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This is a short article comparing the staff cooperatives and staff provident funds, giving benefits, and challenges.
Matabi J.O. Mark
Analysis of Institutional and Governance Factors and Their Impact on Smallholder Agricultural Cooperatives in Malawi2012 •
ABSTRACT Agriculture is a key sector to the Malawi’s economy. Smallholder farmers who contribute immensely to agriculture sector itself have been circumvented in the vicious cycle of poverty as they, individually, face various agricultural production and marketing challenges. In this, regard smallholder farmers across the country have been encouraged to embrace agribusiness through formation of agricultural cooperatives between various political and economic eras. Agricultural cooperatives in Malawi have long history beginning in mid-1940s, but it was not until 1990s that critical national strategies, policies and legislation, programmes and projects were initiated to support cooperatives development in the country. This has been exhibited by the increased number of agricultural cooperatives in the country to date. However, various national and international statistics and studies have shown alarming minimal contribution of Malawian cooperatives to private sector development; and specifically, of agricultural cooperatives to agricultural sector development. This is an indication of ‘dark and silent’ cooperatives development’s periods, agricultural cooperatives have in one way or the other have lived through. This study explores institutional and governance factors affecting agricultural cooperatives’ performance and eventual sustainability in Malawi, in respect to comparisons and contrasts of cooperatives principles, values, roles, problems and theoretical perspectives. Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in agricultural production and marketing. However, most of the smallholder agricultural cooperatives in Malawi are not performing this role as they are faced with weak capacity of cooperatives management and poor coordination of cooperative stakeholders; exacerbated by political, social and economic institutional weaknesses. Even though Malawian smallholder farmers in agricultural cooperatives have confidence in the cooperative model in improving their livelihoods, they are still disgruntled with their own poor performance and worried of the high probability of their un-sustainability. Specifically, agricultural cooperatives’ worsening performances depict that: cooperatives’ members have little control of management; investments are short-term; and accumulated investments are below the economic optimum. In essence, the relevance of cooperatives cannot be overemphasized in Malawi, but their full potentials have not been unlocked to necessitate their growth and vibrancy. In order for agricultural cooperatives in Malawi to improve their organizational and business performance and be sustainable; to enhance the ‘doing capacity’ among the cooperators, promoters and facilitators; to optimize the stakeholders ‘cooperative consciousness’; to rejuvenate fully the cooperative movement (having experienced almost a half century of darkness and/or silence), there need for turn-around strategies to address the governance and institutional problems identified. This study, therefore, makes three major recommendations in respect to strengthening the capacities of cooperators and stakeholders to: adherence to the cooperatives legal and regulatory framework; implementation and enforcement of the cooperative development policy and legal and regulatory framework; and review of cooperatives development policy and amendment/repeal of Cooperative Societies Act, 1998 and Cooperative Societies Regulations, 2002 in respect to ILO Recommendation 193, 2002. These recommendations are meant to: strengthen agricultural cooperatives’ internal and external legitimacy to support self-determination; to promote the leadership, vision, and goals as well as multiple bottom lines of cooperatives; to enhance the agricultural cooperatives’ organizational, financial, and business capacity; to enhance farmers active participation and committed involvement in cooperatives formation and operations; to communicate more broadly to the agricultural cooperatives’ stakeholders; and to strengthen agricultural cooperatives’ partnerships with community and other stakeholders. In this respect, transformation of cooperatives from conventional forms to non-congenial structures and systems of cooperatives that would encourage: proportionate patronage to investment; appreciable and transferable share values; and allowance of non-patron equity participation. Significantly, the study is to help cooperatives’ promoters, policy makers, legal and regulatory institutions, academicians and the cooperators in general to; understand institutional and governance issues related to cooperatives’ philosophy, values and principles; make use of or build upon as they find helpful; to present ideas for the strategic guidance of cooperatives development – the ideas based on reflection about experience and practice within cooperatives, as well as cooperative theory, relevant to contemporary discussions of cooperative strategies; understand cooperative related policy and legal and regulatory frameworks that need redress; and, coordinate efforts to improve cooperatives’ performances and eventual sustainability. Key Words: Cooperatives, agriculture, farmer, governance, institutions, new institutional economics theory, policy, legal and regulatory framework, performance, sustainability, Malawi.
