International Year has opened doors for cooperatives

Confidence, inspiration and enthusiasm were a few of the words used to describe what the International Year of Co-operatives has meant to Dame Pauline Green, President of the International Co-operative Alliance.
Dame Pauline said the Movement has been inspired, and cited examples of the Co-operative Movement in Rwanda, which has gone from zero to making up eight per cent of the country’s GDP in less than ten years, and India's success which is home to the AMUL dairy co-operative owned by over three million dairy producers.
Among Dame Pauline's highlights of the year included speaking at the launch of the IYC at the UN General Assembly in New York, the International Summit of Co-operatives in Quebec, Canada and the Co-operatives United conference in Manchester, UK, which attracted over 10,000 visitors.
She said Co-operatives United “was about demonstrating the businesses owned and controlled by ordinary folk. It was about the value and importance of that democratic ownership and about the social environment in which our co-ops operate.”
Through the International Year, doors have been opened for co-operatives that it has never had before, she added.
Co-ops had the opportunity to meet with the Obama administration in the White House, and work with UN organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization and the IMF.
“One of the key objectives of the IYC was to get governments to look at their legislation on co-ops and to make sure their legislation is fit for purpose in the 21^st century, to make sure they have enabling legislation not prescriptive legislation;” she explained.
In countries such as the UK, Malaysia, Kenya, Indonesia – under law they cannot have a co-operative bank. “In most cases this is just an accident of history, but what the UN is saying is get rid of these accidents, because in any business sector where you can make a good sound case for a co-op business then that sector should be open to co-ops;” Dame Pauline added.
“We need to continue the discussions to fruition and not in memorandums of understanding or action plans but in some real deep rooted practical grassroots support that can show what we can do, because once you’ve built one exemplar co-op organisation, others will follow,” she continued.
The Co-operative Movement “can support the real economy a grassroots level” she explained and the benefits through co-operation, particularly in developing countries, of growth and prosperity will not end up in the hands of the “predator states” or multinational businesses”.
Dame Pauline said that her personal highlight of the year was speaking at the opening of the IYC, which she described as an “unbelievable experience".
From Ushirika Huru, we are very sorry for  not being able to capture the pictures in video record! 

Leaders of ILO and ICA Strengthen Bond

ICA President Dame Pauline Green recently celebrated the relationship with the International Labour Organization by meeting with its new Director General Guy Ryder.
As the International Year of Co-operatives came to a close, Mr Ryder, who started his five-year term in October, discussed a number of issues with Dame Pauline including youth in co-operatives; the financial crisis and rural employment.
The ILO has been working on how co-operatives can help to alleviate youth unemployment, and it is also considering integrating co-operative education in its existing business development training packages, which targets youth. During the ILO's International Labour Conference in 2012, the discussions around youth employment emphasised the potential of co-operatives nd the conclusions highlighted the need for encouraging membership of youth in existing co-operatives, and establishing sustainable youth co-operatives.

In the context of the financial crisis, business transitions to worker owned enterprises are gaining momentum around a number of countries in Europe. Governments like that of France are promoting co-operatives as an option with failing businesses to save jobs during such business transitions. To build on this, the ILO and ICA are working towards strengthening alliances between trade unions and co-operatives and in supporting the revitalisation of worker co-operatives through the elaboration and implementation of a joint training package on establishing and strengthening worker co-operatives. 

Finally, focusing on rural employment – the ILO’s CoopAfrica project, My.COOP, is an agricultural co-operative training tool developed with the Food and Agriculture Organization and international NGOs. My.COOP is being translated and adapted for people worldwide.
Simel Esim, the Chief of the Co-operative Branch of the ILO, said: “Strengthened collaboration between the ILO and ICA can contribute to the advancement of areas of critical importance such as crisis response, jobs and skills for youth, decent work in the rural and informal economies as well as development of a sound statistical base and evidence-based policy analysis on issues related to the world of work.”
The two organisations have worked together to promote co-operation since ILO began in 1919, and partnered up in 2004 to work on the UN Millennium Development Goals. The first Director General of the ILO, Albert Thomas, was a French co-operator and a member of the Central Committee of the International Co-operative Alliance. He once said: “I am a co-operator and, as such, I have the greatest and fullest confidence in the virtue and efficacy of the co-operative spirit.”

India's President praises cooperative sector

India's President has called on the country's states to update co-operative legislation for a sector that has ensured economic "growth".
Pranab Mukherjee praised the "effective" co-operative business model at the National Co-operative Development Corporation's (NCDC) Co-operative Excellence awards ceremony in New Delhi. He said: “With a network of six lakh [600,000] co-operatives and a membership base of 24 crore [240 million], the Indian Co-operative Movement has proved to be an effective economic instrument for ensuring growth with equity and inclusiveness.
"The co-operatives in our country face many challenges and problems. Their performance across sector, activities and regions is variable. They need to re-orient by improving their efficiency and have to develop themselves professionally to meet requirement of their core clientele."
During the ceremony, in which the President presented awards to 27 co-operatives, he said he hoped the awards would inspire other co-ops to perform better and said that co-ops are pivotal institutions for bringing socio-economic development for inclusive growth in rural areas.
“Co-operatives in India have made a visible and significant contribution to the overall economic growth of our economy. This is especially so in the sectors of agricultural credit, sugar, dairy, textiles, fisheries, distribution of fertilizers and agricultural inputs, storage and marketing," said the President.
He added that state laws need to be amended in line with central legislation to ensure the country's 600,000 co-operatives work as autonomous, self-reliant and democratic bodies.
Among the attendees at the awards ceremony were Union Agriculture and Food Processing Minister Sharad Pawar, Minister of State Charan Das Mahant, and Managing Director of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) C.B. Paliwal.
The President also noted the creation of AMUL; a dairy co-operative with over three million members, in 1946 was one of the most important moments in India’s co-operative history.
He said: “The Co-op Movement helped our founding fathers who gave it a pride place in the process of economic development on our country... The whole future of India depends on the success of this approach of ours.”
The awards ceremony has been held every two years since 2002. The NCDC was set up under an act of Parliament in 1963 to help co-ops, it celebrated its golden jubilee in 2012

