Chinese people are renowned for their inventiveness and hard work, their ability to make something beautiful out of virtually nothing and to work the land with very little help. These are obvious talents, but combined with these attributes has been a need to encourage small communities in China to co-operate with each other, to provide organised ‘togetherness’, technical and legal expertise and financial help to allow people to enter the market on a bigger commercial scale and improve their income.
With this thought in mind, Dave Bromwich of New Zealand China Friendship Society was part of an initiative to provide vital commercial knowledge for model co-operatives in two districts of Shaanxi Province, in China. After working together on two community rehabilitation projects following the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, Shaanxi Provincial Women’s Federation (SXWF) asked Dave for some assistance in establishing co-operatives. This led to a co-operative workshop being run by SXWF and Gong He (also known as ICCIC, the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Co-operatives, on which Dave serves as an executive member), followed by the development of this project.
Forty-eight personnel were chosen from Shaanxi Provincial Women’s Federation (SXWF) and Economic Management Stations (EMS) to train as coaches to provide the practical knowledge that the co-operatives needed. The Women’s Federation specialise in women’s and children’s affairs, having representatives in most villages as well at other government levels. And EMS is a section of the Agriculture Department helping to implement rural economic development.
Experts in setting up co-operatives from both ICCIC and Shaanxi provincial EMS were funded by the project, and gave these coaches tuition in co-operative strategic planning, democratic participation, co-op. management and financial management. Field study visits to co-operatives in other areas where earlier projects had established sound models were also valuable in providing new ideas with many new innovations being attempted, especially in marketing and product branding.
Co-operatives are playing a more important role than ever before in nationwide Chinese rural economic development strategies. Part of the new national Government policy is a “No 1 Plan” for rural development to help farmers’ production enter the market and stresses the importance of co-operative development, and includes reference to the elderly, children and those women left behind when husbands leave to work in the cities. The enthusiasm and enterprise were already there, but training in the important commercial requirements of establishing a co-operative needed expert inputs, which is where the NZCFS project came in.
Kiwifruit production, embroidered handcrafts and vegetable co-operatives are only a few of the industries being helped by the NZCFS. Others are musk oil, palm fibre handicraft, traditional herbs production, and seedlings nursery and pork production.
The Society received money initially from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Sustainable Development Fund, who provided $138,000 and the Shaanxi Government and SXWF provided a further $60,000 plus a lot of SXWF personnel time.
The project has been a great success: all co-operatives have shown a marked increase in members; improved income and confidence for all its members and as a side bonus, women’s status has increased and community harmony has developed with, for example, regular social get-togethers in the evenings being arranged in some co-operatives. The Kiwifruit Co-operative of Meixian County has actually been awarded a national level award and has already begun exporting to Taiwan.
Since the outset in 2011, membership has risen in all the co-operatives, ranging from 22% to more than a nine-fold increase in some cases. The average increase in income has been 20% over the two years of the project with members reporting 70-90% of their goods being sold through the co-operative. Similar responses applied when asked what percentage of the individuals purchased their farm supplies (seed, fertiliser, agricultural chemicals, etc.) from the co-operative. Pooling of labour has also led to efficiencies of 15% being achieved. Technology training including how to improve quality of their specific products,
whether it be raising pigs or embroidering handicrafts, was organised through the co-operatives for their members. Also, training on the use of computer software for co-operative administration and management of finances, as well as internet use for production and marketing information was organised on computer equipment purchased by the project.
Many exchange visits between leaders of the model project co-operatives and other co-operatives have resulted in the project extending its results further afield.
When questioned about their work, the coaches considered that they had gained a deeper understanding of what a co-operative could achieve. The EMS coaches already had some co-operative knowledge, but nevertheless their understanding had broadened as a result of the training they had received from the NZCFS/ICCIC input. Prior to the project, WF coaches had little knowledge of co-operatives but this has increased significantly through the training they have received. Coaches also became enthusiastic about using a more participatory approach in their delivery of training, using more workshop discussions and fewer lectures.
All participants observed that it was vital that all co-operative members achieve a good level of understanding of the benefits and responsibilities of their co-operative to make it work for everybody.
The model co-operatives have been so successful that they and the coaches will continue to have an ongoing role in building strong co-operatives. The results of this exercise will become part of the local programme to build strong co-operatives in rural communities, and potentially further extend the impact to other projects.
While this venture has been an outstanding success and bodes well for the future, one lesson learned for future projects is the importance of selecting suitable coaches. The majority of coaches were enthusiastic and took a hands-on approach but there were exceptions and this would be important to consider for future ventures
At the end of the project, co-operative expert and NZCFS projects support person in NW China, Liu Guozhong , and NZCFS representative Dave Bromwich are pursuing the establishment of a new Chinese NGO to allow an ongoing role in providing training support for the promotion of a co-operative model in the NW of China. Liu Guozhong is deputy principal at Shandan Bailie school and an honorary member of NZCFS. Such an NGO has already been registered in Shandan county, Gansu Province, the site of earlier NZCFS co-operative projects with a strong Rewi Alley legacy. Discussion is presently underway to establish a larger base in Shaanxi Province from where other West China provinces can be served. A wealthy Chinese businessman and philanthropist in Shaanxi Province, Mr He Wanying, has become interested and has agreed in principle to fund this new initiative, providing proof that this venture is a great success.
Teri France, July 2013