KAMPALA -The International Cooperative Alliance [ICA] is calling on its members, national apex bodies, local cooperative groups, sectoral federations, and other cooperative organisations and enterprises to host self-guided events during the current global consultation on the Cooperative Identity.
ICA Statement on the Cooperative Identity defines a cooperative as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.
According to ICA, cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
Meanwhile, principles/guidelines by which cooperatives put their values in practice as listed by ICA are: Voluntary and Open Membership; Democratic Member Control; Member Economic Participation; Autonomy and Independence; Education, Training, and Information; Cooperation among Cooperatives; Concern for Community.
According to Wilson Alexandra , Member, ICA Global Board and Chair, Cooperative Identity Cooperative Group, the Cooperative Identity consultation aims to test how well cooperative values and principles, as expressed in the Statement on the Cooperative Identity, set cooperatives apart from other business models and to answer the question, Is the Statement still fit for purpose?
Alexandra says the identity consultation since its launch in late 2021 has seen many activities to date.
For instance, he says, an in-depeth exploration of the shared cooperative identity took place at the 2021 World Cooperative Congress Seoul, Korea. The consultation, he says, continued in 2022 with regional and global webinars on topics related to the cooperative identity.
According to Alexandra , between May and October 2022, nearly 2,300 cooperators from 136 countries completed a survey exploring their awareness of the Statement on Cooperative Identity and soliciting their thoughts on its continuing relevance and impact.
“The survey revealed widespread agreement on the importance of the seven Cooperative Principles. It found that the foundational cooperative identity documents, especially the principles, are reasonably well known, though the definition of a cooperative and our underlying values are less well known. By contrast, few people are familiar with the ICA Guidance Notes on the Cooperative Identity,” he says.
Meanwhile, ICA has provided on the coop identity website an easy-to-use toolkit that cooperators can use to hold consultation on Cooperative Identity. It includes event guidelines, topics to explore and suggested consultation questions to help cooperators create their own event with the resources they have at hand to express their views.
Topics and themes for the consultation events touch on; continuing relevance of cooperative identity, cooperative’s social purpose, SWOT Analysis of the Cooperative Identity Statement, marketing the cooperative difference, values of cooperatives and the seven principles of cooperatives.
“You can organise one event or several, according to the level of interest in the consultation. You may wish to plan an event in conjunction with your annual meeting or conference…or you may want to hold an event on International Day of Cooperatives…or during your country’s cooperative week or month.”
ICA encourages local cooperators/cooperatives to share the discussions from the events with the wider cooperative movement using a feedback form it has uploaded. “No need to write a book, you can use this feedback form to report your group’s reflections and findings.”
https://thecooperator.news/2023-international-day-of-cooperatives-announced/
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