PARTICIPATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING IN SMALL GROUPS: THE CASE OF WOMEN COOPERATIVES IN MOROCCO

Learning theories have given limited importance to a possible differentiation of skills due to the way group members participate. Studies of participation in organizations have identified different patterns of evolution of the forms of participation in groups, but did not focus on the role of members' skills in such patterns. The study assesses the interaction between participation and capacity-building in two female cooperatives in Morocco. In one of the cooperatives, activities are clearly separated between grassroots members and the president, who manages alone the group and improves her skills accordingly. In the second cooperative, members actively participate in the management of the group and improve their capacities for collective action. In the two cases, the evolution of members' skills contributes to stabilize the patterns of participation, towards the delegation of management activities to a leader or towards a collective management of the group.