The Renaissance of the African Co-op Movement

Eradicating poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the biggest
challenge for the global community today. During the last 25 years, the
number of poor has doubled from 150 million to 300 million, half the
population surviving on $1 a day or less. According to the report of the
Commission for Africa, “the continent needs successful African
entrepreneurs and a strong and vibrant small enterprise sector to provide
the innovation and productivity growth necessary for long-term poverty
reduction”.
Cooperatives are omnipresent on the African continent and represent a
significant part of the private sector in most African countries. In a context
of global effort led by the United Nations to reduce poverty the question is
then to find out what potential does the cooperative form have in practice
to contribute to the development process and then to the set objective?