i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

Cooperativismo: A Model for Campesino Organizing
Agricultural cooperatives that provide credit and service co-ops tend to have a uniform
management structure. The general assembly elects a board of directors: the president,
vice-president, treasurer, secretary, and two members known as vocales. The general
assembly is composed of the entire membership of the cooperative, but delegates from
each base-level co-op or group typically participate in the assembly meetings. The junta
directiva (board of directors) contracts for the services of the gerencia (management),
which consists of the general manager, bookkeeper, and technical and administrative
staff. Equal in representation but not in decision-making power is the junta de vigiancia
(the supervisory board), which oversees the operations of the management and the board
of directors in order to prevent any misdeeds or improprieties. These three entities make
up the second tier of the cooperative governance model. The management forms
committees in charge of administration, marketing, and farm production to oversee
activities such as agricultural extension service 76 , coffee sales, and accounting.
Over two days in mid May 2005, Kelly and I sat through a training session
focused on cooperativismo. This workshop was one facet of an IDR (Instituto de
Desarrollo Rural) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) economic
development project. This program has funded road improvement, depulping machines,
backpack pumps, barrels, and mineral ingredients and training for 200 farmers to make
caldo sulfocálcico (calcium sulfate). It also provided drying boxes, plantain bulbs, and
citrus plants. It offered training in designing seepage pools for coffee runoff (agues
mieles). This forum on cooperativismo was a component of an overall development-
76 This is the formal term for technical outreach and on-site support that the CLUSA
técnicos provide.
208