stclements.edu
THE ROLE OF INFORMAL MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN SAVING MOBILIZATION, INVESTMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION. A CASE OF SAVINGS …Financial development is playing an important role in Tanzania’s economic progress. Financial failures, particularly insufficient institutions and high transactions costs limit poor people’s access to formal finance and prevent low income of people from borrowing, and saving. In this essay the importance of mobilizing savings through providing low-income to people from financial services in Tanzania is emphasized. Last decade of microfinance practice, particularly in Tanzania, has neglected rural finance. Support to the sector has concentrated on turning credit progammes into suitable microfinance institutions (MFIs). This emphasis has produced a small number of MFIs that have either achieved financial sustainability or are close to achieving this. In Tanzania this includes organizations such as SELF, PRIDE, MEDA. SACCOs, Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies as an alternative to formal banks are discussed as a way to increase savings. Furthermore, SACCOs –Members preferences are studied. Developing and improving occupational SACCOs, saving and credit cooperatives, can be effective alternative to formal banks. The safety-issue is the basic problem, where education plays an important role to improve security. With improvements SACCOs could in the long run function as a way to connect informal savings with the formal financial sector. Finally, it is imperative for the formulation of an appropriate MFIs policy which should reflect the views and aspirations of MFIs and also aim at improving business culture, promote trust, transparency, accountability and good governance, considered as hallmarks for building a strong MFIs sector.
SSRN Electronic Journal
Delivering DC? Barriers to Participation in the Company-Sponsored Pensions Market2000 •
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Forex para Principiantes Ambiciosos: Una guía para el comercio exitoso de divisas (Spanish Edition2011 •
Hay muchos libros que ofrecen la promesa de enseñarte sistemas de operaciones muy rentables, o de mostrarte lo fácil que puede ser ganar dinero operando en el mercado Forex en realidad. Este no es uno de ellos. Forex Para Principiantes Ambiciosos no te convertirá en un operador con beneficios, eso solo puedes conseguirlo tú a través de la práctica, el estudio y la persistencia. Pero este libro te ayudará a evitar una gran cantidad de los errores que cometen los operadores principiantes. Aprenderás los elementos esenciales que necesitas para operar en el mercado Forex con éxito, como la protección de tu capital de operaciones, encontrar una estrategia de operaciones apropiada para tu personalidad como operador y cómo construir y ajustar tu propio sistema de operaciones para que te dé un rendimiento óptimo. Este libro también aborda los conceptos básicos sobre el mercado Forex que los operadores necesitan conocer, como por ejemplo, los agentes que intervienen y los factores que ejercen una influencia sobre las divisas más importantes. Otros temas incluyen estrategias de operaciones específicas, indicadores técnicos populares y cómo reconocer patrones en los gráficos. Forex Para Principiantes Ambiciosos trata sobre cómo minimizar el riesgo y maximizar el potencial, sobre buscar medios para hacer que las probabilidades se vuelvan a nuestro favor continuamente. Te proporcionará una base sólida sobre la cual podrás empezar a construir tu carrera como operador de Forex. El libro concluye con una estimulante prueba, que además ofrece unas explicaciones muy detalladas para cada una de las respuestas correctas. En resumen, si eres ambicioso y quieres aprender de verdad cómo operar en el mercado Forex-en lugar de dejar que te llenen la cabeza con fantasías sobre alguna súper estrategia-, entonces Forex para principiantes ambiciosos es para ti.
Living God’s Law at Qumran
The Language of 4QMMT2020 •
Published in Interpreting and Living God’s Law at Qumran: Miqṣat Ma῾aśe Ha-Torah – Some of the Works of the Torah (4QMMT), ed. Reinhard G. Kratz (SAPERE; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020), 67–83
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