Institutional development: Some lessons from the experience of Israeli technical assistance in the setting up of moshav multi-purpose co-operatives

The moshav multi-purpose co-operative has played a vital role in Israel's technical assistance to the developing world. However, the experience has shown that the moshav co-operative formula as shaped in Israel was in the earlier settlement projects largely unsuccessful in its application to the developing world. The relevance and suitability of the organizational form to varying conditions was only observed gradually over time. Improvements in institutional development took place by trial and error. Changes in the farm enterprise composition or market orientation resulted in the need for modifications to the organizational form selected. The need to focus and concentrate upon the appropriate organizational form both at the initial planning stage and at later points in the development process became apparent.

The lessons learnt from the experience accumulated by Israeli technical assistance overseas is that organizations should be viewed dynamically and that changes in the organizational form should be predicted by planners and decision-makers so that modifications can be introduced at optimal points in time. In this way continued effectiveness should be ensured.