Le bilan mutualiste de la Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA), à la recherche d’une meilleure gouvernance

Following the review in October 2001 of mutual officials and managers’ duties, the governing council of the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) decided to subject the organization’s mutualist operations to an examination by the various interested parties and to carry out a mutualist audit modeled after the social audit. This was a first for this social-welfare protection institution which has been managed as a mutual organization since 1949 by representatives elected every five years who exercise a genuine form of grassroots democracy. The article presents the key issues of the mutualist audit for the institution as it enters a period of great change, the methodology that was used, and the main findings of the study. Based on interviews conducted by the author, the views of mutual officials (MSA elected representatives) and those involved in carrying out the audit (consultants and the CJDES) are given at each stage to round off the presentation.