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The Global Co-operative Campaign Against Poverty

The ICA and ILO initiated the Global Co-operative Campaign Against Poverty, Co-operating Out of Poverty, as a call for action to the world co-operative movement to join hands in fighting poverty. It aims to strengthen the capacity of co-operatives to make a significant contribution to poverty reduction by enabling poor people to co-operate out of poverty.

Co-operatives and other organisations which promote the development of sustainable co-operative business enterprises and create awareness on the significant contribution of co-operatives to poverty reduction can join the Campaign by:

• Promoting and implementing co-operative development activities
• Promoting and initiating movement to movement linkages (trade links, information sharing, etc)
• Producing, collecting and disseminating knowledge on successful initiatives and good practice
• Using the Campaign logo to draw attention and educate those with whom they correspond (website links, letters, email, publications)
• Supporting peace and conflict resolution through cooperative enterprise

To learn more, go to http://www.outofpoverty.coop/

Global Microcredit Summit 2006

More than 2,000 delegates from over 100 countries are expected at the Global Microcredit Summit to be held November 12-15, 2006 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Participants will assess progress made toward the Summit’s goal of reaching 100 million poorest, and re-launch the Campaign to 2015. Online registration available at:www.globalmicrocreditsummit2006.org/

Co-ops in Crisis Countries
From the Cooperative Business Journal (CBJ), July/August 2005, by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA)
Click here to read.

India's Milk Industry

The development of India's milk industry has many lessons for multinational corporations. The transformation began around 1946, when the Khira District Milk Cooperative, located in the state of Gujarat, set up its own processing plant under the leadership of Verghese Kurien and created the brand Amul, today one of the most recognized in the country.

Unlike the large industrial dairy farms of the West, in India, milk originates in many small villages. Villagers may own only two to three buffaloes or cows each and bring their milk twice a day to the village collection center. They are paid every day for the milk they deliver, based on fat content and volume. Refrigerated vans transport the milk to central processing plants, where it is pasteurized. Railroad cars then transport the milk to major urban centers.

The entire value chain is carefully managed, from the village-based milk production to the world-scale processing facilities. The Khira District cooperative provides such services to the farmers as veterinary care and cattle feed. The cooperative also manages the distribution of pasteurized milk, milk powder, butter, cheese, baby food, and other products. The uniqueness of the Amul cooperative is its blending of decentralized origination with the efficiencies of a modern processing and distribution infrastructure. As a result, previously marginal village farmers are earning steady incomes and being transformed into active market participants.

Twenty years ago, milk was in short supply in India. Today, India is the world's largest producer of milk. According to India's National Dairy Development Board, the country's dairy cooperative network now claims 10.7 million individual farmer member owners, covers 96,000 village-level societies, includes 170 milk-producer unions, and operates in more than 285 districts. Milk production has increased 4.7 percent per year since 1974. The per capita availability of milk in India has grown from 107 grams to 213 grams per day in 20 years.

By, CK Prahalad, University of Michigan

Conference Call for Papers
The OECD LEED Centre for Local Development will be holding a conference on “The Social Economy in Central, East and South-East Europe: Emerging Trends of Social Innovation and Local Development” on 22-23 September 2005 in Trento, Italy. As the conference seeks to discuss the role of social economy organizations, including cooperatives, as a tool for local development and social innovation, I am announcing the Call for Papers. The deadline for submission of 1-page abstracts is 15 April. Please do not hesitate to email Paola Babos if you are interested in presenting work at the Conference. For more information, go to http://www.trento.oecd.org or http: //www.oecd.org/els/leed.
Click here to read the Call for Papers.

Letter to the Editor of the New York Times
in response to "Supermarket Giants Crush Central American Farmers"
January 4, 2005
By Paul Hazen, NCBA
Click here to read.

"LIFE” for Lake Victoria Basin Smallholder Farmers
Project in Kenya by the Swedish Cooperative Center
Click here to read.

Money From Salvadoran Immigrants Aids Farming Cooperative Back Home
By Krissah Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 8, 2004; Page A01
www.washingtonpost.com

Cooperative Movement Still Alive In Corporatised World
By, ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online, India's Financial Express: Monday, February 09, 2004

In today's world of corporate culture, economic liberalisation and globalisation of trade, cooperative movement is still alive in most parts of the globe. The cooperative movement, of course, does not encompass all the the sectors of the economy. It is limited to some sectors.

Clearly the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) has visualised the shortcomings and has identified sectors like agriculture, fisheries, banking, consumer, health, housing, insurance, tourism and labour. The problems of the cooperatives world over is the same. The identity of the cooperatives is at stake. Cooperatives have to compete with multinationals which are in a position to initially accept lower margin of profit in trade with a view to capturing the market from cooperatives. The cooperatives need to develop enough professional and technological skills to out smart the multinationals.

