Cooperatives, Economic Democratization and Rural Development
Cooperatives, Economic Democratization and Rural Development

Author: Jos Bijman

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2016-01-29

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1784719382

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Agricultural cooperatives and producer organizations are institutional innovations which have the potential to reduce poverty and improve food security. This book presents a raft of international case studies, from developing and transition countries, to analyse the internal and external challenges that these complex organizations face and the solutions that they have developed. The contributors provide an increased understanding of the transformation of traditional community organizations into modern farmer-owned businesses. They cover issues including: the impact on rural development and inclusiveness, the role of social capital, formal versus informal organizations, democratic participation and member relations, and their role in value chains. Students and scholars will find the book’s multidisciplinary approach useful in their research. It will also be of interest to policy-makers seeking to understand the wide diversity of organizational forms and functions. NGOs, donors and governments seeking to support rural developments will benefit from the discussions raised in this book.

Local Government Education
Local Government Education

Author: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Extension Committee on Organization and Policy. Local Government Education Task Force

Publisher:

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13:

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Cooperatives, Grassroots Development, and Social Change
Cooperatives, Grassroots Development, and Social Change

Author: Marcela Vásquez-Léon

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2017-03-14

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0816536295

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Cooperatives, Grassroots Development, and Social Change presents examples from Paraguay, Brazil, and Colombia, examining what is necessary for smallholder agricultural cooperatives to support holistic community-based development in peasant communities. Reporting on successes and failures of these cooperative efforts, the contributors offer analyses and strategies for supporting collective grassroots interests. Illustrating how poverty and inequality affect rural people, they reveal how cooperative organizations can support grassroots development strategies while negotiating local contexts of inequality amid the broader context of international markets and global competition. The contributors explain the key desirable goals from cooperative efforts among smallholder producers. They are to provide access to more secure livelihoods, expand control over basic resources and commodity chains, improve quality of life in rural areas, support community infrastructure, and offer social spaces wherein small farmers can engage politically in transforming their own communities. The stories in Cooperatives, Grassroots Development, and Social Change reveal immense opportunities and challenges. Although cooperatives have often been framed as alternatives to the global capitalist system, they are neither a panacea nor the hegemonic extension of neoliberal capitalism. Through one of the most thorough cross-country comparisons of cooperatives to date, this volume shows the unfiltered reality of cooperative development in highly stratified societies, with case studies selected specifically because they offer important lessons regarding struggles and strategies for adapting to a changing social, economic, and natural environment. Contributors: Luis Barros Brian J. Burke Charles Cox Luis Alberto Cuéllar Gómez Miguel Ricardo Dávila Ladrón de Guevara Elisa Echagüe Timothy J. Finan Andrés González Aguilera Sonia Carolina López Cerón Joana Laura Marinho Nogueira João Nicédio Alves Nogueira Jessica Piekielek María Isabel Ramírez Anaya Rodrigo F. Rentería-Valencia Lilliana Andrea Ruiz Marín Marcela Vásquez-León