NGOs outsmart cooperatives

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Scope for cooperatives as an institutional structure is fading in the wake of withdrawal of assistance by donors and the government, speakers said at a discussion Saturday, reports bdnews24.com.
The cooperatives are no more considered as an important tool of social change in an era of foreign aid-dependent development projects, they said.
They blamed the previous governments for not giving enough policy support to the cooperatives, considering it an important tool of the economy.
Their comments came at a discussion, organised to commemorate the International Day of Cooperatives by Samabay Unnayan Forum at the Institution of Engineers.
Chittagong University's Public Administration Department Professor Tofael Ahmed presented a paper in the programme, titled 'future of cooperatives in Bangladesh: draft of a roadmap'.
Ahmed said, the legal framework and bureaucratic control over the cooperatives have been tough while non-governmental organisations and the private sector are getting privilege.
"Gradually the government and the donors are lifting their support and financial assistance from cooperatives, which is discouraging," Ahmed said in his paper.
He said currently the NGO activities have become the part of the country's development programmes, and an effort to establish such activities as alternatives to cooperatives are visible. He also said, in the country the cooperatives movement has been seen as a government initiative instead of people's effort for years.
Referring to the developed countries, he said, a report of the European Commission, published in 2004, showed that in the European Union nations 300,000 cooperatives provided employment to 23,00,000 people, and more than 140 million (14 crore) people are active member of these cooperatives.
"This proves that the cooperatives are still relevant and have much prospect," he said. He also demanded to the government to make the cooperatives-related laws contemporary.
Economist Muzaffer Ahmed said, cooperatives have a special space in the developed world as a prospective sector. But the sector has been pushed back in the developing world for political reasons.
He said, the cooperatives are still very much pertinent to the country's development since there is a huge scope both for the consumers and the entrepreneurs to benefit in the fields of education, health, housing and agriculture. It could also stop the menace of middlemen between the producers and the consumers.
Former caretaker government adviser Dhiraj Kumar Nath, in his speech said, education and proper publicity about the cooperatives could encourage people.
Cooperatives in Bangladesh mean a series of organised activities with a common goal, and refer to economic enterprises for the benefit of service users. Cooperative societies had increased phenomenally following the establishment of Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) in the 1960s. Later, NGOs have started playing an important role, which cooperative societies did in development.