Preconditions and Limits in the Formation of Associations: The Self-Help and Cooperative Movement in Subsaharan Africa

Abstract

symbolism of money for personal gain, while not destructive of cooperation in community activities, encouraged individualism and retentiveness in regard to property and money. The advent of voluntary self-help associations in the 1960s provided the basis for new social alignments different from those based on the hierarchy of descent and age. Associations were structured on a basis of equality and voluntarism which meant further emphasis on self-interest. Thus, a precedent was set for the aforementioned reluctance to form associations with closely related kin which set constraints on the competitive pursuit of self-interest. The concept of voluntarism associated with economic individualism encouraged the advent of innovative leadership. All that held them together, however, was pressure from opposing groups threatened by their establishment and the extent to which certain elements of the traditional authority system, especially the conciliation of disputes, could be reinterpreted to provide order. Recruitment, far from utilizing the moral constraints of kinship, stressed immediate gains through more accessible stores, schools, dispensaries, and higher coffee prices (Hamer, 1976a: 113). Only one of the associations in the Sidamo sample stressed such character attributes as sincerity of interest or willingness to work, the obligatory aspects of group affiliation. Rather the emphasis was upon the payment of a small sum in dues or buying into the association in order to gain a quick return, which set constraints on the establishment of long term investment projects such as cooperative stores and grinding mills (Hamer, 1976a: 124). It became difficult to convince many members of the small coffee cooperatives that it was necessary to pay from coffee receipts the various overhead costs for maintenance, accounting, and the service of loans. There also developed a distrust of This content downloaded from 157.55.39.248 on Thu, 28 Jul 2016 05:42:45 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 122 AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW society officers who controlled the money, to the extent that some members refused to pay dues, fearing the treasurer wished to keep the money for himself. All of this was especially detrimental to the coffee cooperatives in that it gave the retail merchants an opportunity to exploit dissatisfaction by paying slightly higher prices for coffee. As a consequence, some members lost interest in the societies and gave up their membership. In East Africa, Kenyan self-help projects are most concerned with tangible short run goals such as schools and dispensaries rather than long term projects. as for example water supply systems, which are more difficult to organize (Reynolds and Wallis, 1976: 12). Somewhat the same problem is indicated for a Tanzanian fishing cooperative (Lang et al., 1969: 54-55). The ordinary farmer could not see how the organizers' elaborate explanations of the cost analysis for marketing fish would be sufficient justification for long term investment of limited funds. The members of associations in Zaire generally prefer only short term commitment of funds, in order to have cash readily available for ceremonial purposes (Janzen, 1969: 76). Indeed, the marginal economic position of farmers often leaves them desperate for access to cash. The same is true for Zambian cooperative members, the cash from their harvest doing little more than pay for debts contracted in raising the crop (Bates, 1976: 141-43). Also, so many leave when they discover this discrepancy that many societies fail.