THE ROLE AND POTENTIAL OF CO-OPERATIVES IN POVERTY REDUCTION AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SERBIA

This paper presents the results from a research project in Serbia which set out to look at the role of co-operatives in poverty reduction and local economic development. The study involved two main strategies: 1) semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders: from government, international and local NGOs, private business federations and academics to the co-operative movement itself, and 2) a face-to-face survey of 240 co-operative managers in five co-operative sectors (agricultural, consumer, industrial, youth and housing co-operatives) across three regions: Vojvodina, Central Serbian Plains, and the remainder of Central and Southern Serbia. The research had two main objectives. First, to consider whether co-operatives help to reduce poverty and develop local economies. Second, to examine whether co-operatives hold ‘organisational comparative advantages’ over other forms of organisation such as government, NGOs and private sector companies. This paper reports on some of the findings, and attempts to provide some answers to four key questions: ‘where have we come from?’, ‘where are we now?’, ‘where are we going?’, and ‘how do we get there?’.