Cooperatives as a Means to Promote Sustainable Livelihoods

Cooperatives play a crucial role in promoting values of self-reliance, good governance, equity and transparency. The concept of cooperatives is based upon the ethical values of openness, honesty and social responsibility. They are organized by a group of persons voluntarily coming together to meet their common social, economic and cultural needs. They are owned and controlled by members in a democratic manner. Active participation of all the members is ensured without any kind of social, racial, political, gender or religious discrimination.
A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned democratically controlled enterprise.

The guiding principles of cooperatives are:

Voluntary and Open Membership
Democratic Member Control
Members’ economic participation
Autonomy and Independence
Education, Training and Information
Cooperation among Cooperatives
Concern for Community.

These principles were developed by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA)

The promotion of sustainable livelihoods is strongly linked with income-generation activities for the community. Cooperatives play a major role in enhancing such activities and satisfying the basic community needs. They provide opportunities to people to organize services – such as financial services, agricultural extension and marketing services, input supply etc – collectively by pooling their resources without depending upon the government or other agencies.

Microfinance, Cooperatives and Microinsurance as Sustainable Solutions……….Goal of Microfinance and Cooperative Strategy……….Cooperatives as a Means to Promote Sustainable Livelihoods……….Self-Help Groups……….Entry-Point Activities……….Savings and Credit Cooperatives……….Sustainability of Cooperatives……….Gender in Microfinance and Cooperatives