Coffee cooperatives promoting peacebuilding and socio-economic development of farmers in Huye District , Southern Rwanda

peer reviewedCooperative organisations play an important role in the peacebuilding efforts undertaken in the wake of the Rwanda genocide in1994. The genocide tore apart and destroyed large parts of the country’s socio-economic and institutional foundations, its consequences are still evident. Coffee is the main source of income for approximatively 500.000 households. The paper aimed to analyze the impact of coffee cooperatives and the coffee washing stations in the peacebuilding socio-economic changes of coffee farmer’s members in Huye District, Southern Province of Rwanda. A research surveyed selected 70 small coffee farmers from 3 cooperatives to measure socio-economic development of coffee washing stations on the growers. Results reveal that cooperatives increase production and improve the socioeconomic households’ income (86.5%). Jobs are created for women and girls especially during the harvesting and the coffee processing (98.7%). When farmers are working together, a synergy is created among them, by disucussion, exchanging experiences, which avoide discrimination, conflict, division between antagonist ethnic groups Hutu and Tutsi (67.1%). Results reveal that coffee cooperatives promote a spirit of understanding each other and the tolerance between farmers (72.3%). Cooperatives provide loans to the members through the “rotating funds: Ibimina”. They also educate members through vocational trainings by enhancing and empowering farmers especially women and girls (97.1%). This is evidenced by the provision of adequate shelter, the observation of human rights, access to the medical insurance, school fees for children, undertaking entrepreneurial activities, unity and reconciliation between members, participating in the household’s incomes allocation. Cooperatives uses various strategies in peacebuilding such as working together to construct new schools and houses, land inheritance for women, clubs for peacebuilding and visiting each others (74.3%)

Coffee has given us power to act': Coffee cooperatives and women's empowerment in Rwanda's rural areas: A case study of Karaba coffee cooperative

peer reviewedCooperatives bring socio-economic benefits to their members through combining forces with others. Worldwide, it is estimated that there are around 800,000 cooperatives which provide affordable products and services and access to resources (UNDESA, 2014). Cooperatives create opportunities and promote income generating activities for many communities by providing goods and services through their daily activities. They provide medical care, access to markets, and job creation. Apart from enabling their members to access economies of scale, cooperatives help to enhance the status of their members to voice their needs and challenges in the community. Access to resources helps cooperative members to improve the quality of life by enhancing social and economic empowerment of women. It is in this context that Karaba coffee farmers joined their organization in order to address their social and economic problems. Cooperatives have empowered their members by creating jobs and other advantages. The potential contribution of women empowerment in development and poverty reduction is supported by global institutions such as the World Bank and other development practitioners. Cooperatives are used as engines of development in homesteads and agricultural activities (Gibson, 2005; UNDESA, 2012). Rwanda’s paid labour force employed as casual workers in agriculture sector and other informal sector constitute 97.3 per cent of active persons with very low salaries (Ansoms, 2008; Birchall, 2003). In addition to housework, most of the women in Rwanda’s coffee producing zones are involved in coffee production. The major concern of this study is to assess the role of cooperatives in empowering rural women in Karaba. The study aims at answering the following questions: (i) To what extent has Karaba coffee cooperative contributed to social and economic empowerment of women? (ii) What is the impact of women empowerment on Rwanda’s rural households