Publications by category: discussion papers
COPAC is putting this discussion document into the public arena to stimulate a debate about how to rebuild the cooperative movement in post-apartheid South Africa. After two failed attempts, through top down interventions, the document argues for the rebuilding of the cooperative movement from below as a movement -of -movements.
This discussion paper provides an overview of the current state of the South African Cooperative Sector. This includes a focus on the statistical profile of coops, the role of government policy and the state of the cooperative movement.
This study focuses on the Co-operative Banking model and the Grameen Bank model. It attempts to highlight their histories, institutional arrangements, the design of their saving and loan delivery systems and most importantly their strengths and weaknesses. Emerging out of this are a set of five general policy recommendations.
While the first consumer co-operative experiment in Rochedale in 1844, inspired by the ideas of Robert Owen, is widely documented, it would seem the sociological study of cooperatives began in earnest from the 1960s onwards.