Issue 65 . December 2018

AriseA Women’s Development Magazine Published by ACFODE

COOPERATIVES AS A VEHICLE TO GENDER EQUALITY & WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN UGANDA

Mission Vision To empower women and A just society where gen- influence legislation and der equality is a reality policy for gender equality in Uganda

Core Purpose Advocacy for gender equality and equity

ACFODE Board of Directors 1. Dr. Euzobia Mugisha Baine - Chairperson 2. Jean Kemitare - Vice Chairperson Editor In Chief 3. Gladys Nairuba - Treasurer Sandra Nassali, [email protected] 4. Richard Makumbi Contributors 5. Susan Bakesha 1. Tobbias Jolly Owiny Editorial Team 6. Stedia Asiimwe 2. Brian Mutebi 1. Regina Bafaki 7. Matilda Makata 3. Mwine Kyarimpa 2. Hellen Twongyeirwe 8. Regina Bafaki - Secretary 4. Owen Wagabaza 3. Julius Ocwinyo 9. Sandra Nassali - Staff Representative 5. Janet Namayengo

ARISE 64 • 3 4 • ARISE 64 Contents 08 THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN UGANDA IS ALIVE: HERE IS WHY

10 REMINISCING ABOUT THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT: EXPERIENCES TO REFLECT UPON

17 THE REINVENTION OF COOPERATIVES: A SUSTAINABLE DRIVE TO GENDER EQUALITY

21 THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN PROMOTING SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN: EVIDENCE FROM MULTIPURPOSE COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN UGANDA

22 HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN’S RIGHT TO LAND AND PROPERTY: A REVIEW OF SHELTER COOPERATIVES IN UGANDA

25 WAYS IN WHICH WOMEN CAN LEAD AND SUCCEED IN COOPERATIVES

27 DECADES LATER, FARMERS’ HOPES FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE COOPERATIVE BANK ARE STILL ALIVE

29 MUST READS ON COOPERATIVES, WOMEN’S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY

29 ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY: THE CO-OPERATIVE WAY

30 THE MATRIARCHS OF ENGLAND’S COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT

30 ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY: THE CO-OPERATIVE WAY

31 ARE COOPERATIVE UNIONS STILL RELEVANT IN UGANDA TODAY?

37 ON THE SIMPLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COOPERATIVES AND SACCOS

39 GOVERNMENT’S MOVE TO REVIVE COOPERATIVES: A GLIMPSE OF HOPE OR THE SAME OLD POLITICAL GAMES?

ARISE 64 • 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Issue 64 . June 2018

AriseA Women’s Development Magazine Published by ACFODE

Dear Editor, Dear Editor I cannot bring myself to thanking you enough for the distinctive presentation on women’s rights with in the refugee setting. For so long, we have waited for a women’s rights NGO in Uganda to bring the issues addressed in this Edition to the limelight. I appreciate ACFODE for talking the lead, and hope that the different stakeholders will take them up for the betterment of refugee women and The Refugee CRisis: girls in Uganda. A Women’s Rights issue

Nabwire Dinnah Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO) Uganda

Dear Editor, I enjoyed this issue very much for one specific reason: when it comes to Gender Based Violence Response and Prevention, the propositions made are tailored speficially for refugee women because their experiences are unique and different from the everyday word. Bravo ACFODE for the job well done.

Richard Makumbi Development Consultant on GBV Response and Prevention

Dear Editor, Thank you for sharing copies of the Magazine with our office. Being the coordinating entity for refugee issues in this country, this Edition has brought to our attention so many concerns that are going to be amongst our top priorities moving forward.

Ndahiriwe Innocent Office of the Prime Minister

6 • ARISE 64 FROM THE EDITOR How did cooperatives start in Uganda? In 1913, a number of native Ugandan farmers came together under an association with the aim of wresting control of the processing and marketing of the crops grown in Ugandafrom the Europeans and Indians. This association became the nucleus of the cooperative movement, which would to be formalised only in 1936. During the first decades of its existence, the cooperative movement thrived. However, later, because of political meddling, it started facing serious challenges. Finally, the 1990s economic liberalisation and privatisation, which also saw the closure of the Uganda Cooperative Bank (UCB), sounded the death knell for the cooperatives as they were known then. However, they didn’t die; they simply evolved into new forms. This then raises the question whether or not cooperatives sill relevant today. The obvious answer is yes – they are alive,well and relevant. We have many types in Uganda, the most common of which are the Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs). In addition, there are multipurpose cooperatives, housing cooperatives and funeral cooperatives (burial societies/ associations), among others.

Cooperatives carry the seeds of the attainment of many of women’s rights. Much as in the past they were the preserve of men, the situation has changed a great deal, with the emergence of all-women cooperatives, mostly SACCOs, and with women reaching for, and Sandra Nassali frequently securing, slots in the top echelons of the various cooperative organisations. In Editor In Chief the process of achieving this level of success, women have had to grapple with a number of [email protected] cultural obstacles, some of which are still very much alive. Yet it is important that women are strongly represented at the top management levels of the cooperatives since this would be of great benefit to everyone.

Should there be hope that the Cooperative Bank will sooner or later rise from the ashes? There have been strong hints from the Ugandan Government regarding its intention to revive the bank. It is hoped that, sooner rather than later, the public hope for this revival will translate into reality.

These, and more, are the matters that Arise 65 brings to the fore.

Enjoy the read!

ARISE 64 • 7 THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN UGANDA IS ALIVE: HERE IS WHY Arise Contributor

erhaps, it is in the anti-establishment spirit Buganda Growers Cooperative was a brainchild of that cooperatives in Uganda have been able to such a development. Despite being faced with two thrive. Historical records show that Uganda’s first opponents – the Asian merchants and the British cooperative was a subversive farmers’ union in administrators – the Ugandan farmers persisted. As a PBuganda formed to undermine the exploitative prices result, between 1946 and 1962, the regime embarked offered by the colonial regime. The 1913 Kinakulya Growers on a process of legislating on and formalising the Cooperative in Mubende shaped the later occurrences by operations of cooperatives in Uganda. The move inspiring sustained pressure on the colonial administration eroded the foreign monopoly on the market, and to grant autonomy to the Ugandan farmers. The 1920 improved the terms of trade for the Ugandan farmers

8 • ARISE 64 hit the many cooperatives that depended on the Cooperative Bank for capital like a tsunami. The Cooperative Bank closure seemed to have been the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Furthermore, the in roads by the multinationals seemed unstoppable. They hijacked trade (both import and export trade, for example) leaving the possibilities for the resurgence of cooperatives in doubt.

But tracing the story of Uganda’s whose signature cash crop then was coffee. cooperative movement to the post-1999 closure is as thrilling and the findings are With the coming of independence, cooperatives unbelievable. Can you believe that there gained even greater agency. In a country whose are over 18,000 cooperatives in Uganda, backbone was agriculture, cooperatives became the excluding the over 8000 SACCOs? Yes, the main driver of increased agricultural productivity. requirement for collateral by commercial The socio-political status of farmers was also raised. banks before advancing financial assistance Farmers started influencing the decisions of the post- to individuals necessitated alternative colonial state. However, the post-colonial leadership measures for, especially, the farmers. Falling read the development as a back on the cooperative threat to the establishment. model, despite the limited Consecutive government Can you believe financing, made more regulations, starting in sense for thousands of 1970, were instituted to that there are citizens, especially the reduce the independence farmers. of the cooperatives. Soon, over 18,000 cooperatives would become Every little town in a political machine, funding cooperatives Uganda is home to at political projects at the least three cooperatives, expense of socio-economic in Uganda, most of which are SACCOs. empowerment. Mainstream Popularised in the wake politics started to also excluding the of the closure of the infiltrate the functioning of Cooperative Bank, SACCOs the cooperatives, with socio- over 8000 have replaced commercial banks in many areas. Even political strife continuously SACCOs? obfuscating their operating those who have accounts environment. Not surprisingly, in commercial banks still it didn’t take more than a subscribe to the SACCOs decade after the 1991 Cooperative Societies Statute and different other cooperatives. If it for the government, through the Bank of Uganda, was mostly farmers that subscribed to to close the Cooperative Bank – the spine that had the cooperatives then, businessmen and firmly held together the cooperative movement in women have since taken over the lead. Uganda. It is undeniable that cooperatives are playing a tremendous role to change the In 1999, Uganda’s airwaves were jammed with news lives of many Ugandans. Many years after of the closure of the Uganda Cooperative Bank. the closure of the Cooperative Bank, it can Fear and frustration filled the farmers, who were be said that cooperatives are still alive and the major stakeholders of the bank. The closure kicking.

