Youth engagement in leadership for agricultural marketing co-operative societies sustainability in Karagwe and Kyerwa districts, Tanzania

Abstract

Despite their potential for sustaining cooperative societies, youth involvement in cooperative leadership is still limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate youth leadership participation for long-term cooperative success. Specifically, researchers aimed to identify strategies used to engage youth in co-operative leadership and the role of youth leadership in sustaining Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Societies (AMCOS). The study conducted in two Districts namely; Karagwe and Kyerwa, with 252 board members collecting data through descriptive questionnaires and interviews. Researchers used both descriptive and narrative analysis tools for data analysis. The findings revealed that there were weak institutional strategies designed to engage youth in co-operative activities, such as policy and/or practice guidelines supporting youth engagement, strategic planning for youth engagement, financial and non-financial resources to support youth participation, youth forums to address their needs as managers and leaders. Youth-adult relationships do exist, but only in the sense that youth are considered as cooperative participants. Furthermore, in the two districts, the role of youth leaders in maintaining AMCOS is rarely in supporting and defending policies, attaining goals, or building interpersonal skills. It was concluded that, youth engagement agenda in co-operative leadership can only be archived if institutional procedures and strategies for including youth in leadership roles are in place and this needs agriculture and marketing co-operatives (AMCOS) making conscious efforts to design appropriate strategies to engage youth to occupy leadership positions and to encourage more youth to join co-operatives as active members. It was recommended that District Co-operative Officers educate the elderly about the importance of youth as leaders in sustaining cooperatives and provide training on how to engage them in AMCOS.