Coffee co-operatives in malawi: Building resilience through innovation

This article focuses on the role played by innovation in the context of coffee co-operatives. It shows how interconnected forms of innovation contribute to co-operative resilience. Data was collected from the largest coffee co-operative Union in Malawi and illustrates how coffee co-operatives have innovated in order to cope with organizational and market constrains. We identify four areas of innovation: sustainable technologies, development of market niches, women's inclusion and business diversification. The combination of these forms of innovation contributes to co-operative resilience in different degrees, the article also analyzes how innovation is influenced and driven by co-operative's values and principles and by partnerships with national and international actors.