Fostering Cooperative Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic : A case study on coffee cooperatives' operations during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: This study investigates the resilience of coffee cooperatives and producer organizations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and explores their adaptations to the context in relation to their livelihood capitals. The changes to their operations are analyzed through the contexts of shocks, trends and stresses and how they perceived these threats. The topic of research is relevant given the economic and social importance of cooperatives in these communities and potential impacts to their operations during COVID-19, which is likely to have long-term impacts locally and within the global setting.There is a lack of consensus regarding the classification of cooperatives as resilient organizations, with much of the previous research focusing on financial crisis or natural disasters. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented event on a global scale with far-reaching impacts into social, economic and political spheres, and examining these effects is still a developing realm within academic research. The relationship of coffee producers and their organizations within the global commodity chains renders such organizations particularly vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 and government policy interventions. Investigating how coffee cooperatives in Honduras have been operating throughout the COVID-19 pandemic assesses their potential capacity for resilience by examining how they have been impacted and the manners in which they have overcome these challenges. This further allows for increased understanding of cooperative resilience and ways in which cooperatives’ capital have the potential to impact their resilience.This research follows an abductive qualitative case study and utilizes semi-structured interviews from various coffee cooperatives and organizations in Honduras as primary sources with existing literature as secondary sources. The interviews were conducted remotely. The findings include accounts from cooperatives and producer organizations, which focus primarily on coffee production, in addition to reports from a privately owned coffee production enterprise and a cooperative member. The Vulnerability Context and Asset Pentagon, components of the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework as described by the Department for International Development, were used to analyze the data, along with variables to assess organizational resilience. The study finds that investments to organizations’ human and social capital were prioritized and heavily relied upon during this crisis and the more established organizations had a larger range of resources from which to draw upon. Nevertheless, by continuing to develop and expand on human and social capital, cooperative organizations can increase their capacity for resilience.