Aquaculture farmer organizations and cluster management: concepts and experiences

4.2.2 External factors for success 
External partnerships with government, NGOs and donors
As mentioned in Chapter 2, one of the main reasons for formal farmer cooperation is 
to manage relations between farmers and the outside world. Establishing relationships 
between FOs and external partners is critical to their success as, along with internal 
relations discussed above, they help to determine an FO’s capacity to act as an 
autonomous self-sustaining unit. This is important, as lack of autonomy and political 
interference have been the reasons for the failure of many FOs (Stockbridge, Dorward 
and Kydd, 2003). Strong partnerships with donors and NGOs are a key feature of the 
aquaculture FOs examined in this review. This may be partly due to the fact that FOs 
that are not supported by external organizations are less well-documented in the 
literature; however, it is clear from the case studies and from the wider literature that 
external relationships are very important. Partnerships with development agencies and 
government can have many advantages, especially in the early stages of FO development. 
External partners can help with training and capacity building, facilitating FO linkages 
with the private sector (see below) and creating a conducive legal framework to enable 
FOs to operate successfully. Despite these advantages, there are also well-documented 
disadvantages, especially when partners are too interventionist or if FOs have been 
created by external agencies. External partnerships can create a market incentive for 
individuals who would not otherwise do so to join together simply to access funds; 
distort member investment behaviour, leading to overinvestment in inappropriate 
capital-intensive technologies that are beyond the member’s capacity to manage; and 
create dependency on external resources, causing FOs to discontinue their activities 
and dissolve once the funding ceases. Even well-meaning donors, governments and 
development agencies may actively influence FOs in their choice of activities and in the 
way they are structured and governed and may hinder the development of a strong and 
authentic decision-making capacity within these FOs. Donor pressure to produce 
quick and visible results also creates incentives to demonstrate short-term outputs 
rather than to ensure longer-term impacts and outcomes (Crowley 
et al.
, 2005). 

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Lessons for successful farmers’ organizations
Thus, it is important for FOs to tread carefully when partnering with outside 
agencies, and the method of engagement between FOs and external agencies is 
critical. Kindness and Gordon (2001) suggest that the role of outside agencies 
should be a facilitative one, not an interventionist one. Partnerships should provide 
intensive “software” support, in which external actors accompany and advise 
FOs over a long period but do not intervene directly in decision-making. Such 
collaborations can also help existing organizations become more empowered and 
more capable of representing the interests of their members in key policy arenas. 
Thus, FO management should be independent from government and donors, while 
still maintaining close cooperation at the operational level, and FOs should have clear 
and enforceable rules separating political interests and external pressures from its 
leadership (Thompson 
et al.
, 2009).