Who has the power, men or women? : A qualitative study about womens' farmers' cooperatives in Nicaragua and women's power

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to investigate the power relations in women’s farmers’ cooperatives in Nicaragua, and to see if the women feel that they have power over their decisions and if they feel that their power has changed after joining the cooperative. The theory used in this thesis is postcolonial feminism theories of women empowerment and frameworks on development efforts to women. The method used to gather data has been semi-structured one-on-one interviews. The investigated cooperatives are part of the umbrella organization Femuprocan. Femuprocan has received development funds from We Effect (formerly Swedish Cooperative Centre) and other aid agencies in order to form cooperatives and for capacity building. Previous studies show the importance of involving women in the decisions about how the development funds should be used.   The interviews showed that the women have been involved in the decisions within the cooperatives such as how the funds should be used. Most of the interviewed women perceived an increased sense of power after joining the cooperative, and can exemplify this. However, the change is slow. The women have identified that capacity building, meeting other women and gaining more money have been crucial in the empowerment process.