Government Launches Strategic Plan To Transform Cooperative Strategies

By: Cyn­thia Masi­bo

The Cab­i­net Sec­re­tary for the Min­istry of Coop­er­a­tives and MSMEs Devel­op­ment Dr. Wycliffe Ambet­sa Oparanya, launched the State Depart­ment for Coop­er­a­tives’ Strate­gic Plan (2023–2027) dur­ing a spe­cial event attend­ed by gov­ern­ment offi­cials, part­ners, and stake­hold­ers in the coop­er­a­tive sub­sec­tor.

In his address, Oparanya empha­sized the cru­cial role of coop­er­a­tives in fos­ter­ing socio-eco­nom­ic growth, espe­cial­ly in a large­ly infor­mal, agri­cul­ture-based econ­o­my like Kenya’s. He high­light­ed that coop­er­a­tives bridge the gap between the for­mal and infor­mal economies, pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for mem­bers to achieve their eco­nom­ic goals while inte­grat­ing into glob­al mar­kets. This aligns with Kenya’s broad­er devel­op­ment plans, includ­ing the Unit­ed Nations Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals (SDGs), the African Union’s Agen­da 2063, and Kenya’s Vision 2030.

The Cab­i­net Sec­re­tary stressed that the cur­rent admin­is­tra­tion has rec­og­nized the coop­er­a­tive mod­el as a key dri­ver in the coun­try’s trans­for­ma­tion, posi­tion­ing coop­er­a­tives as inte­gral to the nation’s shift towards a mid­dle-income econ­o­my. He added that the Min­istry’s com­mit­ment is focused on max­i­miz­ing the poten­tial of the coop­er­a­tive sec­tor through effec­tive pol­i­cy, legal frame­works, and capac­i­ty-build­ing efforts.

He out­lined the key areas of focus in the new­ly launched Strate­gic Plan, which will cov­er the peri­od from 2023 to 2027. The plan is built on eleven pri­ma­ry objec­tives, includ­ing improv­ing the pol­i­cy and legal frame­work, enhanc­ing coop­er­a­tive gov­er­nance, and dri­ving the adop­tion of tech­nol­o­gy in coop­er­a­tive oper­a­tions. One of the main goals is to fos­ter sus­tain­able growth and pros­per­i­ty for Kenya through enhanced coop­er­a­tive struc­tures that are well-gov­erned, effi­cient, and inno­v­a­tive.

Oparanya also acknowl­edged the chal­lenges the sec­tor faces, par­tic­u­lar­ly in gov­er­nance, and revealed that the Min­istry has made a delib­er­ate effort to address these through the ongo­ing revi­sion of the Co-oper­a­tives Act. He point­ed out that gov­er­nance remains a sig­nif­i­cant con­cern and that the Min­istry is com­mit­ted to tack­ling this through strate­gic part­ner­ships with stake­hold­ers. Addi­tion­al­ly, the Min­istry has col­lab­o­rat­ed in the for­mu­la­tion of the Kenya Coop­er­a­tive Trans­for­ma­tion Strat­e­gy (KCTS), ensur­ing align­ment with broad­er nation­al objec­tives.

The Cab­i­net Sec­re­tary also appealed to var­i­ous sec­tors, includ­ing agri­cul­ture and trans­port, to col­lab­o­rate close­ly with the coop­er­a­tive move­ment in real­iz­ing the goals set out in the Strate­gic Plan. He under­scored the impor­tance of part­ner­ships in advanc­ing the coop­er­a­tive agen­da, urg­ing stake­hold­ers to inte­grate coop­er­a­tives into their plan­ning for mutu­al ben­e­fit.

A key aspect of the Strate­gic Plan involves dig­i­tiz­ing coop­er­a­tive ser­vices as part of Kenya Kwan­za­’s broad­er dig­i­tal agen­da. The Min­istry is push­ing for coop­er­a­tives to adopt dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies urgent­ly, as this will increase effi­cien­cy, improve gov­er­nance, and stream­line ser­vices.

More­over, Oparanya called on devel­op­ment part­ners to share their expe­ri­ences and best prac­tices in coop­er­a­tive gov­er­nance. He stressed that imple­ment­ing the plan will require sub­stan­tial finan­cial, tech­ni­cal, and mate­r­i­al resources, and empha­sized that the Min­istry is work­ing on a resource mobi­liza­tion strat­e­gy to ensure the effec­tive imple­men­ta­tion of the plan’s objec­tives.

Con­clud­ing his speech, Oparanya thanked all par­tic­i­pants for their con­tin­ued engage­ment and assured them that the Min­istry is open to fur­ther col­lab­o­ra­tion. He reit­er­at­ed that the Min­istry is com­mit­ted to work­ing close­ly with all part­ners to ensure the growth and pros­per­i­ty of the coop­er­a­tive sec­tor in Kenya.

The launch marks a sig­nif­i­cant step in the Min­istry’s ongo­ing efforts to trans­form the coop­er­a­tive sub­sec­tor, posi­tion­ing it as a key pil­lar in Kenya’s socio-eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment.