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.

There are a range of significant crises, from climate change and peak oil to financial shocks and growing inequality. Education policy is fixed on an increasingly narrow and ideological agenda, and being divorced from research and reality. Academic critique, letters and protest from teachers and unions appear to have little impact.

Professor Mike Apple from the University of Madison, Wisconsin will present his ‘Interrupting the Right’ thesis, that the Right wasn’t always so powerful and the left could learn from its rise to dominance and take practical action. Mervyn Wilson from the Co-operative College will ask whether the co-operative schools movement provides a vehicle for interrupting the right and developing an education system that will be adequate to meet the crises we face.

‘Inform and inspire’ sessions will learn from co-operative organisations in a range of sectors including education, to ask what might a co-operative school and education system look like?

The afternoon will be spent discussing academic and practical issues around developing the co-operative schools movement, producing an agenda for action at the end of the day.

The event takes place on Thursday 4 July at the CIS Tower in Manchester city centre and costs £25 for teachers and academics and £7.50 for PhD students. For more information visit www.coopedagainstthecrises.org.

Download the flyer here

The fieldwork was aimed at investigating challenges, limitations and the potential/strengths of the Malawian co-operative movement, which could significantly influence co-operative resilience. The fieldwork was designed on the basis of the theoretical framework produced by Sara and Alex in the first quarter of the project, published as OU working paper in mid-February.

The two researchers spent the first week in the capital city, interviewing key informants from the Department of Co-operatives (Ministry of Industry and Trade); international institutions and development agencies (such as FAO, Land O’ Lakes and JICA); externally-funded national projects (JICA’s ‘One Village One Product Project’; World Bank/IFAD’s ‘Irrigation Rural Livelihoods & Agricultural Development’ project; and the Scottish government-funded ‘Supporting Co-operatives in Malawi’ project, run by the UK Co-operative College) and national development associations (Farmers Union of Malawi and the National Association of Smallholder Farmers).

The fieldwork focused on four case studies chosen from the most important co-operative unions in the country. These are: the Mzuzu Coffee Planters Co-operative Union; the Timber Millers Co-operative Union; COMSIP (Community Savings and Investment Promotion) Co-operative Union; MUSCCO (Malawian Union of Savings and Credit Co-operatives).

Between February 17 and March 22, Sara and Alex stayed in Mzuzu, in the northern region of the country, and in Lilongwe, carrying out focus groups and interviews with members, board members and managers of both unions and affiliated primary co-operatives. Sara explains: “The fieldwork was a crucial opportunity for active learning and knowledge exchange. We will be ever thankful to the unions’ leaders, managers and members, for their great availability and active participation in the research activities. The fieldwork would have not been possible also without the essential support of John Mulangeni, the ‘Supporting co-operatives in Malawi’ project co-ordinator and Annie Nyirenda and Mudith Chisiye, project officers for the Northern and Central regions.

“Good synergies have been in place between this research project and the ‘Supporting co-operatives in Malawi’ project. Particularly, focus groups and interviews represented an opportunity for co-operative leaders to reflect on the future of the Malawian co-operative movement and on the need to come up with an apex organisation. The latter is in fact one of the actions of the development project that the College is running in the country.”

The investigation highlighted a co-operative movement that is taking off and has a highly reflective attitude towards its own weaknesses and potentialities – a fundamental component in building up resilience. Sara and Alex are now in the process of analysing the data collected. Among preliminary findings, there is one that is particularly interesting and unexpected: the role of women. As known, women’s participation in African co-operatives is a challenge, especially in the agricultural sector. Interestingly, as a general trend, women’s membership is increasing in almost all of the Malawian co-operative Unions. Women’s participation is seen as a strategy to overcome the lack of member loyalty – identified as one of the main challenges for co-operative resilience.

“Do you know why we want women to be members?”, a leader woman farmer, and a member of the Mzuzu Coffee Planters Co-operative Union Board, asked Sara and Alex. “Because women repay loans, they are better at managing financial resources and moreover they use what they earn to improve household well-being. Remember, you train a woman, you train a country.”

This finding was confirmed in many other interviews and focus groups. “We are taking on board women,” the Operations Director of the MCPCU explained, “Because we know that if the coffee farming is in the hands of women then it’s more sustainable: men can switch anytime and start a new business.”

On 8 March, International Women’s Day, a focus group with members of a coffee co-operative took place. Impressive active participation by women made it a great opportunity of celebrating. One woman said: “Before [being members] life was hard and we had to expect money from our husbands: now what we earn we can keep for ourselves and we can take care of our families, buying clothes, food and paying school fees.” “Since we joined the co-operative”, another woman added, “We have had the possibility to improve ourselves, sharing experiences with other farmers. Moreover, we have now gained the respect from our husbands.”

Similar findings have been found also in the other case studies and will be made available in publications that Sara and Alex will be producing over the next semester of the project.