The ICA has demanded that the cooperatives be given greater autonomy by governments and a level-playing field to compete with the multinationals. It also demanded that government's assistance in the form of fiscal sops and financial assistance should continue. Rendering of fiscal sops to grassroot organisations of weaker sections is an obligation of the government of a welfare state. But continuation of financial assistance from government may not result in autonomy for the cooperatives. It is a fact that one who contributes finance always want to keep his stake. Besides, auditing of government's expenditure is a mandatory provision. Hence the government which renders financial assistance to cooperatives should become extra benevolent in ensuring autonomy.

Apart from bureaucratic interference, the cooperatives worldover suffer from political interference in a democracy. As cooperatives cover different areas of the economy, there is a multiplicity of controls, for instance, labour cooperatives are regulated by labour ministry, health cooperatives by health ministry.

Nevertheless, cooperative movement is still a necessity. Cooperatives are thriving in the developed world. Four out of every 10 Canadians are members of at least one cooperative and cooperatives handle 40 per cent of farm cash receipts in Canada.

There are over 1,30,000 cooperatives in the European Union alone which provide 2.3 million jobs and services to 60 million members in the EU and 23 million in the acceding countries. Total cooperatives in Europe is 286,560, out of which 37 per cent are in agriculture, followed by 26.6 per cent in housing, 15.5 in labour, 6.6 per cent in consumer sector, 6.5 per cent in financial sector and 7.8 per cent in other sectors.

In Norway 99 per cent of milk production is through cooperatives and consumer cooperatives cater to 25 per cent of market share. In Finland, cooperatives are responsible for 97 per cent of dairy output, 74 per cent of meat products, 50 per cent of egg output, 34 per cent of forestry products and 34 per cent of total deposits in banks. In Holland 95 per cent of Dutch flower sales are by cooperatives. In Sweden, 66 per cent of daycare centres are run by cooperatives and cooperatives control 50 per cent of German farm sector. Cooperatives in Switzerland are the second largest employer and in France the fifth and the sixth largest banks are cooperatives. Saludcoop health cooperative is the second largest employer in Columbia caring for 25 per cent of the population. World's five largest producers of drip irrigation equipment are Israeli cooperatives.

Asian tigers like Japan has strong agriculture and consumer cooperatives. Kuwait too has a presence of vibrant consumer cooperatives. China has heavily depended on cooperatives for growth in farm and rural economy. Bangladesh encourages farmers and dairy cooperative. Malaysia and Singapore have strong banking and insurance cooperatives. Malaysia has a good network of cooperative schools for training in cooperative principles. In India cooperatives have been successful in housing, dairy, poultry, sugar, fertilisers and banking. But fertiliser cooperatives in India are not fully autonomous as they have major equity holdings of the government.

The facts illustrate that cooperate principle is to stay and cooperation is a fact of life. It is a vehicle of growth for the weaker sections. The fact is that cooperatives have been successful only in select areas. Experiences have shown that poor producers of perishable commodities have met with success when they form cooperatives.

Consumer cooperatives too has been a success in rendering goods at fair prices to its members. The cooperative movement is still alive. Let's extend reasonable and genuine support to its cause.

Sending Money Home
International Herald Tribune, May 11, 2004 from the New York Times
Article highlighting cooperatives and remittances. To read the article, go to http://www.iht.com/articles/519210.html

Co-op Conversions Are Still Rare, But Economic Pressures to Demutualize Require Coordinated Response, Study Finds
03/18/2004
Conversion of member-owned cooperative businesses to investor-owned structure remains rare, but growing economic pressures to demutualize require a coordinated response if widespread loss of member choice and control is to be avoided. Click here to read the article.

Survey Finds that Consumers Trust Cooperatives
As federal regulators scrutinize corporate governance and board election practices, survey results unveiled today found that less than half of Americans think investor-owned corporations are ethically governed. The survey found significantly greater public trust in businesses that provide more consumer control and board accountability.

The survey of 2,031 adults, released today by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), found that two-thirds of consumers believe businesses that are owned and governed by their customers and have consumers on their boards of directors are more trustworthy than those that do not. A majority also found companies that allow customers to democratically elect the board of directors, and are locally owned and controlled to be more trustworthy. Go to the Co-op Month website for more information and to read the study.

Washington Post: For Argentines, A Sweet Resolve:
Cooperatives Step In When Factories Fail
By Jon Jeter
Click here for Word File

Battling to Satisfy India's Taste for Ice Cream: Farmer's Co-op Pesters Unbeliever
By Saritha Rai
Click here for File
Continuation...

Senate Panel Passes 2003 Foreign Operations Spending Bill
By Tom Gavin, July 18, 2002
Click here for Word File

Cooperative Development Center ListServ
Welcome to the launching of the Cooperative Development Center and its listserv. This ListServ will periodically send out analytical documents or information about cooperative development issues. It will also be interactive in asking for feedback or other materials that you think should be shared with cooperative development practitioners. To join the ListServ, click here.

Banking for Mexico's poor: Changing co-ops
Aug 7th 2003, From The Economist print edition
Less independence, but perhaps less fraud, for Mexico's social banks
To read the article from The Economist, click here.

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