ARISE 64 • 9 REMINISCING ABOUT THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT: EXPERIENCES TO REFLECT UPON

Janet Namayengo

10 • ARISE 64 but informally until 1946, when the first Cooperative Ordinances were enacted. According to CoopAFRICAWorking Paper No.15 entitled “Cooperatives: The Sleeping Economic and Social Giants in Uganda” by Lawrence Musiitwa Kyazze (PhD), a lecturer at Makerere University Business School, the Cooperative Ordinance of 1946 and the Cooperative Societies Act of 1962 only served to formalise the already organised cooperatives.

CoopAFRICA is a regional technical cooperation programmeat the Job Creation and Enterprise Development Department of the International Labour Organisation Country Office of the Republic of Tanzania. Among others, the programme contributes to improving governance, efficiency and performance of primary cooperatives, other social economy organisations and their higher-level structures in order to strengthen their capacity to access markets, create jobs, generate income, reduce poverty, provide social protection and give their members a voice and representation in society.

Kyazze writes that by the end of 1946 there were 75 organisations rom 1913, with the formation while the Europeans and their Indian of a cooperative nature. Fifty of of the first farmers’ association, allies would concentrate on the these were agriculture marketing Ugandans started organising into processing and marketing of such societies, eight were shopkeepers’ cooperatives but informally. This produce,” Mukasa wrote. “The racial or supply societies, six were Fwas in response to the exploitative division gave Europeans and Indians consumer stores and the remainder marketing systems that disadvantaged a chance to gain from the production were miscellaneous societies such the native farmers, noted J. Mukasa of these crops to the detriment of as fishermen’s societies (mainly for in his unpublished dissertation on the the Africans. They then realised that the supply of nets), cattle and dairy performance of cooperatives union in forming cooperatives would give them societies and one thrift society. Uganda. “The colonial arrangement a common voice, purpose and strong was that the native farmers would be bargaining power.” The period 1946 to 1970 saw engaged in the production of cash a significant growth of the crops, such as coffee and cotton, So, cooperatives operated in Uganda cooperative movement, especially

ARISE 64 • 11 in the cotton and coffee sectors. In interfered with, and alienated from wherever they could. This was very 1951, cooperatives handled 14,300 membership. The cooperative difficult since cooperators were tons of cotton and coffee. Following movement was misunderstood and its used to handouts so when such the acquisition of two coffee curing economic and social impact greatly was stopped, almost all of them works and 10ginneries in 1956, the underrated by both the membership collapsed because they could not total tonnage rose to 89,308 by 1960. and the public. handle competition.

In 1965, out of 437,923 bales of As a result of political control from He then continues, “besides, cotton produced in the country, outside the movement, members’ people lost interest in cooperatives cooperatives handled 267,420 bales involvement in the management of because most of the cooperatives (61%) in addition to 40% of Robusta cooperatives was eroded. Primary collapsed with people’s produce coffee, valued at USh. 60 million, cooperatives and unions increasingly before they paid their members. and 90% of Arabica coffee, valued at became indebted and they could Farmers thought cooperatives were USh. 30 million. This value is much not effectively provide services to composed of thieving people. higher today, given the inflation of the members. This marked the beginning Many people today still remember Uganda shilling over time. of a steady decline in the performance that, especially those who really of cooperatives. experienced it.” “We earned a lot of money during that time,” says Musa Otim, a retired The period 1992 through 2006 exhibited “Nonetheless,” Kyazze concludes, teacher. “We did not worry about continuous decline of cooperative “the cooperative movement better salaries from the government. commodity marketing. For instance, of remains, with its spidery network We had our plantations to supplement the total coffee exports (130,068 tons) consisting of active, semi-active, our salaries.” in 1992/93, cooperatives accounted for dormant and extinct cooperatives only 22%(28,585 tons). This dropped that total over 10,000 primary The performance of cooperatives in to only 2% (3,868 tons) out of the cooperatives and 40 cooperative the immediate post-colonial period, total of 180,164 tons in 2001/02 and unions that fall under one apex Kyazze writes, was impressive, with the further to a meagre 1% (2,104 tons) cooperative organisation – the government offering them a monopoly out of 162,254 tons in 2006/2007. Uganda Cooperative Alliance. status in agricultural marketing. All the With poor service provision to coffee that was produced was marketed the members, other cooperative- through cooperatives, and when the The early 1990s liberalisation policy like organisations that included Coffee Marketing Board was formed, by the government is blamed for labour unions and community through the board. If it was cotton, it greatly contributing to the collapse based-organisations sprang up to was through the Lint Marketing Board, of cooperatives. After liberalisation, fill the lacuna that had been which greatly benefitted the farmers. anybody could now buy, process and left by agricultural cooperatives. market coffee. Liberation, says Jovenal Nevertheless, the presence of However, this good performance was Kule, General Manager, Mt Rwenzori over 3,000 Savings and Credit short-lived, as political interference Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union, Cooperatives (SACCOs) has and insecurity started to take hold came with changes. “Cooperatives were rekindled the hope of reviving in the 1970s. This was the regime no longer supported by government. If cooperatives in Uganda.” of former president Idi Amin Dada. one was a farmer, they had to organise Cooperatives were greatly mismanaged, themselves and mobilise capital from

12 • ARISE 64 ARISE 64 • 13 CULTURE: A DETRIMENT TO WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN COOPERATIVES

Tobbias Jolly Owiny

he elderly women are dressed years in Uganda in 2013, 14,060 that women are yet to be fully in coloThe elderly women are cooperatives, with a membership of engaged in cooperatives owing to dressed in colourful light- about 4 million people, were confirmed gender inequalities perpetuated by green T-shits as they showcase to be registered with the Ministry of cultural norms and practices. The Ttheir cosmetics during the World Trade, Industry and Cooperatives. union serves Gulu, Nwoya, Amuru Environment Day at Patongo sub- and Omoro districts and has 96 county yard in Agago district. The government, through the Ministry affiliated cooperative societies. of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, is Gathered in one of the tents erected for currently planning to revive and promote Bob Alberto Ogen, the union’s exhibitors of products made from wild the formation of cooperatives across manager, said that a major plants, the women, who are members the country owing to the fact that they challenge to the society that of Onenanyim Cooperative Society in can be an effective means through mainly engages in cotton Agago district, are exhibiting cosmetics which the poor can achieve economic production, processing and and food products the society members security and an improved quality of life. marketing, was the societal make from shea butter. Onenanyim Cooperative Society is one of attitude that cotton is a male the cooperatives in the country whose crop that women have nothing The ripe fruits of the shea tree are activities are being revived. to do with. The women may be harvested between April and August involved in the production of cash each year. During this period, the However, although females form the crops, but culture bars them from members often go to the forests to majority of cooperative members as, active involvement in the selling harvest shea fruits. They roast or crush indeed, they constitute the bulk of of the cash crops. them while still raw to get to extract those involved in the agriculture the precious butter, which is boiled, sector, and therefore perform the bulk This resulted in unintended sorted, packaged and sold at the local of the tasks in producing the crops consequences, because women did markets or exported. that cooperatives deal in, culture the donkey work and men would continues to influence or, rather, only surface during the harvest Reviving cooperatives hinder the participation of women in and sale of cotton, women ignored Cooperative unions have registered the activities of cooperative societies. the society’s activities and cotton growth in number since 1913 when growing in general. the first farmers’ association was Cultural obstacles founded by African farmers. When the West Acholi Cooperative Union in According to Ogen, women are cooperative movement marked 100 northern Uganda is a case that shows culturally believed to be suited

14 • ARISE 64 However, although females form the majority of cooperative members as, indeed, they constitute the bulk of those involved in the agriculture sector, and therefore perform the bulk of the tasks in producing the crops that cooperatives deal in, culture continues to influence or, rather, hinder their participation in the activities of cooperative societies.

