This study addresses the critical role played by Cooperative societies in promoting economic sustainability in

Tanzania, with specific focus on Sustainable Development Goals 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and 9

(Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure). Cooperatives are most important drivers of inclusive financial services,

employment creation and value-added industrialization, this is according to the analysis that uses a mixed method

approach and drawn from Tanzania Cooperative Development (TCDC) National statistical bulletins, TCDC

Cooperative reports, Annual Financial Inclusion report and other few academic studies on Cooperatives. The

Tanzanian Cooperative Model which is characterized by its community-centered approach and member owned

structure, strengthened by launch of the Cooperative Bank of Tanzania (CBT) and adoption to digital innovation

initiatives, are the powerful tool to promote decent works, encourage industrial growth and creating economic

infrastructure offering important lesson for the Global South.

Keywords—Agricultural Cooperatives, SACCOS, Economic, Industrialization, Innovation, SDG, Tanzania

In the Global South, the achievement of economic sustainability involves inclusive, robust and sustainable

models. As the democratically run, member-owned businesses, Cooperatives offer an effective way toward

achieving the United National (UN) Sustainable Development goals (SDGs) especially SDGs 8 (Decent Works

and Economic growth) and 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure). Tanzania’s national blueprint, the

Cooperatives, including 1,364 SACCOS and 4,128 Agricultural Cooperatives, with combined members

exceeding 8.3 million. (TCDC, 2025b, 2025c, 2025a). The sector operates under the Cooperative Societies Act,

of 2013 and Microfinance Act of 2018 have received back Tanzania’s Long standing Cooperative Movement

(Ndiege & Mokili, 2024). Both of these Acts were revised in the year 2025 for the purpose of strengthening

supervision, accountability as well as compliance

This paper presents the case that Tanzanian Cooperatives are very important essential toward sustainable

economic growth. For achieving this, they: (i) Financial Cooperatives (SACCOS) promote capital creation and

financial inclusion, thereby enhancing economic growth (SDG 8.10); (ii) Both Agricultural and Financial

Cooperatives create employment in industrial and agricultural sectors, which promotes decent work (SDG

8.5); and (iii) Establish and run agricultural processing industries, which promotes inclusive and sustainable

calculations and thematic analysis of qualitative data, to demonstrate the relationship between cooperative

activities (independent variables) and key economic outcomes (dependent variables)

Theories of sustainability and collective action underscore the importance of Cooperatives in development. For

this study, two theoretical perspectives are particularly relevant in framing the analysis of the Tanzanian

cooperative model.

First, The Institutional theory posits that Cooperatives have special benefits over typical enterprises due to their

member-oriented model, which lowers transaction cost and makes resource poling easier (Qiu et al., 2024). This

study directly links this theory to its findings: the reduction in transaction costs explains the efficiency of

Second, the theory of collective action focuses on how the Cooperatives use risk sharing, economies of scale and

collective bargaining to get beyond the individual constraints. This is particularly significant in agricultural

markets where the smallholders’ farmers have a hard time in getting access to technology, capital and market.

(Qiu et al., 2024) This theory provides the explanatory framework for the core findings related to SDG 9. The

establishment of 328 cooperative-owned industries (the dependent variable of sustainable industrialization) is a

direct outcome of smallholder farmers pooling their resources (the independent variable of collective action).

This collective effort enables investments in processing plants, access to better technology, and enhanced

bargaining power in marketing agricultural produce valued at TZS 4.2 trillion, which individual smallholders

could not achieve alone. Thus, the theory of collective action is not merely cited but is operationalized as the

mechanism driving the observed industrial growth and value-chain integration.

2022) In Europe, during the financial crises, some cooperatives especially those in Italy, Spain, France proven

remarkably resilient preserving employment levels even while investor -owned firms experienced job

losses.(Barrios-González et al., 2024; Cristini et al., 2023; Riva & Garavaglia, 2016)

African Cooperatives also show similar effect patterns. In Kenya for instance, Agricultural Cooperatives have

enhanced market access and price bargaining resulting to rise in smallholders’ farmers income from 30%-40%

(Onyango et al., 2023). Rwandan cooperatives have been an important instrumental in promoting women

economic participation. With more than 60% of members being women in various sectors (Ortega et al., 2019).

According to this evidence, Cooperatives can be an effective means of attaining inclusive growth in a variety of

The economic impact of cooperatives in Tanzania has been the subject of various studies. SACCOS and

economic growth in Tanzania are directly related, with saving mobilization being a key factor. (Qiu et al., 2024)

According to recent study in Cooperatives, SACCOS differs from commercial banks in that they improve

member satisfaction and financial inclusion through relationship-based lending, democratic governance,

To empirically demonstrate the relationship between cooperative operations and Tanzania's economic

sustainability, this section analyses the dependent and independent variables implied in the study's objectives.

