Development with Vlad

Cooperatives and Water: How Eswatini Organises Its Farmers

Why do some cooperatives lift families out of poverty while others collapse? In this first episode of Development with Vlad, I speak with Sindy Mthimkhulu, former CEO of the Joint River Basin Authority (JRBA) and now Executive Secretary of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourse Commission, about how cooperatives really work on the ground in Eswatini (Swaziland).

We talk about how water policy shapes which farmers can organise, why boards struggle with money and power, why chickens often outperform sugarcane, and how a simple twinning partnership with Dutch water boards grew into the Blue Deal programme across Eswatini, South Africa and Mozambique.

This episode is part of my MA research on cooperative development in Eswatini.

Guest: Sindy Mthimkhulu – LinkedIn

Host: Vlad Doperuk – LinkedIn