Organizations of the Poor: Conditions for Success

Organizations of the Poor: Conditions for Success

Descripción

Based largely on the field experiences of FAO staff working with rural institutions in developing countries and project documents produced by UN agencies, this paper provides an overview of some of the factors that contribute to the success of membership based organizations of the poor (MBOPs). MBOPs are defined as organizations which poor members control and partially or fully finance. A range of MBOP types are distinguished along a continuum, ranging from self-organizations to externally supported organizations of the poor, and characterized by differences in scale, autonomy-dependence dynamics, and focus. Some hybrid organizations successfully combine the strengths of both self-organizations and externally supported organizations of the poor, enabling them to scale up, expand and diversify their constituency and effect more fundamental political, social and economic changes. These types are important for understanding the genesis, vulnerabilities, success, and survival of MBOP s. MBOPs are considered successful when they achieve their members’ objectives, retain or expand their membership, stimulate members to maintain or increase their equity stake, and bring about some improvement in their well being.