COOPERATIVES DATA, MSME INCLUSION GOES DIGITAL

MBABANE - The issue of accurate and reliable data needed for the Cooperative Data Analysis System (CODAS) has been addressed.

Acting Commissioner for Cooperative Development Bongani Maziya said that before the introduction of CODAS in 2010, the issue of accurate and reliable data was indeed a nightmarish one for the Department of Cooperatives. This was during the launch and handover of tablets by the Centre for Financial Inclusion (CFI) to be used by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Trade for cooperative data collection. CFI donated 10 tables to assist CODAS with their data collection. He said individuals would use pen and paper to collect data from cooperatives and thereafter use Excel to aggregate the figures, and if the officer was unable to use Excel, they would add up the figures using a calculator. “So, this process had a lot of errors because the next time you request statistics, we issue completely different figures,” he said.

Maziya also mentioned that CODAS brought stability and consistency to the cooperative sector in today’s digital and information age. He said the old system was good during its time and with the developments that have taken place over the years. “For instance, the onboarding of school cooperatives in 2017 meant we had to add a new age bracket (0–17) and amend the Act to cater for these changes, and it therefore became apparent that we needed an upgrade,” he said. The commissioner added that the old CODAS was cumbersome and time consuming since it involved manual processes such as data collection, data entry, data analysis and validation, and more. He said they were in the process of developing programmes and reviewing policies, in particular the National Cooperative Development Policy of 2017, which was due for review this year.

Sector

Maziya said it was because they believe that the non-financial sector has the potential to provide demand-driven services and products in the country and on the African continent at large.
“Eswatini is one of the few countries that have held on to CODAS, and we pride ourselves that every time we present our reports internationally, for instance, we presented one in Kenya on Wednesday last week where there were 34 countries from Africa and beyond and received appreciation from sister countries,” he mentioned. Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Trade Manqoba Khumalo added that before the implementation of CODAS, the country was confronted with a serious challenge due to the lack of complete, accurate, and reliable information in the cooperative sector, thus depriving stakeholders of the ability to gauge the actual contribution of cooperatives to the national economy. “With the upgrade, processes are now seamless and automated, and we have a strong belief that it will improve the quality of our database,” he said.

Khumalo also mentioned that information gathered during monitoring enables the cooperative sector to relate inputs to achievements or outputs and to gauge the input-output effectiveness, thereby initiating changes to the implementation strategy and policies to ensure that the set objectives are achieved. He added that CODAS has been around for more than ten years, and a lot of developments have occurred, including, but not limited to, the introduction of school cooperatives, which also require tracking, and the need to upgrade the old desktop-based system to one that was web-based for ease of access both at the data collection and information consumption stages. “The Ministry has since completed the CODAS upgrade through financial support from the German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation (DGRV), Pretoria, and is now in the phase of capturing current real data into the new system,” mentioned the minister. CFI CEO Nomcebo Hadebe added that the inclusion of MSME data was imperative so that they could market themselves and acquire finances.

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