ARISE 64 • 15 solely to caretaking in households. To that effect, men often question the women’s suitability for leadership. Men, Ogen observed, think women do not have the time to deal with leadership responsibilities of managing cooperatives because most times they are engaged in domestic work, as culture dictates.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are challenges both women did not only return to the union Ogen said they had challenges within co-operatives and in the but their numbers have since doubled. in bringing women and youth on environment in which co-operatives boara in their cooperative because operate. The marginalisation of women Voluntary Savings and Loan cooperatives were seen as projects in the public sphere and the structural Associations (VSLAs) have also been for males and adults. Women have exclusion of women from financial introduced where members, comprised a significant role in carrying out mechanisms have hindered them mainly of women, save on a weekly economic activities yet their from reaping the sweet fruits of the basis and pool finances from which contribution is seldom recognised. cooperative movement in Uganda. they can borrow for business and livelihood needs. Kweyo and Pabo Rice Cooperative He also noted that, much as Uganda’s societies in Amuru district education sector and stakeholders are Started in 2001, Onenanyim are working to fight gender emphasising girl-child education, skills Cooperative Society was set up by the inequalities. Esther Arac, a member development and education for girls women to counter the male-dominated of Pabo Rice Cooperative Society, and young women are still inadequate. cooperative society, according to the says it is a condition that members This paints them as inferior to men society’s secretary, Kevin Adong. should come with their spouses as far as the distribution of roles for meetings and while receiving and responsibilities in cooperatives is “We came together as a group in payments for their produce sold concerned. 2001wanting to deal in cotton as a through the society. women-only group because we hardly Skills gaps among many women means benefitted from the crop that we “This is one way of engaging that they lack the level of education or produced in our households,” Adong women because, in any case, it technical capacity to, among others, stated. is the women who do the garden undertake the negotiations or advocacy work. They should, therefore, see required in cooperatives. Such cultural Like many women in the countryside, the proceeds from their labour,” challenges faced by women extend Adong has the responsibility to fend Arac said. In Kweyo Cooperative beyond the social sphere to include for her family. Yet, she says, her Society’s VSLA group, 80% of the legal restrictions that institutionalise husband kept her away from making members are women. women’s marginality, for example in any decisions over how to use the land acquisition and management money got from sale of farm produce. Ms Kevin Adong, a member of which are key for production as it were. the group, says the society has “Today the decisions over what to do empowered her to learn modern Countering cultural impediments with proceeds from our shea butter methods of farming, which is To counter the cultural impediments, business purely rests with us. Previously, improving her livelihood. “I have diversification is considered the however, I and the children did all the gained skills and knowledge in appropriate remedy. West Acholi garden work and the men only appeared agribusiness and other economic Cooperative Union introduced sorghum at harvest and sale time to dictate how activities. I can access business and soybeans as alternatives to its the money was to be used,” she noted. financing and market through the members and, according to Ogen, the cooperatives,” Adong said. THE REINVENTION OF COOPERATIVES: A SUSTAINABLE DRIVE TO GENDER EQUALITY

ARISE 63 • 17 he close of the second millennium operation of the most recent model improve without the financial in Uganda announced itself of cooperatives. When the traditional cooperatives. The process of value in a shocking manner. Charles cooperatives got challenges, they were addition needs finances. It is often Kikonyongo, the then Bank of a result of financial mismanagement through SACCOs that this demand TUganda Governor, released a statement and governance issues. But the most can be fulfilled. that the Uganda Cooperative Bank had recent cooperatives are in the form of become insolvent. On 19 May 1999, the SACCOs. Some SACCOS are community- What is the strength of the bank was closed. That single statutory based, operating especially upcountry, new cooperative unions? What action had instantly crippled the while some are non-community-based. guarantees their sustainability? hopes and aspirations of many farmers’ The community-based SACCOs have, We cannot fully grasp the reasons cooperatives. Over a long period of in fact, displaced the commercial for the collapse of the Cooperative time, the general consensus has been banks in some areas. People don’t Bank, given that we didn’t receive that the cooperatives were dead and normally clearly differentiate SACCOs a liquidation report from the buried. Yet reading the demographics from cooperatives. Yet, SACCOs are one government. We are mitigating the seems to suggest something different. form of cooperatives. They are, though, unforeseen challenges by building Over the last 20 years, the number of only financial cooperatives which internal reserves. Internal capital cooperatives has increased. mainly came into exsitance after the through shareholding by members 1999 closure of the Cooperative Bank, enables the SACCOs to survive in Conversations with Dennis Ashaba of courtesy of the Uganda Cooperative case of any discontinuation of Uganda Central Cooperative Financial Alliance. subscription by any given member. Services Ltd (UCCFS), Dorothy Baziwe The new SACCOs cannot be of Shelter and Settlement Alternatives So how are you striking a balanced entirely affected by, for example, (SSA), Kiyingi Edward of Uganda working relationship with the withdrawal of external funding. Housing Cooperative Union (UHOCU) different cooperatives? and several other stakeholders in the We are promoting an integrated What are you doing differently cooperative movement in Uganda approach within cooperatives by, from the Cooperative Bank? have been quite illuminating on the for example, creating a link between Digital financing is our target resilience of cooperatives. However, the financial cooperatives and non- presently. It is an attempt to they have evolved into a new form. financial cooperatives. The producer modernise the operations of cooperatives will, for example, not SACCOs. We have a programme UCCFS was formed to act as a central where we are supporting SACCOs to financial authority for cooperatives put up the infrastructure required after the collapse of Uganda The standard to promote mobile banking. We are Cooperative Bank. The aim was to giving the SACCOs computers, solar provide meaningful loans, competitive bylaw systems, internet connectivity and interest rates and secure savings printers as part of the logistical kit accounts to all its members. governing to facilitate mobile banking. Eighty cooperatives in Uganda are now With over 25 years of experience in cooperatives using the M-SACCO technology. cooperative societies, Ashaba, in his conversation with , starts off by is that a third We are also promoting insurance offering us an insight into the status services – with life insurance and of the modern cooperative. of the leaders general insurance policies. Each should be loan, too, from SACCOs, should be Are Cooperatives really still alive? insured so that no one incurs loses It is a misconception that cooperatives women in case of unprecedented failure to are dead and dormant. They are pay back. actually up and running. However, the modus operandi of the traditional We are also, however, targeting cooperatives is different from the rural producer organisations

18 • ARISE 64 (RPOs), area cooperative enterprises education. Illiteracy levels are more leaders should be women. We and some cooperatives in northern and pronounced among the women than are using this model within our eastern Uganda. the men. Financial illiteracy among the structures to lobby for more like- women is thus more prominent than minded organisations to implement How are you incorporating the among men. this gender guideline. Within our participation of women into all structures, women in management these programmes? Akampurira Doreen, the Manager of have also been beneficiaries of We are developing and implementing Kanungu Teacher’s SACCO, she offered exchange visits to other countries products and programmes that are me a different but related insight: like Canada and within Africa where specifically suited to the women and Many female teachers don’t have they learn from other cooperatives. youths. Sheema Girls School can attest individual rights to property. This In addition, apart from capacity- to the success of these initiatives, affects their ability to process loans building, we are starting financial through their savings club. We are also from us because, even though we literacy programmes, which will working with several schools in eastern would like to help, the property is enable the sensitised women to and central Uganda. Parents are also always registered in the name of the start up profit-making activities being engaged to participate and they man, and if not, in the names of both for themselves. are appreciative. Women are also partners. This, then, requires the man being organised into saving groups, to be present if we are to take a land We are providing on-site and such as Niginas and Obubox. title as a mortgage. off-site technical support to cooperatives. They send us their But why then do we continue to see But how are UCCFS’ structures monthly returns and we analyse more success stories from men than themselves being utilised to cater the reports and give them feedback from the women? for gender equality? on areas where they are doing well The problem comes from our past The standard bylaw governing and those they need to improve history that for long denied women cooperatives is that a third of the in. Several times we do field visits

