David Fourie, Cornel Malan
creating jobs, economic gains and social upliftment. Various successful co-operatives exists worldwide, while the South African history also includes examples of strong co-operative activity, especially in the agricultural and services sectors. Sadly, the survival rate of co-operatives is extremely low, and mostly as result of lack of access to resources, poor or lacking business management skills and the inability to manage the co-operative specific relationship between members.
This article seeks to explore the results of the analyses of the current levels and future skills needs of established and emergent co-operatives within the energy and water sector, as well as the content and success of training initiatives as supported by the Energy and Water Sector Training Authority in South Africa.
Underpinned by a critical realism philosophy, an abductive approach using a mixed-method approach of qualitative analysis of existing literature and quantitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews provided valuable insights into the current status of co-operative skills and performance. The findings culminated in the design of prospectus to be considered when designing a co-operative specific training prospectus.