The Africa Co-operative Movement has great potential to contribute to the realization of the Agenda 2063 (The Africa We Want) blueprint. The Agenda underlines seven aspirations, all of which provide avenues for co-operatives to operate. Co-operatives, under the Agenda, can contribute to a prosperous Africa in terms of inclusive growth and sustainable development; good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice, and the rule of law; a peaceful and secure Africa; cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics; as well as people-driven development considerate of women, youth, and children.
 The ICA-Africa, co-operative movement, and stakeholders are ensuring these aspirations and specific goals are realized.
According to ICA-Africa, there is currently a significant gap in terms of co-operative membership coverage and inclusion in Africa. The African co-operative movement is yet to reach out to many.
Out of 1.3 billion people in Africa, only seven persons out of 100 adults and children are members of co-operatives5. The gap in membership results from potential members inadequate awareness, restrictive policy and legal environment, hardships in contextualizing the co-operative philosophy, conservatism in terms of approaches to co-operative development, and failure to disseminate co-operative best practices.
On the other hand, co-operatives have made a notable contribution to the African economy by creating 2.1 million co-operative-driven occupations and 5.6 million jobs by 2015. The ICA-Africa, the co-operative movement and stakeholders, in general, are exploiting all relevant potentials and resources in order to increase the contribution of co-operatives to the African economy.
To promote and preserve the co-operative identity, policies, laws and other relevant strategies are formulated and implemented. Unfortunately, the African co-operative movement is challenged in terms of identity promotion and preservation.
Most co-operative policies, legislation and strategies are the offshoots of colonial Africa. They have maintained provisions that restrict autonomy and dynamism in the co-operative business. However, there is no evidence of the current identity (principles and values) fitting in the African context.
Cooperation among Co-operatives
Cooperation among co-operatives is one of the movement’s core principles. It seeks to strengthen the co-operative movement by facilitating co-operatives working together at local, national, regional and international levels. African co-operatives are diverse in terms of size and operations. Most of them operate in isolation from each other.
Integrations are rare, and co-operative cycles and dependence on each other are missing, insufficient, or unrealized. As a result, there are apparent effects in terms of operational costs and depletion of resources that could have otherwise been jointly shared. Thus, all stakeholders need to promote cooperation initiatives among co-operatives.
ICA-Africa is developing models which seek to create an African co-operative cycle that can be replicated at national and regional levels.
Co-operatives are also instrumental in building community resilience for climate change, wars and conflicts, and pandemics. From the seventh principle of co-operatives, “Concern for Community,” co-operatives are expected to care for not only members but also the surrounding communities in uncertain times. The recent unprecedented global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine-Russian war, geopolitical tensions, environmental carnage, and energy and food crisis have affected people adversely and call forth for continuous interventions by co-operatives.
The benefits of co-operatives to African society
250 Million people worldwide earn their living as members or employees of a co-operative.
Sustainable growth means overcoming short termism and improving business diversity.
Co-operatives operate from people’s needs and a concern for community.
Via a co-operative, farmers can own their land and ask better prices for their produce.
Voting business decisions together fosters democracy and empowers people.
