Co-operative Development and practices in selected Eastern and Southern African Countries: Is there a mismatch between practices and co-operative principles?

Abstract

The co-operative sector in the East and Southern African region was established to cater for marginalized communities in the Agricultural and the financial sectors in the 1930s. It now covers almost all sectors of the economy. African Governments have and continue to promote co-operatives as vehicles for socio-economic development. Growth of co-operatives even though first propelled by utopian views it now has outlived the philosophy of the past. Adherence to the co-operative principles as pronounced by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) is no longer the practice for most large and highly successful co-operatives. This paper calls for study on the schools of thought upon which current co-operatives are based upon and craft the future of the sector in the region.