ARISE 64 • 19 and train leaders and management, Well, it is hoped, that soon the and engage the members themselves government will revive the Cooperative so as to enable them to acquire the Bank. necessary information. How is the government supporting How do you think you can be you in this drive? supported to promote this gender The government, through ministers and equality initiative? area MPs, has been very supportive. We We are working on several gender-policy have been pushing of legislation for prototypes to be used by our different cooperatives and we now have the cooperatives. We want to ensure that Microfinance Institutions and Money every policy in any cooperative has Lenders Act 2016. We have seen a gender element embedded in it. the introduction of the Microfinance Perhaps ACFODE will helps to do this. Regulatory Authority and all this is aimed at creating discipline within the “ We are working Later, I have a conversation with cooperatives. The Ministry of Trade, on several Uganda Housing Cooperative’s Edward Industry and Cooperatives has been Kiyingi, who holds out the same hopes: very influential and supportive. The gender-policy SACCOs’ financial discipline is being A lot needs to come from organisations enforced by the government. prototypes like ACFODE to create the link between gender and housing. For cooperatives Recently, the government gave to be used by to appreciate the gender concerns, cooperatives a tax exemption. How all those advocating for gender is this being used to support the our different equality need to get deeper into the women? communities. In Housing Cooperatives, The ten-year tax exemption was cooperatives. We women are able to own property and not given freely. We lobbied for it. defeat all cultural prejudices that deny The government first bowed to the want to ensure them the right to own property. Coming pressure we had exerted by offering tax together of women in cooperatives has exemption to only agriculture-related that every also strengthened the fight against businesses. But we kept on pressuring gender inequality. government till we secured the ten- policy in any year exemption. We shall continue to cooperative has More insights from Mr Ashaba lobby for a permanent tax exemption Dennis: on cooperatives and this will benefit a gender element What is the UCCFS’s relationship all members. with the commercial banks? embedded in it.” We enjoy a very healthy working relationship with the commercial Dennis Ashaba, banks. When we started, we never wanted to create parallel financial Uganda Central structures. Even when we are giving money to cooperatives, we channel the Cooperative money through the banks. Our loans are also paid through the banks. Not Financial only do we have accounts with the commercial banks, but we also run link Services Ltd accounts with them. (UCCFS).

20 • ARISE 64 THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN PROMOTING SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN: EVIDENCE FROM MULTIPURPOSE COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN UGANDA

Brian Mutebi access to goods and services, and promoting women in Semuliki Cooperative Union leadership through training in Limited cooperative governance. SEMCU Semuliki Cooperative Union Limited also conducts radio talk shows started in 2010 as Bundibugyo Cocoa on gender equality. Association. It was a smallholder cocoa producer organisation Mt Rwenzori Coffee Farmers’ operating in Bundibugyo district. It Cooperative Union was established to respond to the challenges faced by the small-scale Mt Rwenzori Coffee Farmers’ cocoa producers in the district. The Cooperative Union was union now has 80 collective market established in 2014. The union centres in 14 sub-counties, with was started with 25 farmers, a total of 1,837 members – 962 among whom were four women, men and 875 women. The union’s who mobilized the existing core business portfolios include small primary coffee farmers’ facilitating collective marketing of groups. Today, however, 40% of members’ cocoa; training of member the members are women. farmers; resource mobilization through shares, commissions and A five-year project supported subscriptions; research, lobbying by WE Effect and a $250,000 and advocacy support; provision grant from the United States of agricultural information; value Agricultural Development Fund addition, innovative linkages to (USADF) is helping the union other service providers such as purchase equipment and set up buyers, input dealers and financial facilities such as the store for the institutions, such as banks; and post-harvest storage of coffee. encouraging a saving culture among members. The union ensures that women have access to land so they can The union is also empowering plant their own coffee. Farmers women through a number of and the general community are activities, including the Women also trained. Communities are in Business (WIB) scheme, where sensitised to women’s rights women are advanced loans at an to land, including inheriting interest rate of 1%to boost their land. Increasingly women are production, ensuring that members inheriting land from their have equal rights such as freedom parents. of speech, rights to property and

ARISE 64 • 21 HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN’S RIGHT TO LAND AND PROPERTY: A REVIEW OF SHELTER COOPERATIVES IN UGANDA Mwine Kyarimpa

helter remains one of the fastened to their backs who stroll housing cooperatives where house- most challenging basic needs around the countryside in search of a dreaming and designing are done. in Uganda. Walking down the place they can call home. Formation streets, or rather alleyways, of of UHOC in 2013 was a bold move Shelter and Settlements Alternatives SKatanga and Bwaise in Kampala or to confront the housing challenge in (SSA), one of the cooperatives Katete and Kajogo in Mbarara, one Uganda, by the coming together of 10 under UHOC, attests strongly to is hit by the horror of poor housing housing cooperatives with the hope woman’s engagement in housing facilities. The intensity of the horror of improving the depressingly poor cooperatives. Not only has the is amplified by the living conditions of housing standards. With a number dream for adequate housing become the slum dwellers who inhabit them. of female-based cooperatives, the a reality, but from this have accrued Biblical saying in Proverbs 14:1 that union has been able to defuse the the dividends of decent, affordable every wise woman builds her home is chauvinistic mentality that it is men and sustainable human settlements. rendered irrelevant here. Just like some who should construct houses. Though One can’t fail but get inspired forces challenge the gravitational pull, the demographics of the female-based by the amazing Wakiso-Bujukko the housing situation in these areas cooperatives still signify a union of housing demonstration set up by defeats any individual effort to build stigmatised women – the widowed, the women and the urban poor. SSA has any decent homes. Over and above the HIV-positive and victims of gender- joined the campaign to deconstruct seediness, most of these homes are based violence in homes, UHOC is the stereotypical narratives that also characterised by absentee fathers empowering more women to get relegate women’s rights to land and and sickly children. Inspite of such engaged. Tapping into the religious property and foreground the role of challenges, with combined efforts, movements that have recently organized women in determining the kind of and member-based initiatives, some most of the women has been even more settlements they wish to reside in. cooperatives have sought to grapple constructive. The youths, too, though However, being careful enough not with the poor housing demographics in unemployed, have since got interested to assert another hegemonic social Uganda. in the housing initiative. The fight trajectory, cooperatives have taken has been extended to negotiating for a gendered approach to building a The formation of the Uganda Housing property rights for different groups new Uganda through engaging men Cooperative Union (UHOC) has its of women and enabled the women to in these empowering initiatives. For roots in related history – a united assert themselves, take up the mantle many families, the house designs attempt to provide adequate housing and spearhead the construction of have been a handiwork of both for the low-income earners or the desirable homes. Women are not only husbands and wives. socio-economically disadvantaged saving and financially contributing to communities, the majority of whom the construction of houses through This development relieving the are struggling mothers. The epitome buying shares, but they also now sit on distress that grips those young of these are the hundreds with babies the construction committees of several males wishing to join the institution

22 • ARISE 64 of marriage who fail for fear of having Women are not to carry the burden of building the house? Both women and men should only saving determine how a home should look. initiative is member -based and Moreover, though the onus for a and financially therefore relies on t members that definite home most times rests on are normallz are given technical the man, a decent home is always a contributing to support whenever the need arises. woman’s mantle. SSA also has an advocacy arm the construction whose mandate is to advocate and Dorothy Baziwe and UHOC’s Edward of houses lobby to the central government as Kiyingi revealed more about well as regional and international housing cooperatives. bodies for the right to adequate through buying housing. In putting the formation of the shares, but they Uganda Housing Cooperative in SSA is a sort of conduit. Relying context, Kiyingi said that since also now sit on on the findings it comes up housing is a fundamental basic need, with in communities, it lobbies they sought to enable members with the construction and advocates certain rights. low incomes to access adequate Membership of SSA is open to housing in Uganda. committees of people who are interested in a cooperative approach to housing. several housing They pay a membership fee and an cooperatives annual subscription. SSA has influenced a number of where house policies, such as the National Land Policy. Before the formation of dreaming and UHOC there was a gap in sensitising communities to the functionality designing are of the housing cooperative model. However, the groups that done. SSA recommended have become successful housing cooperatives SSA has also worked with women and the urban poor on their rights to property and land. When I asked Dorothy Baziwe what the inspiration for SSA was, she said Kiyingi agreed with the above that SSA started as an NGO working in testimony and added that UHOC has communities in an effort to improve a lot of land scattered within the their living conditions. Since poor cooperatives, many of which are, solid management and crowding in in fact, through with their housing informal settlements, such as slums, prototypes. They have also come were rampant, SSA was an approach up with a rural model and, with to enable the grass-roots person to the involvement of SSA, UHOC has change their housing situation and an already established a housing access decent and affordable housing. demonstration.

