CICOPA

CICOPA, sectoral organisation of the International Co-operative Alliance for Industrial, Artisanal and Service Producers’ Cooperatives, is holding its Sixth World Conference on « THE CONTRIBUTION OF WORKER AND ARTISANAL CO-OPERATIVES TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ». It will be held in Cartagena (Colombia), on 19 September 2005.

Local development is a major concern for national governments throughout the world and for the international organisations that are witnessing the decline of a very large number of local communities. The decline is hitting harder lesser favoured groups - long-term unemployed, unskilled labour, elderly people, disabled people, etc. - who are increasingly marginalised and excluded from society and the labour market.

National and international decision-makers are confronted with a new challenge, i.e. the need to combine economic reforms, employment policies and social cohesion. But strategies produced at national or “central” level cannot be successful without an in-depth commitment and involvement of the local economic and social actors. To regenerate growth factors an unavoidable prerequisite is to mobilise them.

Given their characteristics, co-operatives make a significant contribution to the local employment and development, as acknowledged at world level by ILO Recommendation 193 on the Promotion of Co-operatives. Indeed, co-operative enterprises - which motivation is not profit-making - are very often more stable and resist better to the ups and downs of the law of the market, to such an extent that when an economic setback entails the closure of plants and workers’ dismissals, the number of co-operatives and, therefore, of workers keeps increasing regularly. Whatever their origin, born ex nihilo or enterprises in crisis recovered by the workers, the worker and artisanal co-operatives, aimed at creating and maintaining sustainable jobs, contribute undoubtedly to stabilise the employment market.

In addition, worker and artisanal co-operatives are productive fora rooted at territorial level where participatory management takes place. They express a collective will and the civic commitment of the local population to face up to the needs and possibilities of the region. This participatory management also generates a responsible involvement of the stakeholders and entrepreneurship innovations in the production processes. Enhancing the endogenous resources and potentialities of the regions and reinvesting the profit in the productive plants is how they develop the local economic fabric and avoid draining away the population of economically weaker regions. They also promote conditions of equality between women and men, and facilitate the participation of women in the development strategies both as active partners and beneficiaries. Hence worker and artisanal co-operatives can contribute to build up a new economic order to establish relations based on more equity, solidarity, progress, democracy and human dignity.

The Conference will emphasise the need to acknowledge that co-operative development and local development are interrelated. New trends will be examined, such as the management of social services by co-operatives and the transformation into co-operatives of industrial enterprises in crisis.

The impact of those phenomena on integrated territorial development, including sustainable employment and social inclusion, will be analysed. It will make a strong plea to implement the necessary financial means, training and partnership.

Very sincerely yours.

Bruno ROELANTS Secretary General

Rainer SCHLÜTER President