Canada's co-operative movement is on the rise

As an American co-op activist, I've always looked up to the much more robust and successful Canadian co-op movement. In 2011, I was finally able to meet many of the people behind Canada’s movement when I visited Winnipeg.
I came to the city in order to share Co-opoly: The Game of Co-operatives with my co-op allies up north. (Co-opoly is a project of the worker co-op I am a member of -- The Toolbox for Education and Social Action.) During this visit, though, I was amazed to learn all that the Canadian movement truly had to offer my fellow American co-operators.
 A growing movement
 Upon returning to the United States, one of the primary lessons I brought home was how the Canadian co-op movement was able to grow and thrive in spite of the global economic downturn.
Like most countries, Canada is suffering from the effects of the Great Recession: government austerity for working people while pushing forward privatization efforts and propping up major corporations. Yet, this may be the very reason Canadians are turning towards a different way of getting by. Rather than depending on a disinterested government and corporations only invested in the bottom line, everyday people are working together through co-operative efforts.
Co-ops are businesses and organizations that are democratically owned and operated. Every co-op is owned by a specific membership, whether it's workers, consumers, producers, and so forth. Each owner only has one share and one vote in the organization. During the good times, these co-op members share the benefits equally; and in the hard times, they share the burdens equitably. There are co-op coffee shops, print shops, artisan stores, farms, grocery stores, and much more.
Erwan Bouchaud is the Project Manager of the Manitoba Cooperative Community Strategy, whom I met while visiting Winnipeg. He believes the current social and economic unrest in Canada is opening up greater opportunity for the co-operative movement, and he sees this as a part of a larger global trend.

"With the Occupy movement, the Indignados movement, Bank Transfer Day, combined with the fair trade, the organic and the eating local movements, and, at a larger level, the Arab Spring, the red square movement with Quebecois students … it seems that all these changes have created a momentum. People might be less afraid of changing their habits, and start looking for alternatives, more local, more human, more sustainable."
Donna Balkan is the Communications Manager for the Canadian Co-operative Association, and she agrees, highlighting the fact that Canada's co-op movement is currently on the ascent -- despite the faltering global economy.
"Canadian co-operatives -- including credit unions -- have a total membership of about 18 million, the highest it has ever been,” Balkan said. In fact, her organization estimates that at least one in four adult Canadians are co-op members. "But what's most interesting about the growth of the co-operative movement is how co-ops are now emerging in different sectors of the economy -- for example, renewable energy, home care, transportation, tourism and recreation, etc."
Why Canada needs the co-op movement
Recently, the Harper government has threatened the future of the Canadian co-op movement by cutting funds to the Co-operative Development Initiative. Despite this major hurdle, the movement is still growing and receiving support from some provinces as well as universities and other sources. The reason for this is that Canadians need co-ops.
As a result of Donna Balkan's long experience in the co-operative world, she has come to believe that many Canadians join co-ops because they are institutions that put people before profits; something that is greatly desired in today's shifting economy.
"At a time when a growing number of Canadians are concerned about such issues as environmental sustainability, ethical business practices and economic democracy, joining co-ops are a way for them to support businesses that put their money where their principles are," she said.
Dru Oja Jay, a co-op activist and author, illustrates this sentiment by pointing out that there have been a number of studies that prove co-ops survive longer than the traditional business models. As an example, a 2008 study by Quebec's government showed that 62 per cent of new co-ops in the province were still alive after five years. Traditional business models, however, had a 5 year survival rate of 35 per cent -- a staggering drop off. This demonstrates that co-operatives are a fundamentally more sustainable part of Canada's economy than traditional businesses.
On top of this is the fact that co-ops contribute much more to the well-being of the communities they call home.
"When you have collective ownership and a democratic system," Jay said, "it doesn't make you perfect, but it definitely makes you more likely to integrate community input, work on concerns like environmental conservation -- or work on issues of social or economic marginalization. Whereas companies that start to lose money will usually cut jobs and sell off assets, co-operatives are more likely to tough it out and find solutions that play to their strengths, which in many cases includes higher community support."
What the U.S. co-op movement can learn from Canada
 Melissa Hoover of the U.S. Federation of Worker Co-operatives believes that the American co-op movement has much to gain from the U.S.'s neighbors up north.  "We have already learned so much from our allies at the Canadian Worker Cooperative Federation, who have generously shared wisdom, models, and their history with us," she told me over e-mail. Canadians have provided Americans with their best practices on topics ranging from democratic processes to building university curricula for co-ops.
Though I've always known the Canadian movement is much more vibrant than the American one, the full extent didn't truly hit home until I interacted with it in person when I brought Co-opoly to Winnipeg. What amazed me especially was the country's institutional support for co-ops. In many provinces, on the federal level, in universities, in new and pending legislation, and on the ground -- co-ops often had support. And no matter how modest this support was, it was far more than can be found in the United States -- which is often virtually non-existent. When I returned home from Canada, this was the lesson I brought back with me: we had to grow the American movement on the grassroots level while also making co-ops a part of our institutions.
Despite Harper's recent blow to Canadian co-ops, it's apparent that the movement isn't going anywhere. We Americans will continue to be inspired by the success of Canadian co-op activists.