Members were drawn from the northern, Ms Baziwe added that they had been central and eastern regions. The working with a group from Kisenyi

ARISE 63 • 23 that was under threat of eviction. The Baziwe revealed that SSA’s staff are policy, for both an internal and cooperative was registered in 2014. drawn from university students who are external purposes which guides how Housing units were conceptualised training in areas such as architecture, SSA functions and interacts and and designed with the involvement engineering and sociology. SSA tries to engages with its constituencies. of the members. Each housing unit ensure gender balance in recruitment. comprises two bedrooms, a toilet, a In UHOC, on the other hand, according In connection with the sitting and a kitchen area and cost USh. to Kiyingi, it is the number of shares one organizational structures, Mr 26 million. To occupy a house, one has holds that determines one’s eligibility, Kiyingi remarked that there is need to pay a commitment fee of one million irrespective of gender. However, to streamline them more. This is shillings. The monthly payment for each everyone is given an equal opportunity because the top structures are household is USh. 75,000/=. Since it is to attend training organised by UHOC. affected by the lower ones. UHOC a cooperative, families only hold the On her part, Ms Baziwe said that emphasises the inclusion of women right to occupy after payment of the navigating the political currents related on their committees, so that they, USh. 26 million. to housing has not been easy but SSA too, can have the opportunity to has chosen not to be side-tracked. rise to the top. Ms Baziwe asserted that since the Kiyingi’s experience has, however, Ms Baziwe also revealed that SSA agricultural cooperatives – the most been different. He said that since has cooperatives that are female- numerous – have been dominated by cooperatives are autonomous, UHOC based and others with both male men, this trend has crept into the works with each of them independently. and female members. These are housing cooperatives. However, women This is because their dreams are always found in both urban and rural areas. have been empowered to understand different. their rights and to carefully select which Kiyingi asserted that government people to partner with. Nevertheless, Ms Baziwe observed that the future is support is unreliable because of the women still feel intimidated; they very bright. Men are starting to want politicised divide that characterises still find it difficult to respond when to talk openly with their women over housing. However, cooperatives challenged in such cooperative meetings several socio-economic issues in greater cannot sit and lament but have and they shy away from taking up and greater numbers. Furthermore, more to continue to push for decent leadership positions. people, including women, are beginning housing. They have, in fact, to take up the initiatives to reconstruct come up with different types of Regarding recruitment of staff, Ms society themselves. SSA has a gender interventions to achieve this.

24 • ARISE 64 to governance and leadership, poor capitalisation, inadequate knowledge, and management.

More female farmers are marginalised with respect to participating in and benefiting from cooperative groups compared to men. Women represent only 35% of cooperative membership and even fewer are found in management positions, although there is a growing interest by government and stakeholders in supporting women in cooperatives dealing in agriculture and cooperative union development.

Cooperative societies provide an institutional framework through which basic human needs can be met besides their significant contribution to poverty eradication and employment, thus ensuring environmental sustainability and mainstreaming gender.

WAYS IN WHICH The empowerment of women in leadership in cooperatives is crucial WOMEN CAN LEAD for the realisation of the benefits that accrue from cooperatives. The inclusion of women is, thus, key AND SUCCEED IN to creating well-targeted policies that will help farmers and the cooperatives increase not only COOPERATIVES their relevance but also their Tobbias Jolly Owiny productivity for greater benefits.

he question of gender diversity collective bargaining power, women In Uganda, women form the is encouragingly on course in represent only one (1) in five (5) backbone of most cooperative the cooperative movement and positions of the leadership in the societies because they provide agricultural industry in Uganda. cooperative movement. This is based most of the agricultural labour. TThis is largely because women continue on a 2015 report by the Ministry of At Bugisu Cooperative Union, the to provide a large proportion of the Trade, Industry and Cooperatives. biggest cooperative that deals in labour in the agriculture sector. coffee in the country, women are Unexploited potential taking up leadership roles. For Yet, much as cooperatives in the The Ministry stated that the potential of example, women have taken up agriculture sector potentially empower the cooperative enterprises in fostering positions at the union and affiliated women economically to enhance development is yet to be harnessed societies to work as accountants, their incomes as well as boost their owing to internal problems related administrators, as well as section

ARISE 64 • 25 and zonal heads. Nandala Mafabi, the Union’s Chairperson, said that since Women should be treated as resourceful Recently in a statement, Ms the union’s policies were revised eight persons and equal partners with men in Amelia Kyambadde, the Trade, years ago to realise gender parity, development. Policies that regulate Industry and Cooperatives Minister, the number of women has almost the sector should provide women observed that cooperatives are an doubled from 23% to 43% and women members in cooperatives with the ideal instrument in a new approach shareholding has increased from 10% opportunity to participate in decision- to poverty reduction through the in 2010 to 20% in 2018. making. Women’s participation will participation and inclusion of directly ensure women’s voice besides women. “Through women inclusion Women make up 35% of staffing at challenging the status quo. into the local development Bugisu Cooperative Union, which initiatives, cooperative members has 278 societies with an average of At the same time, interventions and learn from one another, innovate 600,000 members. Of the four zones policies that are already in place should together and, by increasing control that the union has, 50% of the 80 be enforced to address constraints to over livelihoods, build up the delegates representing the zones at women’s participation in cooperatives. sense of dignity, self-esteem and the union’s council are women. The constraints are socio-cultural, freedom from servitude,” she said. economic and political restrictions. Promoting women’s leadership Kyambadde acknowledged that the “Women are more development- Government and financial institutions challenges of globalisation require oriented, and at Bugisu Cooperative should guarantee women’s access to strong local communities, strong Union, we have encouraged many of and control over resources such as local leadership and strong local them into leadership. Today some credit, education, training, production solutions, and cooperatives have organisations demand to buy from inputs and marketing. There is need for key organisational frameworks us, specifically coffee from women tangible support and commitment by for building new business models farmers, as a way of directly boosting the state and cooperatives to support to combat social exclusion them,”Nandala said. organisations to integrate engendered, and poverty. The government policies, regulations, practices and emphasizes a rights-based Ms Anja Defeijter, a Dutch agronomist services. approach to the development and director of House of Seeds Uganda, of the cooperative movement in says that for sustainable agricultural Renewed approaches Uganda, including gender equity. development through cooperatives to To catalyse the creation of a definitive be translated into food and nutrition fact base on women’s advancement in security, active engagement of women leadership roles within cooperatives, in the policy-making processes there is need for a collaborative is required so that “their varying initiative that examines the gender Women should needs and priorities are appropriately gap in cooperatives and looks at what targeted.” can be done to close it. be treated as

She emphasizes the need to recognise According to the Ministry of Trade, resourceful the role of women in cooperatives and and Cooperatives, deliberate gender- persons and get them to move beyond production for sensitive policies have been developed subsistence to leadership and higher- in all types of cooperatives. For equal partners value market-oriented production. example, there has to be a woman and a youth on the governing committees. with men in The activities of women in cooperatives should be reviewed to examine women’s These new policies adopted by cooperatives. involvement and participation in order cooperatives are enabling women to to indicate the extent to which women access products and services, and also are integrated into or bypassed by to improve on their businesses and government interventions, she said. entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.

