Peoples organisation and development: cooperatives and the development of small scale fishermen

Abstract

newline This monograph is bosed on the author s professional experience of working newlinewith small scale artisanal fishing communities in Kerala State for two decades newlineBased on this experience this monograph addresses the larger issue of newlinepeople s organisations and development It deals more specificall with the newlinerole that cooperatives have played in bringing about aocia economic change newlinein these fishing communities newlineThe monograph first attempts to unravel the impact of the ver nature of the newlinefishery resources and the characteristic of the fishing communities on both newline the fish econom as a whole and the organisations in particular newlineThis is followed b an anal sis of the cooperative movement among fishermen newlinein Kerala State tracing the history the causes for failure and suggestions for newlinepossible new directions to achieve success newlineAgainst this backdrop the main part of this monograph narrates the author s newlinefirst hllnd experience of helping fishermen to organise their village level newlinecooperative and the subsequent extension of this movement to three maritime newlinedistricts of the region This part of the monograph is both narrative and newlinereflective It documents first hand experience and also uses information newlinegathered from surveys conducted among the beneficiary fishermen themselves newlineto make an assessment of the cooperatives newlineThe lost part of the monograph briefl highlights some of the crucial insights newlinefor organisational intervention that have been gleamed from the professional newlineexperience