1. Independent Variables: Includes the activities of cooperatives, namely:

✓ SACCOS Operations: Volume and value of loans disbursed, savings mobilized.

✓ AMCOS Operations: Volume and value of produce marketed.

✓ Industrial Investments: Number of cooperative-owned industries established.

2. Dependent Variables: The resulting economic outcomes aligned with the SDGs:

The data in Tables 1 and 2 provide clear empirical evidence of these relationships. For example:

The 7.8% increase in loan disbursement (independent variable) by SACCOS is directly correlated with

enhanced financial inclusion and capital for investment (dependent variable), a key pillar of SDG 8.10.

The 15% growth in the volume of produce marketed by AMCOS (independent variable) and the establishment

of 23 new processing industries (independent variable) are strongly associated with a 12.6% rise in direct

industrial employment and a 19% increase in the value of marketed produce (dependent variables), directly

contributing to SDG 9.2 and 9.3.

This empirical analysis, though based on secondary data, moves beyond mere description. By calculating growth

rates and thematically linking activities to outcomes, it provides demonstrative evidence that the expansion of

cooperative sectors is a significant driver of the documented progress towards SDGs 8 and 9 in Tanzania.

inclusion council report on financial inclusion in 2024; and Bank of Tanzania (BOT) Reports

2. Peer reviewed Research papers; The peer reviewed studies discussing the Holistic function of Cooperative,

Cooperative Economics and finance, inclusive growth and sustainable industrialization

To address the objective of establishing relationships between variables, the data analysis proceeded in two steps:

Quantitative Analysis: Descriptive statistics (totals, percentages) were used to summarize the data on key

indicators. Furthermore, growth rate analysis was employed to quantify the year-on-year change in critical

variables. This provides an empirical measure of the impact and trend of cooperative activities. For instance, the

7.8% growth in loan value and the 12.6% growth in direct industrial jobs from 2023 to 2024 serve as empirical

Table 1: Contribution of Cooperatives to SDG 8 (2023-2024)

(KCBL) and Tandahimba Community

Bank (TACOBA) with total of TZS. 27.4 billion Capital, this bank is the solution to address the existed challenges

with agricultural finance, and this has helped to enable the expansion of cooperative services. (Gilliard, 2025)

Technology has become a source of innovation adopted by both Financial and non-Financial Cooperatives,

supporting the SDG 9.5 (Strengthening scientific and technological capacity)

in mobile banking transactions in SACCOS, where members made more than 2.1 million USSD -Based

balance and loan request (TCDC, 2025c)

management systems to track their crop collection, electronic weighing, cold storage facilities powered by

solar energy and e-voucher to distribute fertilizers. They also introduce digital payment platforms in fishing

and diary cooperatives connected to SACCOS accounts marketed seamless value-chain transactions.

(TCDC, 2025a)

(2024-2024) of TCDC, more than 120 Cooperatives Leaders were trained on FinTech adoption, data

analytics and green manufacturing. (TCDC, 2025a). This program promotes exchange of knowledge

regional inequalities where most SACCOS are based in urban areas where paid workers dominate membership.

For example, most of registered SACCOS are in Dares salaam (293), Arusha (133) and Mbeya (93) while regions

like Simiyu and Katavi are far behind with few SACCOS. So, this disparity highlights how urban and rural

residents continue to have different access to financial resources (Christopher, 2024)

Also, Women and youth are still underrepresented in Cooperatives, for instance Women are just 37.62% of the

entire membership while the individual with age up to 35 made just 36% of the members.(TCDC, 2024). The

necessity for focused tactics to improve these demographics group involvement in the cooperative Movement is

highlighted by these representation differences.

The global situation also poses difficulties since SDG 8 Adoption has been uneven across the globe. UN Data

indicates that on average, labor rights compliance fell by 7% worldwide between 2015 and 2023 with developing

action, because they provide access to millions of people access capital, generating over 152,000 jobs and

building network of more than 300 rural industries.(TCDC, 2025b). Their uniqueness including democratic,

member-based institutions make advantage in economic expansion and to be shared more fairly, which promotes

Tanzania’s experience provides a potential precedent model for other countries in the Global south that seek to

build inclusive, sustainable economies. The cooperative model shows that these community base organizations

may be successfully incorporated into economic systems to tackle today’s development issues while remaining

connected to local settings and attentive to members demands.

The following suggestions can help to improve this contribution

their promotion and regulatory capabilities to support Cooperatives development while responding toward

regional disparities in cooperative

Direct funding and technical support:By giving the funding support and capacity buildings programs will help

the Cooperatives improve their managerial skills and at the same time will encourage the Cooperatives to invest

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