Experiences From Asias Rural Co-Operatives Workshop report 9: Annexure II: Abstracts of papers: 15. Capital, participation and co-operative performance: The importance of member equity stake

Experiences From Asias Rural Co-Operatives Workshop report 9

Annexure II

Abstracts of papers

		1. Rural Co-operatives in Asia: Issues in development
		2. Viable Co-operative models in Asia - Strategies for future development
		3. Experiences from Asias rural co-operatives
		4. Agricultural co-operatives in Korea
		6. Evolution of rural co-operative in Indonesia
		7. The agriculture co-operatives of Malaysia
		8. Rural co-operatives in Sri Lanka - Experiences, problems and prospects
		9. Development of rural co-operatives in Bangladesh
		10. Effectiveness of village-level primary agricultural co-operatives in selected Asian countries
		11. Prerequisites for co-operative success or criteria for genuine co-operative societies
		12. Integrated co-operatives a case of sugar co-operatives in Maharashtra
		13. The role of co-operatives in the process of structural adjustment: New challenges and ILOs approach
		14. Rural co-operatives in Nepal
		15. Capital, participation and co-operative performance: The importance of member equity stake
		16. Milk co-operatives in India

15. Capital, participation and co-operative performance: The importance of member equity stake

by John G Rouse

The paper builds up the arguments for expounding a testable hypothesis for field research. The urgent need for this research is for developing policy correctives for public and external funding of co-operatives in developing countries.

The hypothesis is that, the main cause for failures of co-ops is the inadequate member stakes in the capital funds, resulting in inadequate member-control on decisions and performance of co-ops and making them less member-oriented. The paper also suggests that there have been isolated instances of innovative methods to get member contribution to capital funds and these could show the way for the future.

The paper holds that the co-ops have indeed failed in developing countries, basing its conclusions on several case studies.

If this were true, the governments and donor agencies are directly responsible for the situation by providing easy and cheap capital from sources external to members. The proposed structural changes in several developing countries which among other things would rapidly reduce consessional financing may then be really a blessing in disguise. The rural peoples would not only learn to finance themselves but also to control the co-ops better.