26 • ARISE 64 DECADES LATER, FARMERS’ HOPES FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE COOPERATIVE BANK ARE STILL ALIVE Arise Contributor

rony is when both the bride and own initiative to revive the bank. He scores of Ugandans by Ms Amelia the groom rely on each other to said, “I am waiting for you to put Kyambadde, the Minister of Trade, procure the wedding ring and, in place whatever is necessary to Industry and Cooperatives, in on the morning of the wedding, revive the bank.” This must have sent 2016. Recently, the minister had Ithey wake up to the shock of their a worrying signal to all those who also decried Bank of Uganda’s lifetime – neither actually acquired have been looking forward to a time delay in releasing audit and the ring. Such is the surprise that when the media shall be awash with liquidation reports about the recently waylaid Ugandans that had the news of the Cooperative Bank’s closure of Uganda Cooperative been hopeful for the government resurrection. Promises of the bank’s Bank. revival of the Cooperative Bank. The revival had been popularised by the Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, told state through some of its ministers. The setting of the sun, sometime them that the government, too, had However, Kasaija’s remark dashed in May 1999, coincided with actually been waiting for the people’s the hope that had been instilled in the closure of the 35-year-old

ARISE 64 • 27 Cooperative Bank. The bank that the country. If the latter assertion had come to be mainly associated has any grain of truth, then the hope with farmers came tumbling down is there for the revival of the Uganda under a Bank of Uganda decree. Both Cooperative Bank is just but a mirage. administrative and financial mishaps were at the centre of the closure. Nonetheless, if the government has The move, however, curtailed the been waiting for the interested growing socio-political and economic citizens to spearhead the revival of autonomy that farmers had started to the Cooperative Bank, then the bank amass. The fair agricultural loans that should have been operational like had been easy to acquire became as yesterday. The multiple cooperatives hard to access as it was for a donkey strewn across the country define the to pass through the eye of a needle. most recent developments in the The interest and repayment terms different sectors of the society. With set by commercial banks became a over 25,000 existing cooperatives, thorn in the flesh of the cooperative the revival of the Uganda Cooperative union members, in view of their Bank would not only raise the living meagre resources. Since then, farmers standards of the members but also and the other cooperative movement improve the state of different sectors, advocates have sought to rely on the such as housing, farming and trade. government for both financial and Unfortunately, technical support. The government, The process of reinstituting the in a bid to provide support, has, Cooperative Bank seems underway but it seems, for however, often responded with what is the best option to undertake? firefighting approaches that only Should it be a reinforcement of the Uganda postpone a problem by reducing its the existing structures such as the urgency. Some programmes aimed at Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) Cooperative Bank agricultural or commodity financing, and Uganda Central Cooperative for example, are unsustainable and Financial Services Limited (UCCFS) or to be revived, unguaranteed. should the reinstitution be an entire the state has to process of setting up new structures Unfortunately, it seems, for the and operational modules? Whatever first compensate Uganda Cooperative Bank to idea the government and the people be revived, the state has to first agree on, a section of Ugandans will claimants compensate claimants who lost their surely be the happiest – the Ugandan finances with the bank’s closure. The farmer. Embedded in the revival of who lost their compensation has to, however, rely the Cooperative Bank are dreams of on Bank of Uganda’s report. Is the extensive modernised agriculture, finances with report ever going to come out? Is the value addition and sustainable export government willing to compensate trade. The revival of the bank would the bank’s all claimants? The popular narrative also be the dawn of a new era for the that emerged in the aftermath of thousands of struggling cooperatives, closure. The the closure was that the bank had many of which are financial. become insolvent. The farmers who compensation were the main stakeholders in the cooperatives, however, dispute this has to, however, narrative. They claim that the state feared the threat which their financial rely on Bank of independence was beginning to cause Uganda’s Support. on the socio-political trajectory of

28 • ARISE 64 MUST READS ON COOPERATIVES, WOMEN’S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY

ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY: THE CO-OPERATIVE WAY Author: International Labour Organization

he adoption of the Beijing models to development which this knowledge gap. Declaration and Platform incorporate women’s equality for Action at the Fourth in work are needed. Rooted in Drawing on surveys and World Conference on values of self-help, equality, interviews with experts TWomen in 1995 laid the foundation and equity, as well as economic and practitioners from the for action towards gender equality growth through cooperation co-operative, labour and in all aspects of economic, social, and democratic processes, women’s movements, this cultural and political life. Twenty co-operative enterprises are well- report sets forth a preliminary years later, the International positioned to answer this call. review of the interface Labour Organization (ILO) and the between the co-operative International Co-operative Alliance The Blueprint for a Co-operative movement, women’s (Alliance) have come together to Decade, adopted by the General empowerment and gender assess how one particular sector— Assembly of Alliance in 2012, equality. The findings suggest the co-operative movement— set forth key ambitions for the that various manifestations is impacting (and is impacted co-operative movement. According of gender equity have by) progress towards women’s to the Blueprint, one critical area been achieved across the empowerment and gender equality. for co-operative development is co-operative movement, creating economic opportunities and that the co-operative Great strides have been made for marginalized populations— model is particularly adept towards gender equality over the especially women. Another key at addressing women’s last two decades. Nevertheless, area is to, “elevate participation empowerment and gender deep gender disparities persist within membership and equality concerns. However, across the globe, surfacing governance to a new level”, which the findings also identify in labour markets, as well as entails expanding membership to various obstacles to women’s other realms. Compared to men, include more women and further empowerment and gaps in women continue to earn less, are engaging women members in gender equality that persist more likely to partake in unpaid cooperative democratic processes. within the co-operative labour, and are more apt to be Despite a push for gender movement. In responding excluded from decent work and equity in co-operative policy to these obstacles and opportunities for advancement. and practice, little evidence has gaps, the report sets forth As gender equity is increasingly documented whether and in what recommendations for policy seen as a pillar for sustainable ways co-operatives affect women’s and practice. It also indicates economic development and broad empowerment and gender equity. areas that warrant further social well-being, alternative The present report aims to address research.

ARISE 64 • 29 MUST READS ON COOPERATIVES, WOMEN’S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY THE MATRIARCHS OF ENGLAND’S COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT Author: Barbara J. Blaszak

urrent thinking considers by the realities of working-class the Women’s Cooperative life turned the Guild into a Guild within the English clique dominated by a few. Even Cooperative Movement to the Guild’s most revered leader, Chave been an independent and Margaret Llewelyn Davies, found it democratically run organization impossible to escape the gendered whose leaders built sisterhood socio-economic circumstances in across class lines and achieved which she labored at her ministry many benefits for married to improve the lives of working- working-class women. This study class women. Consequently, her of the dynamics of gender within leadership inadvertently assisted the movement between 1883 male cooperators in their attempts and 1921 arrives at different to limit possibilities for women. conclusions. Blaszak examines what freedoms of speech and As Blaszak recounts the story of activity women were permitted the Women’s Cooperative Guild, within the movement, as well she does so more broadly in as what resources they were the context of the gendered given to accomplish their tasks. politics of the cooperative Ultimately, the parameters set movement as a whole. She argues by the men would determine the convincingly that men established type of female leadership that the boundaries in which women emerged and whether it was able operated, that they feared the to realize its feminist and utopian feminization of cooperation, agendas. and that, consequently, much of the previous work on the Guild Setting the organization’s has tended to overestimate activities within the context of the achievements of female gender relations in the Cooperative cooperation. The book makes an Movement, Blaszak finds that the important contribution to our Guild was much more dependent understanding of the gendered and much less democratically politics of cooperation in modern directed than has usually been society. supposed. Restrictions established by male cooperators and enhanced

30 • ARISE 64 ARE COOPERATIVE UNIONS STILL RELEVANT IN UGANDA TODAY? The government is engaged in a drive to revive cooperatives and has taken various measures to that effect, including rebranding the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Industry as the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives. We spoke to several persons on whether or not cooperatives are still relevant in Uganda today.

Morrison Rwakakamba, CEO, Agency for Transformation

With over 24 million citizens connected to mobile phones, over 17 million browsing the internet daily and millions tuning in to more than 300 FM radio stations broadcasting in local languages, I don’t think we still need the kind of cooperatives that operated in 1970s and 1980s to connect farmers and small businesses to markets. Today, small-scale farmers have institutionalised informal collective marketing arrangements to increase their profits. In places like Kasanda, for example, when crops are ready for harvest, farmers call relatives in urban centres on their mobile phones, to check market prices. Trusted community informants circulate the information and survey households’ expected harvest. The farmers bring their matooke to collection centres on designated days, where community representatives finalise negotiations and collect and distribute payments. This informal way of connecting means farmers in Kasanda do not have to pay bulking and marketing fees to the cooperative. Cooperatives that want to survive must understand such new realities. We should support old cooperatives if they are willing to re-invent themselves to align with new realities or rather support emerging new ways of organising.

