Participatory cooperative research: for the people, by the people, with the people

Abstract

Participatory research with cooperatives, which are people-owned businesses, would seem a natural option. However, there is little discussion evident in this area, with risks of research instead bypassing the perspective of members. This article discusses two dairy farmer cooperatives in rural Kenya. It looks at how, even where research is directed and controlled by others (e.g. funders), it can still be undertaken with cooperatives in a participatory way. This is essential to preserving values and principles linked to member participation and decision-making, as well as of self-help and self-responsibility. Participatory approaches also provide interesting insights into the way cooperatives operate.

Les recherches participatives menées avec des coopératives, qui sont des entreprises appartenant aux personnes, pourraient sembler constituer une option naturelle. Cependant, il ne semble guère y avoir de discussions évidentes dans ce domaine, les risques des recherches contournant plutôt le point de vue des membres. Cet article traite de deux coopératives d’élevage laitier dans le Kenya rural. Il examine la manière dont les recherches, même lorsqu'elles sont dirigées et contrôlées par d'autres (p. ex. bailleurs de fonds), peuvent tout de même être entreprises avec des coopératives de manière participative. Cela est essentiel si l'on veut préserver les valeurs et les principes liés à la participation et à la prise de décisions par les membres, ainsi que les valeurs et principes que sont l'entraide et la responsabilité de soi. Les approches participatives donnent par ailleurs des aperçus intéressants de la façon dont les coopératives fonctionnent.

Si bien resulta lógico proponer la realización de investigaciones participativas a nivel de cooperativas, en tanto corresponden a negocios que se encuentran en manos de personas físicas, existe poca discusión al respecto en el ámbito de las mismas. Ello implica un riesgo cuando se impulsan las investigaciones pertinentes sin incorporar la opinión de sus integrantes. El presente artículo se centra en el estudio de dos cooperativas de productos lácteos que operan en la Kenia rural. Al respecto, analiza el hecho de que, aun siendo dirigida y controlada por otras entidades (por ejemplo, los donantes), la investigación en dichas cooperativas puede realizarse de manera participativa, aspecto esencial si el objetivo de la misma apunta a preservar los valores y los principios vinculados a la participación y a la toma de decisiones por parte de los miembros, así como el impulso requerido para fomentar la autoayuda y la autorresponsabilidad. Asimismo, el enfoque participativo permite relevar información de mucho interés en torno al funcionamiento interno de las cooperativas.

Keywords:

• Civil society – Participation
• Labour and livelihoods – Poverty reduction
• Methods
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Notes on contributor

Rowshan Hannan has worked in international development for many years, with a focus on East Africa and South Asia. This has included working as a Humanitarian and Disaster Resilience Adviser in the UK Department for International Development. She is also an Associate at the UK Co-operative College, and has worked on cooperative education projects throughout East and Southern Africa. She has recently completed her PhD at the University of Leeds, where she researched into the links between cooperative governance and poverty reduction in rural Kenya.

Notes

1. We Effect (formerly Swedish Co-operative Centre) is a development cooperation organisation, which is owned and partly funded by the cooperative movement in Sweden.

2. The case study cooperatives and all identifiable data at the local level (including names of villages and participants) were anonymised in the study to protect sensitive data that emerged. This article therefore does not refer to the names of the case study cooperatives, or other sources at the local level.

3. The eight priority areas included: (i) access to water; (ii) food intake; (iii) access to healthcare; (iv) children successfully completing education; (v) quality of homesteads; (vi) access to land for livelihoods; (vii) livestock ownership; and (viii) access to knowledge and training on livelihoods.