Representatives of cooperatives, federations and unions under the National Cooperatives Confederation of Rwanda (NCCR), have been challenged to embrace the spirit of working together, to manage their resources and improve members’ welfare.

The message was delivered by Damien Mugabo, the Director General of Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA), while officiating at a training for coop managers, in Kigali on Tuesday.

"There is need for a strong partnership among members of the cooperatives. They must share a vision. Self -reliance should be the foundation of your targets,” he said.

He said that cooperatives still face challenges like embezzlement and lack of skills which results into delays in submission or poor compilation of reports. He however took issue with managers who embezzle members’ funds.

"When people entrust you with leadership of their cooperative, you embezzle their money, this is a serious abuse of that trust. Some leaders take advantage of members’ ignorance to steal their money,” he said.

In Rwanda, there are 7,500 cooperatives in 187 unions under 14 federations with a membership of over three million people, according to RCA figures.

Augustin Katabarwa, the chairman of NCCR said that they expect cooperative representatives to make a tremendous and positive change in the functioning and delivery of services.

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