ARISE 64 • 31 Agnes Kyotalengerire, Senior Writer, New Vision

Cooperatives are potential game changers in Uganda’s aspiration to transform itself from a peasant to a modern middle-income country by 2040. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals’ theme of “leaving no one behind”, cooperatives provide a vehicle through which the predominantly rural workforce and the dynamic urban sector can be integrated into Uganda’s transformation agenda. Cooperatives play an important role in socioeconomic development through the creation of jobs, improvement of member income, enhancement of agricultural production and productivity, and the promotion of value addition and social stability. Therefore, development discourse on cooperatives should cease confining itself to the agricultural sector and include all other sectors. However, for the game- changing potential of cooperatives to be fully harnessed, the government ought to deliberately coordinate and nurture them within the realm of liberalisation. Research shows that there is urgent need to bolster the productivity and competitiveness of cooperative enterprises. This could be achieved by supporting them to improve production, post-harvest handling and quality control, bulking and marketing, corporate governance and overall business management.

Francis Gonahasa, MP, Kibweri County

We need to go back to cooperatives so as to organise better the growing, marketing and payment for produce. Cooperatives provide a better way of organising production, markets and prices of agricultural products. When we were children, there were very many vibrant cooperative societies such as Busoga Growers’ Co-operative Union, Banyankore Kweterana and Masaka Cooperative Union, among others. These unions were so organised that at one time, Busoga Growers lent money to the British government. They had so much money that they were able to lend to a government! That time, both markets and payments were certain and this is what we need now. We have just seen the price of maize at its lowest. Cooperatives play a huge role in marketing of and payment for produce.

32 • ARISE 64 Prisca Baike, Businesswoman

Cooperatives are still relevant, for Uganda is majorly an agricultural country and though agriculture contributes less to the GDP, it employs the majority of the people. There is also a deliberate effort by the government to make agriculture a profitable source of livelihood, to make sure that people increase output and maximise revenue from farming. This can only be achieved through assuring farmers that there is a market and good prices for their produce. Only cooperatives have the potential to do that. President Museveni recently launched the Sukulu Phosphates Plant in Tororo, whose major product will be fertilisers, but the plant will be of no use if there are no unions to bring farmers together to share best farming practices like the use of fertilisers and post-harvest handling, among others. It is through cooperatives that agriculture can reclaim its lost glory.

Dr Fred Muhumuza, Economist

Development is anchored in institutions. People do not trust people but institutions. For the government to re-organise agriculture and improve on the quality of smallholder farmers, it has to revisit our institutions and one of these is the cooperatives. There is a narrative that smallholder farmers are not commercial, but can you say the same about the matooke and milk producers in Western Uganda? It is people who want to grab other people’s land who say people must leave the land so that we commercialise. You can still commercialise under smallholder farming models, but this is possible through cooperatives .In Uganda, because of the land tenure system, we have no space for commercial farmers, like in South Africa. We only have individual farmers who, when brought together, can make a pool for mass production. Cooperatives are still relevant therefore, but to make them effective, the government must ensure that they are competitive through stringent regulation and accountability. Also, it is worth noting that cooperatives should not only be agriculture-based but diverse in the form of health, finance, transport and ITC, among others.

ARISE 64 • 33 Katusiime Annet, cocoa famer, Bundibugyo

Oh yes, cooperative societies are very very relevant. They ensure that farmers are organised and do business together. When you are organised as farmers, you get good prices, which you cannot do when you are an individual farmer. As an individual farmer, you are not able to negotiate good prices for your produce. Cooperatives also come with security for farmers over their produce because you know each other and operate together. In our area, cooperatives assist farmers in borrowing money to pay school fees for their children. The rate at which we access these loans is really low. We benefit from this kind of arrangement because we are part of a cooperative society.

Fred Kwebiya, cocoa farmer, Bundibugyo

Cooperatives are relevant because they give farmers market information for their produce. There is also combined bargaining power among farmers who are organised into cooperatives. There is also building of friendships among members, which is a good thing. They are also a source of employment to many people in the area. The only challenge I see is that most cooperatives deal in one crop, which leaves out other crops that a farmer may have. We also lack storage facilities for our produce.

34 • ARISE 64 Cecilia Ogwal, Woman MP, Dokolo district

In the early days of cooperatives in Uganda, cooperatives improved people’s welfare and brought about decent housing. Most of the people who had good houses built them because they could sell their products through the cooperatives. During that time of vigilant cooperatives, the quality of Ugandan coffee was very good, because there were quality control measures. The buying and selling points would accept only ready and dry coffee beans, unlike today where coffee is sold before harvest. The current system is based on survival for the fittest, which means whoever comes first, takes it in whatever condition, at the expense of Uganda’s image on coffee production. Ugandans are now taken as producers of poor-quality coffee. There is, therefore, need for cooperatives to bring things back to order.

Arthur Larok, Federation Development Director at ActionAid International

We have had extensive research on cooperatives, and some of it has even been published, and the findings challenge the common notion that cooperatives are a thing of the past. Cooperatives have the potential of increasing production, productivity, and value addition and are hence critical for Uganda’s transformation towards an inclusive middle-income country. For sustainability and survival in a liberalised market, though, cooperatives should be market- driven. They must compete in the market by offering better incentives, products and services than what middlemen can do. In this regard, cooperatives must provide farm-gate prices plus a mark-up accrued from the entire value chain. For this to happen, cooperatives should be in charge of the entire value chain, right from production to marketing.

ARISE 64 • 35 36 • ARISE 64 ON THE SIMPLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COOPERATIVES AND SACCOS Arise Contributor

“Eh! Mama Tendo has really fought venture is what constructs a a good battle. Tendo is now at cooperative. But the decision to Makerere.” This is an instance of save and loan to one another is the conversations you eavesdrop on what defines the cooperative as walking down the village paths, before a SACCO – a Savings and Credit you realise that actually Tendo is not at Cooperative. SACCOs fall under the Makerere but at some other university. financial cooperatives that include, Makerere, which is the oldest and among others, cooperative (village) most popular public university in the banks and cooperative insurance country, has thus come to symbolize societies. All these provide institutions of higher education and financial services to members. overshadowed all the other universities Different paths can, however, be in the minds of many Ugandans. In taken in setting up cooperatives, a similar manner, SACCOs have come depending on members’ interests to symbolise all cooperatives. You and circumstances. Against this will hear someone belonging to a background, the cooperative derives certain housing cooperative telling its signature name as one-solution- stories of how his SACCO has built him to-numerous-problems. or her a state-of-the-art residence; or a local belonging to a village funeral When a group chooses to sell all cooperative (burial society)talking of their agricultural produce (such as how her SACCO greatly aided in the coffee, tea and sugarcane) through burial arrangements for a deceased a joint initiative, they will have family member. Whereas the mix-up decided to belong to a marketing is understandable, a clarification is cooperative. These help to market paramount. Just as Makerere is also farmers’ produce and also enable a university, SACCOs are also a form them to get better prices. The of cooperative. If you did some basic first such cooperative in Uganda mathematics, you remember sets and was the subversive Buganda Growers subsets. We can thus call SACCOs Association formed in 1920 to a subset of cooperatives. To further counter the miserable prices offered explain the difference, cooperatives by the colonial regime and the Asian are general and SACCOs are specific. entrepreneurs. It inspired many that were suppressed by the regime, In simple terms, the coming together though they continued to operate of people with similar socio-economic underground. Interestingly, there interests to set up a joint self-help are also consumer cooperatives that

ARISE 64 • 37 aim at protecting consumers from unfair Kanungu town is located a cooperative prices and lobbying for better services. under the identity of Kanungu Teacher’s When members choose to attain better SACCO. It admits only teachers (both The cooperative housing, health care and other social working and retired) as members. It amenities, they will have accepted to offers loans to teachers at a lower is, thus, an open- belong to a service cooperative. Common interest rate than other SACCOs and among these are the housing cooperatives commercial banks. ended concept, and the funeral cooperatives (Muno Mukabi, Sikyomu, Twezikye), which are Something notable about the current while the SACCO more widespread in rural areas. Recently, cooperative society, however, is that is close-ended, workers’ cooperatives formed by people most members of such SACCOs also working at the same organisation(s) are subscribe to many other self-help limited to becoming more popular. I remember my cooperative initiatives. Sometimes it secondary school teachers teaming up to is difficult to establish at what point a holding savings buy for each other a DSTV set. I want to member is participating in an activity surely believe this initiative was a form of as a member of the SACCO or the other and providing workers’ cooperative. cooperative society. The activities often get intertwined, but this is credit to The cooperative is, thus, an open-ended healthy. Imagine a member of a farmers’ concept, while the SACCO is close-ended, cooperative has lost all his produce members. limited to holding savings and providing or proceeds in a highway robbery, credit to members. SACCOs do not build wouldn’t it be kind of a SACCO to houses for members; housing cooperatives which he belongs to prioritise his loan do. SACCOs do not bury people; Twezikye request as the insurance cooperative and Sikyomu do. These are not their processes a compensation? mandates. Undeniably, SACCOs are the It also pays members dividends more pronounced forms of cooperatives earned from the interest on loans, and in Uganda. Even the workers’ cooperatives encourages members to actively buy are now taking on the SACCO approach. In shares on a continued basis.

