Impact of Covid-19 on Cooperatives Movement in Rwanda

Abstract

Cooperatives play important role in promoting inclusive, sustainable development and economic transformation. Cooperatives can offer significant benefits to their members through the principle of strength in numbers and pooled resources, including increased bargaining power; reduced costs through economies of scale; the ability to obtain goods or services they otherwise would not have access to; the ability to diversify and expand production into new product ranges; the ability to improve product quality through collective investment; and overall increased incomes in accordance with cooperative values and principles. The world now encounters a grim reality, with exponential growth of contagion of COVID-19 pandemic, human lives are being lost and the virus continues to spread rapidly across the globe. Different prevention measures including the confinement were enacted by the government. Cooperatives operations were suspected due to the confinement. This paper examines the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on cooperatives in Rwanda using descriptive statistics from primary and secondary data collected which helped to draw conclusions on the effect of the pandemic. The results highlight the impacts till now of the pandemic on cooperative formation, income losses for both members and cooperatives, effects on working capital and investment, and key facts on cooperative contributions to support their members.