ABSTRACT
A true development process is based on a continuous series of analysis-action-reflection exercises carried out by the poor. Under a 1975 Act the rural primary cooperatives ceased to exist and a year later the district and regional cooperative unions were abolished. The World Bank seminar drew upon a wide range of contributors, mainly from donor agencies working with rural cooperatives in sub-Saharan Africa. Rural cooperatives face high operating costs, low margins, low turnovers, narrow inventory stocks, fluctuating seasonal demand and trading patterns, and weak infrastructure. Most of the many forms of rural cooperation fall far short of anything that could be described as a ‘non-governmental organization’ or even a ‘voluntary development organization’. The greatest weakness in the design and execution of rural development projects arises from the failure to ensure a genuinely participatory framework which involves all the people and reduces rather than increases income differentials.