For information about the Open University-Co-operative College research project ‘Understanding co-operative resilience. The case of Malawi’, please contact Dr Sara Vicari, Research Associate, at sara.vicari@co-op.ac.uk.

For information about the Scottish government-funded project ‘Supporting Co-operatives in Malawi’, please contact Dr Sarah Alldred, International Programmes Manager at the Co-operative College, at Sarah@co-op.ac.uk.

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.

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.

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.

During two weeks (28 June to 13 July) the travellers will not only enjoy the breathtaking scenary of Nicaragua, but also visit co-operatives around the country and find out more about the role of ALBA (Bolivarian Allliance for the Peoples of our America) in the fair trade between Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Deadline for registration is 30 April. For more information, including costs, please visit www.nicaraguasc.org.uk and www.nicaraguasc.org.uk/tours%20&%20volunteering/index.htm.

NSC has aimed to relieve poverty in Nicaragua since it was set up in 1978 to support the Sandinista Revolution, and “remains commited to the fundamental values of democracy and justice”. It works with organisations in Nicaragua raising awareness in the UK about social and economic issues affecting the country, through speaker tours, study visits and other campaigning and lobbying activities.

Since October 2011, the archive has been undertaking a project to archive the records of the Co-operative Group as it gets ready to vacate its current complex of buildings to move into its new premises. The Group’s iconic new glass building, which was designed by 3DReid, is one of the most sustainable and environmentally friendly buildings in Europe.

Display cases in credenza drawers have been added to 29 of the meeting rooms in the building, filled with objects that tell stories and highlight episodes, achievements and associations from the Co-operative Group’s long, full history. Archivists have been sorting through themes, finding items they want to use, collecting items and making copies where the originals couldn’t be used, before deciding where objects should go and where they will fit.

Most of the meeting rooms in the building have an etched timeline of the Co-operative Group’s history on the glass walls and door. If the door mentions the dividend then in that room there is a display all about the dividend. Other subjects covered include milk, self-service, drapery, the history of the grocery business and Defiant radios. The Defiant radio set in particular has an interesting history: in the 1930s, radio manufacturers didn’t want to sell their radios to co-operative societies because they thought that a dividend on their products meant giving a discount and therefore selling the radios for less than they were worth. In response to this, the CWS started making its own radios – see also the Defiant radio in reception.

Some meeting rooms have large glass windows overlooking the rest of the complex, so archivists have tried to bring a bit of the old estate into the new building. For example, in the room looking out onto the CIS tower, there is a display drawer all about the Co-operative Insurance Society.

The archive was asked to provide some reading material for a library book case in the ‘business lounge’ area on the first floor, where there are comfortable seats, low tables and a small kitchen. It has contributed duplicate copies of co-operative books and journals which were found during the Co-operative Group Relocation Project such as volumes of the Co-operative News, Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) Annuals, The Producer, CWS histories and editions of People’s Yearbook.

On a larger scale, a large, red handcart from the Blackpool Co-operative Society, which was originally used to sell fresh groceries, now sits in reception greeting everyone who passes through the building’s revolving doors. The handcart, which was also unearthed during the Co-operative Group Relocation Project, has made the rounds with several different co-operative societies and has been used as a show-and-tell item and a product display stage in the past.

Other displays cover the Co-operative Group’s advertising history, including an image of CWS propaganda cars, as well as weird and wonderful products manufactured over the years, including “Federation” tapered candles from the Irlam Soap and Candle Works and a catalogue for a CWS trouser press and stretcher. Also on show are some of the famous and fascinating logos and brands the Co-operative Group has used throughout its history, including a wheatsheaf “Labor and Wait” wall tile (labor was spelled the American way to show support for those campaigning to free slaves in America at the time).

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.

At a time when those in charge of education want to see old-fashioned rote learning and an emphasis on facts reintroduced to the twenty first century classroom, opinions expressed in strong terms in the Co-operator article, first published in 1870, seem strangely familiar.

Its author, W Hume-Rothery, refers to the ‘mental torture’ of education, describing ‘senseless examinations’ and speculating about the ill effects of ‘cramming’ on children’s health. Humne-Rothery says: “This sort of drill is not education; it does not develop the faculties of children; it is brain-torture, which too often leads to death. Parents … should preserve their little ones from all such uneducated and injudicious meddlers with juvenile talents.”

Mervyn Wilson, Principal and Chief Executive of the Co-operative College, commented: “In light of the discussions in recent years about what and how children could learn, highlighted by the recent controversy over what should or shouldn’t be included in an English Baccalaureate, revised and more rigorous GCSEs, etc etc, readers will be aware that these debates are hardly new. The article from The Co-operator in 1870, ‘Brain torture and the death of children’, shows that these debates have been going on for a very long time!”

Read the full article online below.

The Co-operator – 3 September 1870