Bringing Path Dependencies into Evaluations of Smallholder Cooperative Development Programs

This chapter outlines the importance of evaluating a smallholder cooperative project's outcomes within the historical path of its nation's political and economic institutions. This permits realistic expectations for project planners and evaluators and comparisons of project results in different countries. Two smallholder development projects in two East African countries, Kenya and Rwanda, are used to illustrate how differences in the historical path of colonial rule and post-colonial leadership present different opportunities and challenges for smallholder cooperatives. These include what kinds of incentives will attract cooperative members, the competition between cooperatives and other firms, types of institutional structures that facilitate cooperative development and regional market constraints that affect project outcomes. British colonial rule and post-colonial political and economic developments have provided more potential economic gains for Kenyan cooperatives, but also more risks. Belgian colonial rule and the postgenocide Rwandan government have led to a "guided" institutional approach to cooperative development.