Building socio-hydrological resilience for Inclusion: Experience of co-operatives in Tanzania

Abstract

This chapter portrays that co-operatives be it agricultural or fnancial are instrument in building socio-hydrological resilience. This is due to the fact that co operatives are deep rooted to solve societal problems in an inclusive way. The co operatives are built under social responsibility and caring values which support them in the provision of strong social security to its members. This helps co operatives to lessen adverse impact on the most disadvantaged groups, and this in turn promotes disaster risk reduction. Likewise, unity as another value of co operatives enables them to play a philanthropic role after the occurrence of disaster. Co-operatives, being among strong institutions and very close to the communities, are positioned to create awareness for disaster response. Building social hydrologi cal resilience in a more effective and sustainable manner requires comprehensive and all-inclusive approaches which in the one hand are among the pillars inherent in a co-operative ideology. It is also important to note that this does not mean other approaches of dealing with resilience such as engineering resilience and ecological resiliencies are less important. The two approaches are equally important but their success and sustainability will depend on socio-hydrological approach. Thus, it can be concluded that if co-operatives become more adaptive and sustainable mainly as a result of strong management, solid market advantageous, strong venture capital and good governance, they are likely to be resilient not only on fnancial aspects but also in many other aspects including socio-hydrological matters. This can be dem onstrated by their abilities to have self-mobilisation and be able to fulfl the needs of their stakeholders.