Cooperative enterprise empowers our Tanzanian women

First and foremost, cooperatives support male and female farmers in their collective organization. As coops logistically support farmers in gathering and/or processing raw materials collectively, they contribute to adding value to the production and to affording a stronger market share for farmers in the food chain. In developing countries, cooperatives represent an even more 

advantageous opportunity for women farmers, as they often have less means than men to organize their production collectively. 

Agricultural cooperatives can provide women farmers with decent work opportunities and secured incomes, which bring them closer to the formal economic system. This can help them acquire social status and make basic services such as credit, medical care, property and production tools accessible. Agricultural cooperatives are a means to improve employment and living conditions of farmers which contributes to alleviate poverty in rural communities.

In the same vein, the international   Co-operative Day is an annual celebration of the co-operative movement observed on the first Saturday in July since 1923 by the International Co-operative Alliance.

On December 16, 1992, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed in resolution 47/90 "the first Saturday of July 1995 to be International Day of Cooperatives, marking the centenary of the establishment of the International Cooperative Alliance."  Since 1995 the United Nations' International Day of Co-operatives has been observed jointly alongside International Co-operative Day.  

Co-operatives around the world celebrate the day in various fashions and each year the organising institutions agree on a theme for the celebrations. The 2010 theme was Cooperative Enterprise Empowers Women, to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. 

In Tanzania, the Tanzania Federation of Cooperatives (TFC) Limited is a national cooperative umbrella organisation that promotes, serves and coordinates the development and prosperity of all cooperative societies in mainland Tanzania. TFC is an independent non-governmental and non-partisan organisation that is member- owned and managed in the spirit of the internationally recognised cooperative principles and values. It is a member of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and collaborates with several other like-minded national and international organisations.

TFC was registered on 8th December 1994.   Its current members consist of five National Cooperative apexes from Tobacco, Cotton, Coffee, Cashew and Cereal and other produce industries; two specialized Unions Savings and credit Cooperative Union of Tanzania SCCULT and Tanzania Industrial Co-operative Union and six Cooperative Unions. The combined membership of TFC is some 6000 cooperative societies having about 700,000 members. 

In the same vein, the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission is established by the Cooperative Societies Act No 6 of 2013 and is mandated with the regulation and promotion of cooperative sector development. 

Its vision is to be a leading organization in Africa that fosters development of modern and commercial cooperative societies which meet global standards and demands of the cooperative movement.

Whereas the mission is to provide efficient and effective regulatory and promotional services for attainment of vibrant, modern and commercial cooperative societies in Tanzania.