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ICA Africa Annual Report

ICA Africa Annual Report /
Rapport Annuel ACI Afrique
2009 has witnessed the continued repositioning of ICA Africa as a relevant and responsive member driven organisation and as a valuable partner of co-operative development agencies and governments.

Learn more about ICA Africa's activities in 2009.
English (pdf) -- Français (pdf)
ICA Africa, 2010, pp 9

Publications

Value Chain Financing: Opportunities & Challenges: Report of the IFAD - SCC-Vi - ICA - Government of Rwanda Rural Finance Regional Thematic Workshop, 6-18 September 2009, Kigali (Rwanda)

The report covers the third joint rural finance thematic workshop and concludes that an integrated approach to agricultural value chain financing is needed. The report addresses the need for a common understanding of value chain financing, financing opportunities that exist within a given value chain, and challenges that impede financing within a given value chain. It includes specific recommendations coming out of the workshop in the areas of value chain financing, warehouse receipt systems, insurance, gender and rural microfinance. Download report (pdf).
2009, pp 75

A Profile of Products and Services Offered by Savings and Credit Co-operatives in Five Countries of Eastern and Southern Africa
The profiles provide what products and services rural/community SACCOs in Kenya, malawi, Swaziland, Uganda and Zimbabwe provide to their members. It inlcude an indepth profiling of the direct and indirect features of each product and service as well as description of its context and evolution.
ICA Africa, 2008, pp 118.

Socio-Economic Impact of Co-ops In Africa

The Socio-Economic Impact of Co-operatives in Africa and Their Institutional Context

This report prepared by Professor Suleman Chambo represents a major contribution to understanding the current state of co-operatives in the region and their relationship to central issues of economic and social development. It provides an invaluable reference for the identification of key issues relating to both the external environment impacting the ability of co-operatives to serve members, the community, and the broader society, as well as the internal challenges faced by the co-operative movements in the Africa as they struggle to modernise their roles in a new economic and political environment.

The research was carried out in six countries; Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland and Tanzania.
ICA-CCA, 2008, 172 pp.

Report of the ICA Africa Gender Forum, 12-16 November 2007

More than 200 participants attended the first ICA Africa Gender Forum held in Maseru (Lesotho). A series of recommendation were made on how to establish a Pan-African Women Co-operators' Network in addition to preparing a ICA Africa Gender Strategy for review and adoption at the Regional Assembly in 2008.
ICA Africa, December 2007, pp. 60

Le genre dans les coopératives: Pour un responsibilité partagée et un développement humain durable: Sensibilisation aux question de genre dans les coopératives

ISBN: 92-9054-084-2 - Bureau Internationale du Travail - Alliance Coopérative Internationale, 1998 et 1999.

Other ICA publications

The ICA publishes a number of other publications for the benefit of all its members.

ICA Digest published on a bi-monthy basis in various language versions.
Other publications: www.ica.coop/publications

Note worthy publications

Co-operating out of poverty: The renaissance of the African co-operative movement

"Co-operatives 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 co-operative form have in practice to contribute to the development process1 and then to the set objective?"

This book published by the International Labour Office (ILO) contains many examples of successful, genuine and economically viable African co-operatives which create economic opportunities, provide a basic level of social protection and security, and provide their members with voice and representation.

In part one, the book provides an overview of co-operative development in Africa up to the 1990s with the five different 'traditions' that appeared under the various colonial administrations. It is followed by eleven in-depth country studies. The full report is available from the ILO website.

World Development Report 2008

The World Bank for the first time in a number of years is advocating the co-operative form of enterprise as an option for effective agricultural development. Its 2008 report on agriculture notes the contribution that co-operatives are already making in providing options for producers to organise, have voice and improve their livelihoods. The report also notes that policy changes are required to enable co-operatives to grow and be more effective. These include the need for legal reform and the need for Governments' interference in co-operative management to be removed. with a number of co-operative successes cited, it mentions for example that "financial co-operatives and their networks are re-emerging as promising institutions in rural finance in many countries" and suggests that bio-fuel, organic production and marketing co-operatives, and partnerships with co-operatives are avenues for development. The full report is available from the World Bank website.

Last Updated: 10 February 2011