Cooperatives and turnover of members: A case study at the Cooperative of Sustainable Production and Development

Abstract

The charity ABADEUS requested UNESC support, via the Solidarity Economic Action Program (PAES), in the process of incubation of the Production Cooperative of Sustainable Development– COOPERDUS. In order to meet this demand, an extension project was developed with activities that allowed the academics to observe a strong turnover of members. Also, a survey was conducted aiming to identify the reasons that led to the disconnection of some COOPERDUS cooperatives, in addition to understand what motivates women to continue in the cooperative. There search was descriptive and the data-collection technique was via participant observation and the interviews were recorded with a semi-structured script, targeted at a group of eight women. The analysis approach was largely qualitative. The COOPERDUS is a cooperative that was not created by a demand from the members, but through the encouragement of a charity: the ABADEUS. Through research, it was possible to identify that in COOPERDUS the turnover is the result of various factors, such as: the difficulty in exercising autonomy, the barriers imposed by a presidency that is inactive; the asymmetry in information; injustice masked by the unequal division of surplus; and the free qualification that enabled specialization, above all the financial difficulties faced. The conclusion of this work is that the turnover of members in COOPERDUS, although it relates to all these factors, is the result of the strong dependence that the cooperative has in the institution of its origin.

Key words: Solidarity Economy, cooperative, turnover.