norton for an online unit based around the co-operative values and principles. The unit was developed by Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate Chris Miller, who is working with the College on a joint project with the Open University, and incorporates three short animated films which introduce the Rochdale Pioneers, the co-operative model and the co-operative values and principles.

Angela Colebrook, Customer Relationship Manager at the Co-operative College, said: “There are a lot of apprenticeship programmes out there but we wanted to deliver one in a co-operative context. The Co-operative Apprenticeship Programme helps learners think about their roles in co-operatives specifically, not generically, and about how they carry out the values and principles within their work role. At every step of the apprenticeship learners are encouraged to relate what they are learning back to working in a co-operative and consider how they implement the values and principles both as an individual and as an organisation. Providing an accredited co-operative Award in Applying Values and Principles is one of the first steps on the Co-operative Framework of Progression.”

She added: “The Phone Co-op are a co-operative who demonstrate the co-operative values and principles at every level of their organisation and they are very keen on employee development. They wanted an apprenticeship with the co-operative edge, and to work within a framework which tied in with their values and principles.”

Any feedback from the pilot programme will be taken on board, and then the Co-operative Apprenticeship Programme will be rolled out to other co-operative societies nationally.

Coinciding with the launch of Co-operatives Fortnight in the birthplace of the modern co-operative movement, which this year has the theme of ‘Local, Loved and Trusted’, Rochdale Co-operatives Day will both celebrate co-operative heritage and the ongoing legacy of co-operation in Rochdale. A series of activities, events and stalls for families, co-operators and the general public will enhance awareness of the town’s co-operative heritage, illustrate how working co-operatively is benefiting the town today and show how co-operation is shaping the face of Rochdale for the future, from rugby to housing.

Partners include the Co-operative College, Rochdale Pioneers Museum, The Co-operative Group, Rochdale MBC, Touchstones, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, Rochdale Co-operative and Social Enterprise Forum, Co-operatives UK, Rochdale Hornets Rugby Football League Club and Unlimited Potential.

The Co-operative College’s annual meeting and open day will take place during the event, and will be open to all, offering participants a chance to see the Rochdale Pioneers Museum, take part in learning activities which highlight some of the College’s work.

Be inspired, have fun, get involved! For more information contact Angela.whitecross@co-op.ac.uk.

Since Janet Simms and Dr Linda Shaw from the Co-operative College attended a ‘kick off’ meeting in Trentino, Italy just before Christmas, work has focused on collecting information about formal and informal, accredited and non-accredited, specialist and non-specialist learning opportunities available for co-operative managers and directors from across the partnership. Another task has been fact-finding in relation to the ‘co-operative’ competencies regarded by managers and directors as being essential for them to be effective in their roles. Ultimately, the project will provide a common set of standards on which to build an ECVET (European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training)-recognised qualification framework for middle and senior managers and board members of co-operatives, allowing them mobility across Europe. The next meeting of the partnership takes place later this month in Athens, and will be hosted by the University of the Aegean.

The partners represent a range of co-operative development and support organisations, and the Co-operative College is contributing its expertise and experience of designing externally accredited learning and assessment programmes.

Angela is in the final year of a PhD looking at the Co-operative Party’s relationship with the Labour Party, jointly supervised by the Co-operative College in Manchester and the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. Spending a lot of time in the National Co-operative Archive, she has been exploring why the two parties have had a relationship historically, and why it continues today. Angela is now writing up her research, looking at themes such as policy and MPs, and will submit her thesis in October. Angela says that her experience of working with communities, combined with her passion for co-operative history, meant the chance to work with diverse groups of people in Rochdale was “a really interesting opportunity for me”.

Angela is currently working on programming events at the Rochdale Pioneers Museum, including a major multi-agency event which will build on last year’s International Year of Co-operatives, when the spotlight was on Rochdale and the Rochdale Pioneers Museum as the birthplace of modern co-operation, and events will also tie in with the theme of this year’s Co-operatives Fortnight (22 June-6 July), ‘Local, Loved and Trusted’. Part of Angela’s role involves developing activities for families and other groups who will be visiting the Museum over the summer; one activity will show what shopping was like at difference periods in time, and will involve not just reminiscing about the changing nature of shopping and society, but celebrating the ethical values demonstrated by co-operative societies throughout history.

Angela will also be working to set up a temporary exhibition space in the Museum to act as an evaluation and consultation space for people to share ideas, which she hopes will enable communities to “feel that they have a voice in the museum”. Exhibitions will change every six months, and Angela hopes the first exhibition will coincide with an exhibition at the People’s History Museum in Manchester to mark the 150^th anniversary of the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), giving an opportunity to highlight the links between members of the Rochdale Pioneers and the CWS. Angela aims to work with local history groups on the exhibition, as a way of sharing knowledge and developing the heritage skills of different groups of museum visitors. The temporary exhibition space will also allow items to be brought out of the collection that aren’t usually on display.

As she settles into the job, Angela intends to build up a number of resources which can be used by Museum staff, both internally and externally, and she hopes it is the first step in a career where she can bridge the gap between academia and heritage learning.

School.coop features curriculum resources on subjects such as history, healthy eating, citizenship, faith, advertising, brand and financial literacy, all with a distinctly co-operative flavour. The resources were developed by staff from the Co-operative College with teachers from the nationwide network of Co-operative Business and Enterprise Colleges, and each resource features background information as well as a range of activities, from design and drama to writing, research and IT.

