ELZUBI to Al-Rai: The Cooperative Development Fund as a Banking and Financial Window for Cooperatives

ELZUBI concluded that the real test will not be the Cabinet’s decision itself, but the regulations and instructions to follow. He suggested execution should be judged by five outcomes: a published classification of the entire cooperative registry; complete separation between grant and loan windows; an investment policy prioritizing aggregation, marketing, and water efficiency projects; independent governance of the Fund with external published audits; and an annual report on the cooperative sector with verifiable data. He emphasized that the cooperative movement in Jordan is not marginal but one of the few tools available to broaden income bases in the governorates, empower rural women economically, and organize small producers. Yet it has long remained below its potential. The recent decision offers a genuine opportunity, though whether it becomes a real chance or merely another spending cycle depends on design details, not on headlines.