Since the First Republic, every Zambian government has sung the song of economic diversification away from copper which is the country’s economic main stay. According to the Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PRMC) (2020), Zambia has been pursuing economic diversification ever since the first republic and copper mining has been the major Forex earner for the country with notable fluctuating trends over the years. As early as the First National Development Plan (1966-1970), both the need to diversify away from copper, as well as the growth of other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing, were emphasized.
The National Cooperative Development Strategy (NCDS) (2019) sets out the strategic vision to diversify cooperatives and improve their competitiveness with a view to significantly contribute to sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development. The strategy states that agriculture and agro-processing are considered to be among the top productive areas with greatest potential for growth in Zambia. The cooperative movement in Zambia is reported to have first started in 1914 with European settler farmers forming them to help market their agricultural produce to the newly opened mines in what was then known as Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Northern Rhodesia’s (now Zambia) Copperbelt mines. During those early days, only Europeans were allowed to form cooperatives. Despite these restrictions, around the 1940s, several cooperatives began to emerge among small scale African farmers. Around 1947, the colonial government was forced to allow indigenous Africans to form cooporatives. Later, in 1948, a government department under the Ministry of Agriculture was formed to regulate cooperative enterprises (Chabala and Ojezmark, 1994).
The concept of cooperatives in Zambia, though not limited to pursuing only agriculture related business, has been predominantly agricultural based. In the period 2006 – 2008, the status of cooperatives in Northern Province was such that out of a total 1,238 registered cooperatives, only a poultry 7 were successful. 127 were defunct, 906 were non-enterprising and 139 were emerging. The status of 59 was unknown. Generally, the cooperative movement in Zambia is weak.
The issues highlighted for this state of affairs include a change in the policy framework in the 1990s from a government controlled and sustained (through subsidies) enterprise to a liberalised environment where the cooperatives needed to fend for themselves, the ensuing lack of adherence to good governance practices, lack of innovation and competition from established businesses. The cooperative movement has the potential to lift people out of poverty. It has the potential to ensure that there is production of sufficient quantities to sustain lucrative offtaker deals in high-end local and international markets to the benefit of the members of those cooperatives.
The proposal, in order to attempt to realise the potential of the cooperative movement in Zambia, is to include a strong communication function in the implementation of the concept. According to Everett Rogers (2008), the purpose of development communication is to “support sustainable change in development operations by engaging key stakeholders.” Collazo (2020) rightly discerns that “communication not only eases the process, but also generates a synergy that promotes a better understanding of what you and your team are working to achieve. Also, it facilitates cooperation and helps to develop a sense of belonging that will guarantee that everyone is on the same page and up to the task.” Failure of some development projects is usually as a result of lack of communication. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), as reported in the Pulse of the Profession® (2013a), poor communication is the number one reason why projects fail. In fact, PMI states that poor communications is a contributing factor in 56% of the projects that failed. But a scope through the National Strategy on Cooperatives reveals that it does not include a strong (or weak, for that matter) communication component.In light of the “miracles” that development communication, used in the context we have discussed here, can work, it should be pointed out communication must be at the heart of such initiatives. As Servaes, (2007) puts it, communication and development have been viewed as being intertwined, with one supporting the other. It follows therefore that whenever there is a developmental process taking place, communication must be present or else development will not be guaranteed.
References
- Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry (2019), National Cooperative Development Strategy, Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Lusaka.
- Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PRMC). (2020) Economic Diversification In Zambia: Are We Getting There? Assessing The Prospects For Economic Diversification In Zambia. Policy Monitoring and Research Centre, Lusaka
- Chabala, C. & Ojezmark P. (1994) The Development of Independent Cooperatives in Zambia – A case study, United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. Rome.
- Monkhouse, P. (2015). My project is failing, it is not my fault. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2015—EMEA, London, England. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute
- Rogers E. M. (1983). Diffusion of Innovations. The Free Press, New York.
- Jan Servaes (2007). Communication for Development and Social Change. Hampton Press, Cresskill NL
