ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore how African cooperatives, with perspectives from Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and populations of African descent in the diaspora, effectively harness traditional mutual aid systems such as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations and modern institutional buildings and practices to offer the benefits that empower women and enhance inclusive growth. We demonstrate how member-owned enterprises create opportunities for financial inclusion through Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies; foster sustainable agriculture; bridge digital divides; and negotiate between indigenous practices and ongoing formalisation processes. The findings reveal how cooperatives create a unique opportunity for a blended governance model that builds agency for economic empowerment to provide women with a space for agency, while offering, in some contexts, an alternative development pathway to preserve socio-cultural values and address structural barriers. We conclude the chapter with policy recommendations to strengthen cooperative education, policy and legal frameworks, and intergenerational knowledge transfer as leading vehicles for feminist economics and sustainable development; these findings offer both practitioners and policymakers lessons on how to scale gender-responsive cooperative models of inclusion nationally and transnationally across the Global South.