38 • ARISE 64 GOVERNMENT’S MOVE TO REVIVE COOPERATIVES: A GLIMPSE OF HOPE OR THE SAME OLD POLITICAL GAMES?

Owen Wagabaza

ith the formation of the by 1961, Uganda had 21 registered fleeing into exile of capable first farmers’ association co-operative unions, including the leaders and managers, worsened in Uganda in 1913,the Uganda Co-operative Alliance and the situation. Increasingly, co-operative movement 1,662 primary co-operative societies, pressures of economic and Win Uganda awoke to counter the with a membership of 252,378. political self-interests, to which exploitation of local farmers by those in charge succumbed, European and Asian companies that By 1960, cooperatives handled 89,308 invaded co-operatives, leading to monopolised the domestic and export tonnes of produce, a rise from 14,300 mismanagement, corruption and markets for cotton and coffee. Being tonnes in 1951, with a turnover of embezzlement,” reads part of the major cash cows, the crops later over £9 million annually. Co-operative research paper. formed the backbone of co-operatives, unions handled over 61% of the cotton attracting the interest of colonial and in the country, 40% of the Robusta According to Kwapong and Lubega, post-independence governments. coffee and 90% of the arabica coffee. this marked the beginning of “By 1971, there were over 2,500 the collapse of the economy, as At the time, though, the colonial primary co-operative societies, with prices of controlled crops like regime considered the emergence over 750,000 members and 36 unions cotton and coffee were very low, of co-operatives as premature and owning 53 cotton ginneries and 31 with farmers abandoning them subversive. It, thus, denied them legal coffee factories. The co-operative in favour ofmaize, beans and backing to access credit and other movement had assets valued at USh. groundnuts. Cotton production services from lending institutions. 500 million,” Opobo says. fell from 466,775 bales in 1970 to 32,160 bales in 1980. For example, a bill introduced in The collapse of cooperatives Parliament in the late 1930s met Nana Afranaa Kwapong and Patrick “Due to smuggling and strong resistance from powerful Lubega Korugyendo, in their project mushrooming of many coffee private interests and was withdrawn, paper entitled “Revival of Agricultural factories, the co-operative market forcing co-operatives to operate Cooperatives in Uganda”, explain that share dropped from the near underground till the enactment of the death of cooperatives started 100% to about 37% by the time the 1946 Co-operative Societies in 1971, when Idi Amin assumed Amin was deposed in 1979,” the Ordinance. the country’s presidency through a research paper says. coup, overthrowing Milton Obote. He Growth of cooperatives declared ‘the economic war’, expelling The last straw According to Moses Opobo, a Asians from Uganda in 1972. Liberalisation of the economy in lecturer in rural development at the early 1990s became the last Makerere University, the co-operative “The departure of other expatriates straw that broke cooperatives’ movement expanded immensely and that followed, coupled with the back. Economic liberalisation

ARISE 64 • 39 and privatisation saw the closing Reviving cooperatives According to Kyambadde, of the Ministry of Cooperatives, the According to Ms Amelia Kyambadde, currently more than16, 408 divesting of the Cooperative Bank the minister of Trade, Industries co-operative societies are and the privatisation of agricultural and Cooperatives, the government is registered in the country, with the produce marketing. prioritising the revival of cooperatives. majority of these being savings “We are well aware of the role of and credit cooperative societies The loss of their assets, including social co-operatives in socioeconomic and agricultural marketing assets, and the overnight loss of their development such as the creation cooperatives. Other cooperatives historical monopoly over marketing and of jobs, improvement of member are in the energy, health and exportation, without a transition period income, enhancement of agricultural transport sectors, while over 105 to the new competitive environment, production and productivity and the cooperatives are market-based disabled them .It became nearly promotion of value addition and social cooperatives. impossible for co-operatives to seize stability and, as such, the government opportunities that the liberalisation is prioritising the revitalisation and Is the move sustainable? policies potentially offered, losing development of co-operatives,” says Learning from the past successes to skilled multinationals and shrewd Kyambadde. and failures of cooperatives in private business people. Uganda and the experiences of

40 • ARISE 64 sector.“This policy seeks to strengthen objective. It is hard, for example, the cooperative movement, create to compete with one whose major a conducive regulatory regime and drive is to maximise profits. You promote compliance, ensure quality can’t compete favourably when assurance standards and enhance subjected to the same tax, for competitiveness, and expand the example.” scope of cooperative enterprises,” Nakakande says. Kule advises that government programmes such as Operation In order to further improve the Wealth Creation should be regulatory environment, cabinet channeled through cooperatives to passed the Cooperative Societies support farmers better, something Act (Amendment Bill 2015). The that will enhance the relevance of amendments aim at strengthening cooperatives to farmers. the regulation and improving the management and operation of Stephen Ssembogga, a cooperatives in the country. development economist and lecturer in economics at The Uganda Cooperative Alliance, Makerere University Business the umbrella organisation for all School, however, argues that cooperatives in Uganda, has also come the government’s initiative to up with a number of strategies. These revive cooperatives is a good idea include supporting cooperatives as but more needs to be done to independent business units; building ensure effective competitiveness autonomous democratic institutions; of cooperatives, for example providing technical education by reviving the Cooperative to improve the productivity and Bank, which will offer credit to profitability of member farmers and cooperatives at lower interest training members in best practices rates. in the operations of agricultural cooperatives; and promoting clear “The government has been talking policy guidelines for the operations of about reviving the cooperative the cooperatives. bank but nothing has come to other cooperatives in Africa, the fruition. Cooperatives need loans government has pursued a number of Mr Jovenal Kule, General Manager, Mt at low interest rates and the strategies to promote the development Rwenzori Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative entry of a bank that gives low and ensure the sustainability of the Union, is not yet excited about interest loans, especially to cooperative sector. Among these is the government’s move to revive farmers, will be a game changer. the continued creation of an enabling cooperatives. “I hope it works,” he It will force commercial banks environment for cooperatives to thrive remarks. “It is not clear as yet because to lower interest rates and also by strengthening the policy and legal while the government is encouraging fund non-traditional sectors like environment. people to join cooperatives, there agriculture,” Ssembogga says. is very limited practical support to According to Ms Khadija Nakakande, that effect. Yes, cooperatives should Ssembogga advises cooperatives the Public Relations Officer, Ministry make profits to help them run their that, to compete favourably in the of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives, business but it is important to note liberalised market, they should the government passed the first that cooperatives are more benefit- promote good governance by comprehensive National Cooperative maximising to members than profit- prioritising members’ interests and Policy in 2011 and this has since maximising so cooperatives need to deliberately linking production, informed its interventions in the be supported to realise this cardinal processing and marketing.

ARISE 64 • 41 ‘Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination, on COOPERATION not intimidation,’ William Arthur Wood

42 • ARISE 64 ARISE 64 • 43 For More Information Contact The Executive Director Action For Development ACFODE House Plot 623/624 Lutaya Drive Bukoto P.O.Box 16729 Kampala - Uganda Tel: +256 414 531 812, +256 393 114 890 Email: [email protected] : www.acfode.org : https://www.facebook.com/ACFODE : @acfode