Contribution of Cooperatives in Promoting Social Capital in Rural Areas of Rwanda.

Abstract

Social capital refers to the quality of human relationship and the opportunities that emanate from them that could be of benefit to the population concerned. It is as important to human behaviorbusiness decisions, and government action as financial capital. In cooperative, with low trust, it is very difficult to make decision and it has been observed that very poor people suffer not only from the shortage of resources but also from the poor connection to social networks detaining relevant information on existing pro-poor opportunities and this shows that their social capital is very low. Little study talks about the role played by cooperatives not only in increasing the life of members but also in promoting social capital. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of cooperatives in promoting social capital in rural areas of Rwanda with a case study of COPRORIZ/ Ntende. The study used a descriptive survey design which used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data. Quantitative data was summarized using descriptive statistics: frequencies, mean, standard deviation, correlation and presented using tables while qualitative data was presented in narratives. The participants included members of COPRORIZ Ntende and local authorities. The research questions of the study sought to ascertain services and opportunities offered by COPRORIZ to its members. The research found out that the COPRORIZ offers different vital services to its members that contribute much in their daily life, as shown in table 2. The Researcher wanted to know how these services and opportunities offered by Cooperative contributed to the promotion of different aspects of social capital among members. About the level of trustiness in Cooperative, the study found out that the level of trustiness among the members in Cooperative is high as mentioned in the Table 6. The research wanted also to know to what extent COPRORIZ Ntende contributes in promoting social cooperation between members. Here, according to result obtained, the study found out that COPRORIZ had contributed a lot in promoting social cooperation in its members. Finally, the research findings showed that cooperatives members got profitability from their cooperative in different domains such as social, economic, environmental, institutional and financial which helped them satisfy their basic needs and fight against poverty.