A cooperative grows fastest when it is not working alone. That is the thinking behind this week’s engagement meetings between NUTOFA SACCO LTD and the leadership of three cooperative societies in Agago District: Patongo Farmers Cooperative, Ker Lira Lapono Multipurpose Cooperative and Kabala Aleda Cooperative Society.
The meetings were guided by the sixth of the cooperative principles set out by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA): cooperation among cooperatives. Under this principle, cooperatives serve their members best when they work through local and wider networks together, rather than each one standing alone. It is the same reasoning behind farmer groups pooling produce to reach a better market, and behind SACCOs and cooperative societies comparing notes on how to run a member-owned, democratically controlled business well, so that members’ shared economic, social and cultural needs are met.
That was the spirit of the meetings in Agago. Leaders from all three societies sat down with the cooperative to look at where their networks could support each other going forward. No agreement was signed. These were engagement meetings, a starting point for what could grow into closer collaboration between the cooperative and the three societies, built the way any cooperative partnership should be built: through open discussion first, with the details to follow once both sides are ready.
Much appreciation to the leadership of Patongo Farmers Cooperative, Ker Lira Lapono Multipurpose Cooperative and Kabala Aleda Cooperative Society, and to everyone in Agago who made the meetings possible.
The cooperative looks forward to putting what was discussed to work, so that the collaboration delivers something tangible for farming communities in the region. Keeping cooperative-to-cooperative ties strong, in Agago and beyond, is how the movement meets shared needs that no single cooperative can meet alone. For partnership enquiries, contact the secretariat.