Self help and state initiated cooperatives as community development organizations enabling human rights

• Main Author: Santiago, Mary Ann G.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2020
• Subjects: Cooperative societies—Philippines; Community development—Philippines; Human rights—Philippines; Community-Based Research
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/12535
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study is an analysis of cooperatives as a community development organization and its relevant role in facilitating the claiming of rights. A cooperative (coop) is an organization that exists to improve the lives of its members and community. Its formation of cooperatives can be initiated by individuals, groups, organizations or state. Self-help cooperatives are those that are initiated by individuals or a group of people and formed independently and not influenced by the state or private institutions upon their establishment. While the state-initiated cooperatives are those cooperatives that have been established by the government. The study describes the stages and phases of the two types of cooperatives from formation to progression. The objectives of the study are: describe and elaborate the two (2) cooperative organizations, self-help and government-initiated cooperatives, from formation to progression phase, compare the different strategies and approaches of self-help and government-initiated cooperatives in community development, to illustrate spaces for self-help and government-initiated cooperatives in facilitating people’s basic human rights and to recommend policies for decision makers and players. The study used the case study method and focused on the two (2) forms of cooperatives- self-help and state initiated cooperative with fifteen years of operation located in the same province. Structured interviews and documents review were conducted to obtain the necessary data, stories and experiences of the cooperatives. The study found that the two cooperatives differ in formation process and strategies. Regardless of the type of formation, cooperatives exist to uplift both economic and social conditions of the members and communities where they operate. Social benefits are the reflection of a coop’s outlook in community development. Cooperatives play a significant role in addressing development gaps and fiascoes of the state as a duty bearer. Economic, social and cultural rights are the most vibrant rights that can be facilitated by cooperatives for individual members and/or as a collective.