ABSTRACT
Impact may be perceived as the positive and negative results generated by a rural organization and by the specific policies on which it directly depends, seen in relation to the social and economic development objectives the organization is expected to fulfil. Impact indicators denote variables assumed to adequately reflect these social and economic effects. Considering the democratic and participatory characteristics usually associated with cooperative organizations, and which are also made explicit in Kenyan policy documents, impact indicators reflecting these qualities obviously are essential. Reflection would constitute a motive force being integrated with an individual’s or a group’s actions. Functional participation is defined as the degree to which smallholders reached by cooperatives interact with their societies as buyers of inputs, loanees and/or suppliers of produce for maketing.
