"I think we need to factor as well that the cooperative members derive non-monetary benefits in terms of opportunities for group sales, bulking produce, storage, all of which offer increased chances to attract higher prices and avoid gluts in the market, thereby improving the welfare of members. Other latent benefits such as timely access to inputs on credit basis, legal protection through enabling legal and policy environment made possible by the engagement power of the cooperative with the policy decision-makers that be, also exist for members."
Please note that yes these benefits are true but at a cost and the question is how often to the cost to obtain these benefits exceed the value of the benefits so relying on the cooperative model will force smallholder farmers deeper into poverty. Have you ever seen the detailed accounting of the overhead costs to obtain the stated benefits? I have been carefully looking for them for over a decades and have never seen overhead cost factored into the promotion of the cooperative model.
Thank you,
Dick
***
Please allow me to continue my comment and provide some references on how Knowledge Management to appease donors is detrimental to smallholder beneficiaries. Please review the webpage:
Are these the business parameters that will determine if a program is effective in assisting smallholder or not, why is this information just not available and should it be mandatory in M&E evaluations, that is unless the objective is not to assist the smallholder beneficiaries our of poverty but more to impose on them the horrible cooperative business model even if it drives them deeper into poverty.
Also, review the following webpages and see how fast the cooperative model can lose its envisioned competitive advantage.
Knowledge Management can be interesting as you can take the same data (Knowledge) and manage it in two simple but different way with polar opposite results, one propaganda/promotional while stagnating programs claiming success, and the other evaluation recognizing limited success and leading to program evolution and refinement. The two management tools are aggregate analysis vs. percentage analysis.
With aggregate analysis, you simply sum up the number of people involved, the total goods marketed, the total value of the good, etc. With a large program spread over an entire country or region, you can generate some very impressive numbers. This appears like a great program with no need to make any adjustments and has stagnated program conceptualization for several decades. This is good for promotion and perhaps getting future funding from legislatures but for future guidance purposes the results are meaningless.
However, from an evaluation perspective the numbers are meaningless, as they provide no comparison as to what potential could have been. This can be accomplished by taking the same data and concentrating on percentage analysis such as percent of potential beneficiaries actively participating, the percent market share vs. side selling, percent income improvement, etc. This percentage analysis could be strengthened with clearly state targets that will separate success from failure and such targets are consistent with the expectation of the underwriting taxpayers, as noted in previous mentioned webpage: https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/request-for-information-basic-business-parameters/ Thus, the impressive aggregate numbers when expressed as a percent of potential could represent a trivial impact and need for major program adjustments, that is if there is a sincere interest in assisting smallholder beneficiaries out of poverty, and not imposing on them some horrible business model that more likely will force them deeper into poverty, and for which they very wisely and astutely avoid. Please review the Ethiopian coffee example in the webpage: https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/perpetuating-cooperatives-deceptivedishonest-spin-reporting/
Unfortunately, when I see an impressive aggerate analysis I think it represents a cover up and program failure. As an American I have to careful take note of the USAID MEL process. This stands from Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, but is really just great aggerate analysis that may have some monitoring component, but no real evaluation, and the only learn is how to deceive the American public. To me this is a deliberate effort to deceive the American Public into thinking their international assistance program is making major accomplishments, while most potential beneficiaries are avoiding the programs like the plague or the COVID-19 pandemic. I am not certain that some of this should be reviewed through the court system. https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/vulnerability-for-class-action-litigation-a-whistleblowers-brief/
RE: How to use Knowledge Management to strengthen the impact of Evaluation on smallholder agriculture development?
Multiple contributions:
Paul,
With regards to your comment below:
"I think we need to factor as well that the cooperative members derive non-monetary benefits in terms of opportunities for group sales, bulking produce, storage, all of which offer increased chances to attract higher prices and avoid gluts in the market, thereby improving the welfare of members. Other latent benefits such as timely access to inputs on credit basis, legal protection through enabling legal and policy environment made possible by the engagement power of the cooperative with the policy decision-makers that be, also exist for members."
Please note that yes these benefits are true but at a cost and the question is how often to the cost to obtain these benefits exceed the value of the benefits so relying on the cooperative model will force smallholder farmers deeper into poverty. Have you ever seen the detailed accounting of the overhead costs to obtain the stated benefits? I have been carefully looking for them for over a decades and have never seen overhead cost factored into the promotion of the cooperative model.
Thank you,
Dick
***
Please allow me to continue my comment and provide some references on how Knowledge Management to appease donors is detrimental to smallholder beneficiaries. Please review the webpage:
https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/request-for-informat…;
Are these the business parameters that will determine if a program is effective in assisting smallholder or not, why is this information just not available and should it be mandatory in M&E evaluations, that is unless the objective is not to assist the smallholder beneficiaries our of poverty but more to impose on them the horrible cooperative business model even if it drives them deeper into poverty.
Also, review the following webpages and see how fast the cooperative model can lose its envisioned competitive advantage.
https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/loss-of-competitive-…
Thank you,
Dick
***
Knowledge Management can be interesting as you can take the same data (Knowledge) and manage it in two simple but different way with polar opposite results, one propaganda/promotional while stagnating programs claiming success, and the other evaluation recognizing limited success and leading to program evolution and refinement. The two management tools are aggregate analysis vs. percentage analysis.
With aggregate analysis, you simply sum up the number of people involved, the total goods marketed, the total value of the good, etc. With a large program spread over an entire country or region, you can generate some very impressive numbers. This appears like a great program with no need to make any adjustments and has stagnated program conceptualization for several decades. This is good for promotion and perhaps getting future funding from legislatures but for future guidance purposes the results are meaningless.
However, from an evaluation perspective the numbers are meaningless, as they provide no comparison as to what potential could have been. This can be accomplished by taking the same data and concentrating on percentage analysis such as percent of potential beneficiaries actively participating, the percent market share vs. side selling, percent income improvement, etc. This percentage analysis could be strengthened with clearly state targets that will separate success from failure and such targets are consistent with the expectation of the underwriting taxpayers, as noted in previous mentioned webpage: https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/request-for-information-basic-business-parameters/ Thus, the impressive aggregate numbers when expressed as a percent of potential could represent a trivial impact and need for major program adjustments, that is if there is a sincere interest in assisting smallholder beneficiaries out of poverty, and not imposing on them some horrible business model that more likely will force them deeper into poverty, and for which they very wisely and astutely avoid. Please review the Ethiopian coffee example in the webpage: https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/perpetuating-cooperatives-deceptivedishonest-spin-reporting/
Unfortunately, when I see an impressive aggerate analysis I think it represents a cover up and program failure. As an American I have to careful take note of the USAID MEL process. This stands from Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, but is really just great aggerate analysis that may have some monitoring component, but no real evaluation, and the only learn is how to deceive the American public. To me this is a deliberate effort to deceive the American Public into thinking their international assistance program is making major accomplishments, while most potential beneficiaries are avoiding the programs like the plague or the COVID-19 pandemic. I am not certain that some of this should be reviewed through the court system. https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/vulnerability-for-class-action-litigation-a-whistleblowers-brief/
Thank you,
Dick