دور الحركة التعاونية الفلسطينية في توفير فرص العمل وتعزيزها في سوق العمل من وجهة نظر ممثلي الجمعيات التعاونية | The role of the Palestinian cooperative societies in creating and promoting job opportunities in the labour market from the perception of their representatives

This study was conducted from November 2010 until December 2011. The study represents the 499 cooperative societies that are registered in the West Bank. it aims to identify the role of the Palestinian cooperative societies in creating and promoting job opportunities market from the perspective of their representatives through identifying its reality by their achievements. The study attempts to identify the factors that negatively affect the cooperative movement's role job creation and to understand the contributions of responsible partners in the promotion of cooperative activities, and to identify indicators of benefit from loans and grants obtained by the cooperative movement. In addition the study also aims to explore differences among the interviewees in the role of the cooperative movement in the creation and promotion of jobs depending on independent variables.A descriptive approach was used to complete the study. A thorough review of pertinent literature was conducted and a questionnaire was designed and implemented to collect the data. The questionnaire was directed to the administrations of cooperative societies. The collected data was analyzed statistically using the SPSS package. The results of the study express that the role of the Palestinian cooperative movement in creating and promoting jobs is in the medium range(66.02%) and did not rise to the required role. The study found that the support provided by the Palestinian Authority to the cooperative movement were numerous(77%), but the services provided by the cooperative unions which is (56.80%) and by international and local civil society organizations which is( 55%) ,were few. The study shows the substantial negative impact of factors within the cooperative movement on its role in creating employment opportunities, while the effect of external factors are more moderate in regards to the role of the cooperative movement in creating Jobs. The study found that the projects of the cooperative movement are weak and have very little effectiveness in job creation. The study also shows the limited role of subunions and the General Union. As noted earlier, it found that there are significant differences according to the attitudes of the researched individuals as to the role of the cooperative movement in job creation and promotion due to the changes of the departments as well as private variables related to the cooperatives management and to other factors related to the cooperatives themselves. The study noted the existence of differences in regards to the independent variables related to the administrative departments of cooperative societies with the exception of the gender variable, while other differences devolve from the variables of age, academic qualification and years of experience in cooperative work, and the nature of the work in the cooperative.The study also explores the significant differences stemming from the independent variables related to the cooperatives themselves. They found differences related to changes in the activities of a cooperative, the value of assets, and the number of employees. There were not found any significant changes due to the variables of the cooperative’s age, place of its work, scope of its work, number of members, results of activities, or the number of volunteers. The study recommends to work fast on the national strategic sectorial plan of cooperation for the period 2011- 2013 and to speed up the approval of the cooperative work regulation law. Also, it recommends reconsidering the structure of the cooperative to activate the subunions and the General Federation. It also recommends the necessity of an active role for trade unions and employers organizations. The study recommends redirecting grants and aid to serve the sustainability and continuity of the cooperative movement projects.