Cooperative Governance and Local Economic Development in Selected Small Towns: A Case Study of the Western Cape Province, South Africa

This article reports on a study based on cooperative governance and Local Economic Development (LED) in selected small towns in the Western Cape Province. The dearth of an integrative institutional framework to promote collaborative participation negatively influences local municipalities ability to successfully manage LED cooperatively with relevant stakeholders. Promoting such inclusive representation and participation of all relevant stakeholders provides a viable and complementary alternative to the traditional bureaucratic governance mechanism. The study investigated the specific factors involved in designing and implementing cooperative governance for LED in selected, comparable municipalities in the Western Cape. Specifically, the study aims to determine the push and pull factors for the successful functioning of cooperative governance aimed at promoting LED in those municipalities. Data were collected through three data collection instruments, namely, document review, interviews, and focus group discussions. The document review is complemented by data from interviews and focus groups discussion. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on cooperative governance by identifying the specific cooperative governance factors, enabling the efficacy and governance of LED in small towns, aimed at positively influencing municipalities ability to successfully manage LED cooperatively with relevant stakeholders. An in-depth understanding of the relationship and dynamics of these variables helps to offer recommendations as to how to improve the management and responsiveness to socio-economic concerns within the municipalities through improved LED governance.

THE ELEMENTS OF COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE MODEL IN MALAYSIA

The contribution of the cooperative sector in Malaysia to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is still at an unsatisfactory level. Some reports state that the country's GDP was only achieved between 3% to 4% until 31 December 2019 compared to the target of 10% as set in the National Cooperative Policy (NCP) 2011-2020. Based on NCP 2011-2020, one of the achievements that contribute to the increase in GDP is good regulation and governance. The same achievement strategy is continued in the fourth strategic thrust proposal of NCP 2021-2030, which is to create effective regulation. Therefore, to solve the problems of the study, the objectives of the study is to identify the elements of cooperative governance model based on cooperative governance guidelines in Malaysia and investigate the effect of cooperative governance model based on cooperative governance guidelines on cooperative performance in Malaysia. This study will use quantitative research method to achieve the objectives that have been set, namely questionnaire techniques and content analysis. Validation of the study framework model will be conducted using quantitative analysis techniques using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The expected output of the study is the Cooperative Governance Model that can be referred to by the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development (MEDAC) and government agencies such as the Malaysian Cooperative Commission (MCC), Malaysian Cooperative Institute and other cooperatives. The significant results of this study are expected to provide input to the MCC related to the elements of good cooperative governance and can be used as additional information to be disseminated to cooperatives in Malaysia. The improvement in the achievement of cooperative governance is expected to contribute to the increase in cooperative revenue which in turn achieves the target contribution to the national GDP.

Development Of Quality Measurement Of Cooperative Governance Implementation

According to the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, the basis for the establishment of cooperatives in Indonesia, is intended to be one of the solid pillars of the nation's economy. Cooperatives have not played much role in reducing people's poverty and realizing food independence (Tjakrawerdjaja, 2019). The purpose of this study is to develop a measurement of the quality of the implementation of cooperative governance. Cooperative governance that is not based on the principle of good cooperative governance has the potential to have a negative impact on the health of cooperatives and the survival of cooperatives (Budiyono & Susilowati, 2017). The research method used in this study is qualitative research, which emphasizes analyzing and interpreting a problem (Afrizal, 2014). Participants in this study are those who have knowledge and experience about cooperatives. The population will spread across the scope of the cooperative, especially at the level of administrators, supervisors, and management. The process of analyzing research data is carried out inductively, namely data analysis is carried out simultaneously with data collection in a cyclical process (Nugrahani, 2014). The data analysis model that the author uses is the interactive analysis of Miles & Huberman. In order to collect data from information sources or informants, researchers need assistance instruments that are used semi-structured interview guidelines. The next stage of this research is to conduct content analysis. The main purpose of content analysis is to support answers to research questions, namely the extent to which cooperative governance is implemented. Content analysis is carried out on the Accountability Report of the Cooperative Management and Supervisory Board. The results of this study indicate that the Development of Quality Measurement of Cooperative Governance Implementation, produces 15 (fifteen) dimensions and 97 (ninety-seven) indicators. The level of implementation of the development of measurement of the quality of the implementation of cooperative governance in the two samples of cooperatives obtained the findings: (a) BPK RI Cooperatives received the predicate "not good"; (b) KSP SMS implementation level gets the predicate “Good”.