The study is conducted with the main objective of assessing the performance of co-operativesrnand their implication for local economic developmenl. An al/empt is made to see the place ofrnco-operatives in providing input and output marketing services, capital accumulalion andrnasset building, employment creation and community income diversification. To this end,rnnineteen primary societies (which are broadly divided in to five categories depending on thernarea of their activities) are selected and studied.rnThe study used primary data from in-depth interview with the leaders of study co-operatives,rninterview with officials from relevant bureaus, focus group discussions with memberrnbeneficiaries, personal observations and documentary materials. Secondary data are alsorncollected from different co-operatives bureaus and other sources and used to supplementrnprimary data. Simple descriptive statistical tools such as percentages, averages and the likernare used in presenting the results.rnGenerally, the study found that agricultural input supply and product marketing (such asrndairy products, minerals, and vegetables) are among the valuable marketing services beingrnprovided by some study co-operatives to the local community (especially the members),rnthough the grain marketing service, which is provided by some of them, is far from beingrnadequate. Besides, some co-operalives are doing well in the area of developing rural financernproper, local resource mobilization and capital accumulation, asset building, employmentrncreation and communities' income diversification; while some others are not performingrnremarkably with this regard so far. Moreover, the role being played by some study cooperativesrnin the area of technology diJjiJsions, linking local communities with difftrentrnstakeholders within and outside the locality, and provision of social safety net services soundsrnpromising starts. It is also realized that the services by these co-operatives are encouraginglyrncontributing towards the bel/erment of local communities' livelihood, and the development ofrnlocal economy.rnYet, it is understood from the study that myriads of problems are deterring the realization ofrnthe development potential of these co-operatives. Some of the major problems indicated inrnmany cases are inadequate financial capacity; lack of human resources (such as qualified,rnvisionary and commit/ed leadership); inadequate awareness and participation of members invarious ajfairs of their co-operatives; and absence of adequate, sustainable, relevant actionrnoriented training opportunity (both for the leaders and the member.l); lack of dependablernmarket; and no or limited access to various technologies. Besides, others problems such asrnintensive competition from private sectors; limited information communication networh withrndifferent parties; and lack of infrastructures such as ojjice, warehouse, roads; and inadequaterngovernmen/ support are also mentioned in some cases with varying degrees of seriousness.rnHence, to realize the immense development aptitude of these institutions in the area of inputrnand output marketing, resource mobilization, capital accumulation, employment creation andrncommuni/ies'income diversifica/ion, and in o/her socio-economic arenas, /0 /he bes/ merit ofrnthe locali/y and local communi/y, priori/y based reac/ion to /he aforementioned problemsrnshould be given appropria/e emphasis.