Kenya

With assistance of the BMZ – Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development DGRV implements a co-operative development project in Kenya since 2017.

Within the framework of this project, DGRV promotes in particular access to educational opportunities and training for Co-operatives.  Local project partners and national stakeholders also regard these training measures as a central element in the sustainable development of cooperative enterprises.

As confirmed by a comprehensive study targeting various relevant stakeholders of Co-operatives, a lack of comprehensive information, Co-operative education and management training for Co-operatives were identified to be among the major development burdens for Co-operatives in Kenya. The BMZ funded DGRV project in Kenya and its local institutional partners are therefore piloting an approach that institutionalizes access to Co-operative related education at County level embedded in local Co-operative structures. By virtue of local ownership, County based Co-operatives form second tier organizations with the mandate to provide trainings and education products to their members besides other information related services such as E- learning. For instance, primary Co-operatives in County Kakamega came together to establish the first Co-operative Education Union in Kenya with the support of the project. Towards the end of the current project phase in 2020 the Co-operative Education Training and Information Centers are expected to demonstrate self-sustainable potential. Within those processes the project team mainly supports in advocacy at national level, need based product and service development for the members of the Centers, capacity development for management staff of the Centers as well as advisory in compliance matters and policy making within the Centers.

In Kenya, Co-operatives are mostly active in rather traditional economic sectors such as agriculture, which leaves the Co-operative sector facing a significant generation challenge. The potential of new generation type Co-operatives such as tourism or digital service Co-operatives is barely explored which is one of the reasons why young generation Kenyans do rather not consider the Co-operative business model to be a relevant alternative to establish sustainable enterprises on their own. Together with the Kipkelion Youth Council, which is the Youth Committee of the FairTrade registered Kipkelion District Cooperative (Coffee Union), the project guides, trains and advises young people on their way to establish youth driven Co-operatives in new value chains such as goat dairy, ecological forestry, tailoring service Co-operatives and beekeeping.

At national level, the project works closely with The Cooperative University of Kenya to strengthen intellectual capacities.  In matters related to digitalization of audit or standardizing Co-operative framework documents such as bylaws, the project cooperates with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives. We utilize our network of international DGRV experts to offer consultancy services to Kenyan stakeholders in order to foster international knowledge transfer and initiate change processes through global best practice exchange.