A quick – and necessarily general – assessment of the state of co-operative development in Nepal may be made from three viewpoints: the target group involvement in co-operative activities, the intended sector coverage by co-operative businesses and the conspicuous socio-economic effect of co-operative action. Presented on a five-point qualitative scale – very high, high, medium, low and very low – most observers would agree to the following:

Table 1: Involvement in co-operative activities

   Table 2: Intended sector coverage by co-operative businesses

Table 3: Socio- Economic effect of co-operative action

Generally speaking, the 'very  lows' or 'lows' in the tables above represent departmental priorities. For instance, Table 1 indicates that not many workers have organised  into co-operatives. The Department, therefore, intends to promote workers' co-operatives.

All levels need to be considered carefully, however. Savings mobilisation is a case in point. Despite a very high level of co-operative savings and credit activities, little is visible in terms of interest rates, i.e. the cost of borrowing remains to be high.  This means that co-operatives are not truly controlled by ordinary members and may even have been misused by a few of them.  Proper regulation of co-operative   savings and loan services is therefore a top priority of the Department.

Likewise, while women make up the majority of membership, they are not adequately represented in leadership. The Department is encouraging female leaders in many ways, not least by way of its training and development efforts.

Corrective –  as opposed to restrictive –  regulation, supportive promotion and need-responsive training and development   present a real challenge to the Department. To assist its own efforts, the Department would welcome development  co-operation on the part of willing agencies. As knowledge is the much-needed resource, a fruitful partnership may centre around 'knowing together initiatives'.