Organizations of the Poor: Conditions for success

Based on the undocumented field experiences of FAO staff working with rural institutions in developing countries and project documents produced by UN agencies, this paper provides an overview on some of the factors that contribute to the success of membership based organizations of the poor (MBOPs). MBOPs are defined as organizations whose members are involuntarily poor and have chosen to join an organization to achieve collective objectives using, in part, their own contributions. Two main types of MBOPs are distinguished: self-organizations and externally supported organizations of the poor. These types are important for understanding the genesis and vulnerabilities of MBOPs.MBOPs are considered successful when they achieve their members’ objectives, retain or expand their membership, stimulate members to maintain or increase their equity stake, and bring about some improvement in their well being.