The ‘History’ resource draws on material held in the National Co-operative Archive in Manchester, including archive photographs, food packaging and historic documents. It is broken down into five distinct sections: the Second World War (Bombed, Blitzed and Bunkered), Co-operative films, Robert Owen, the expansion of the co-operative and the co-operative dividend.

The ‘Healthy Eating’ resource covers topics such as pre-prepared versus fresh food, food miles, adulteration of food and diet past and present, as well as information and activities for maintaining a healthy, balanced diet.

The ‘Financial literacy’ section of the website looks at different types of financial services on offer, and offers a number of real-life scenarios to help students understand the options which are available.

The ‘Co-operation and faith’ resource discusses each of the major belief systems, including their faith services and festivals, and their stance on a number of key issues, ranging from abortion to war. The resource considers the similarities in attitudes and values between faiths and co-operation.

The ‘Brand’ section of the site looks at the importance of branding to organisations, and how co-operatives can make their brand stand out, whilst ‘Advertising’ considers how organisations such as co-operatives can promote their work.

School.coop also features information and resources for about co-operative schools, including case studies, news and information about events and training. Whilst all resources are free to access, users will need to take a few seconds to register to see all areas of the site.

There are now more than 450 co-operative schools across the country, in addition to a network of specialist Business and Enterprise Colleges which have opted to focus on the co-operative enterprise model and values and principles. Co-operative schools embed co-operation into all levels of their school, from the membership structure to the curriculum, and are characterised by a democratically accountable membership structure drawn from key stakeholders such as staff, students, parents/carers, members of the local community and representatives of local business.

Start exploring at www.school.coop. We would love to hear any feedback you have about the website and resources, as well as any suggestions on how you would like to see it develop in future: please email schools@co-op.ac.uk.

Co-operative College Chief Executive and Principal Mervyn Wilson commented: “Co-operative schools are the fastest growing part of the co-operative and mutual sector in the UK today. They are major economic enterprises – often the biggest employers in deprived communities. Co-operative schools thus have a double benefit – they not only provide a democratic and accountable model of school governance and build social capital but also provide a learning ground where a new generation can learn and practice co-operation. That in turn should assist the development of the co-operative and mutual sector in the future.”

The collection of essays calls for a new economic model that extends ownership to all. It proposes mutual ownership as a way of boosting British economy competitiveness in all sectors. Besides Mervyn Wilson’s contribution on education, the publication counts on the participation of Dave Boston, Chief Executive of the Schools Co-operative Society, who writes about the development of the national network of co-operative schools.

Making it Mutual: The ownership revolution that Britain needs can be downloaded at ResPublica website, www.respublica.org.uk. It includes essays that cover all areas of policy – energy, financial services, education, infrastructure, welfare, public services, competition – and proposes entrepreneurial and innovative policy proposals for structural reform. As well as a keynote from Cabinet Minister Francis Maude, it draws together essays from a range of policy-makers and practitioners, including Dame Tessa Jowell; Graeme Nuttall, Government Advisor, HM Treasury Employee Ownership Advisory Group; and Professor Julian Le Grand, Chair, Mutuals Taskforce; Andrew Burnell, Chief Executive of City Health Care Partnership CIC; Kate Bull, co-founder of The People’s Supermarket, many of whom argue that deregulation and tax cutting is simply not enough.

Co-operatives Fortnight is the UK co-operative sector’s national campaign to raise awareness of co-operatives. In 2013, Co-operatives Fortnight will focus on raising consumers’ awareness and understanding of the diversity and benefits of co-operatives.

Co-operative businesses and organisations will be provided with online and printed resource to encourage people to explore local co-operatives and find new co-operatives and services. The full set of materials will be launched at the end of February.

Activities will take place all across the country, and the week is an ideal time to raise awareness of co-operatives in your school and local community, through activities and events.

To find out more about why you should choose co-operatives for all your needs, from food to energy, visit www.uk.coop/why-choose-co-operative.

Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione, the lead organisation in the project, hosted the meeting, which included co-operative partners from Italy, the UK, Greece, France, Spain, Germany and Romania.

The main aim of the project is to design a European-accredited qualification for managers which develops the knowledge and skills they require in the context of co-operation. The partners represent a range of co-operative development and support organisations, but the Co-operative College is the only partner with the expertise and experience of designing externally accredited learning and assessment programmes.

Work plans have now been agreed and a series of further meetings will be taking place, hosted by the partner countries and culminating in a final project closure meeting in Brussels in December 2014.

The initiative will be called the Prampolini Reading Group in honour the Italian co-operator Camillo Prampolini (1859-1930), to give it a European flavour. Prampolini was an Italian journalist and politician from Reggio Emilia who was among the founders of the Socialist Party of Italian Workers (formed in 1892). He was a social reformer and played a central role in the development of the Italian co-operative movement, envisaging the creation of a Co-operative Utopia (Utopia Cooperativa), a town in which every business was either a workers’ or a consumers’ co-operative.

The first meeting will focus on Capital and the Debt Trap: Learning from Co-operatives in the Global Crisis by Bruno Roelants and Claudia Sanchez Bajo (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), and will take place at 6pm on January 21 2013 at the UCL History Department in London.

To confirm your attendance and find out how to obtain the text, email Corrado Secchi at corrado.secchi@googlemail.com.