ABSTRACT
Senegalese cooperatives have little in common with those found in Europe and North America. Historically, Western cooperatives were initiated by groups of individual farmers banding together to pool their resources to improve their bargaining positions in the marketplace. 1 In Sénégal, what came to be known as the cooperative movement had its roots in the Sociétés de Prévoyance, a colonial institution designed to provide food and seed security for so-called improvident peasants and insure the smooth functioning of the peanut economy. In contrast with cooperatives in Europe and North America which emerged from the collective efforts of private individuals, the cooperative movement in Sénégal was largely the creature of the state. The Sénégalese government launched the post-independence Cooperative Movement to mobilize the rural populations to implement national rural development policies and a communitarian socialist ideology.
