Author: Cicopa

On 7 July 2018, cooperators around the world will celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives with a slogan: “Sustainable societies through cooperation”. But what makes cooperatives a valuable ally towards a green, sustainable and competitive economy?

Luc Audebrand is a professor at Laval University (Quebec City). His research focuses on managing tensions in worker coops and, in this paper called “Expanding the scope of paradox scholarship on social enterprise: the case for (re)introducing worker cooperatives”, he describes the main tensions in worker coops and ways to deal with these tensions.

CICOPA is pleased to announce it has concluded a contract with the Government of Singapore to conduct an 8-month study entitled “Strategy for developing and promoting worker and social cooperatives in Singapore”. 

CICOPA is pleased to announce the membership of FEDECABA, the Federation of Self-Managed Cooperatives of Buenos Aires for Another Economy.

On 7 July 2018, cooperators around the world will celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives. Through the slogan “Sustainable societies through cooperation” we will show how, thanks to our values, principles and governance structures, cooperatives have sustainability and resilience at their core, with concern for community as the seventh of their guiding principles.

With new tools and political policies now in place to support them, there could be a boom in employee-owned business ahead as baby boomers retire and sell their companies to their workers.

CICOPA, on a close collaboration with the ICA Asia-Pacific, will launch in May 2018 a joint research initiative on “Exploring Work & Ownership in Cooperatives”. The research main objective is to better understand the diversity of cooperative models in the industry and service sector for the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative is now launching a call for partners, and CICOPA would like to invite its members from the Asia-Pacific region to participate.

IHCO, the International Health Cooperative Organisation, published its “Cooperative Health Report 2018”  with EURICSE, the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises. The report unveils what is the contribution of cooperatives to the global health and why cooperatives are well-equipped with competitive advantages for the health sector.

“The question of the future of work is above all a question of power and ownership. It is a question the cooperative movement seeks practical answers for, every day, in neighbourhoods, cities and regions”. An Opinion by Sion Whellens, Vice-president of CECOP.

Platform cooperatives are online businesses jointly-owned and -managed by their members using a protocol, website or mobile application to facilitate the sale of goods and services. Based on cooperative principles and values, they are emerging as viable alternatives to the standard internet business model.

The Parliament of Uganda recognized the importance of cooperatives as a key actor to attain social economic transformation in the country. A budget for “the revival of cooperatives” should be allocated in 2018/2019.

CICOPA officially counts this week a new associate member from India. SEWA Federation strives to re-create itself as a professionally-run service provider, equipped to bring low-cost, high quality advisory and business services to poor women in Gujarat State’s cooperative movement.

In a new study entitled “Sharing Wealth with Those Who Create It”, OXFAM recommends, among other things, encouraging “business models that promote more equitable benefits, including co-ops and employee participation in corporate governance and supply chains. “