ICA Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade - Introduction

C-Mac Industries (Aust) Co-operative Ltd supports the implementation of the

Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade

Published by: INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE ALLIANCE

Date of Publication:  Jan 2013

Explanation why this initiative was taken.

After the Global Financial Crises thought leaders around the world began looking for a better, sustainable business model.

The International Co-opertive Alliance (ICA) stepped up to raise the profile of co-operatives in the world as a solution to a lot of issues:

• rising inequality,
• climate change, and
• non sustainable economic growth.

The ICA set about the ambitious target of having the co-operative the fastest growing form of business organisation by 2020. Namely the end of the co-operative decade.

To do this there were 5 key drivers nominated:

• Drive participation by members and staff deeper into co-operatives
• Raise awareness of the co-operative brand
• Become leaders in sustainable "green" production
• Solve the problem of raising finance for co-operatives
• Develop new legal models of co-operatives.

“2020 Challenge” aims to position the cooperative form of business as the world’s leading model for economic, social, and environmental sustainability by the end of the decade. 

The ambitious plan in this Blueprint - the “2020 Vision” - is for the co-operative form of business by 2020 to become:

• The acknowledged leader in economic, social and environmental sustainability
• The model preferred by people
• The fastest growing form of business enterprise

To build on resilience demonstrated by the co-operative movement since the great financial collapse (GFC).

Crucial global trends emerging:

• Environmental degradation and resource depletion
• An unstable financial sector
• Increasing inequality
• A growing global governance gap
• A seemingly disenfranchised younger generation
• A loss of trust in political and economic organisations

Co-operatives already make a significant contribution towards alleviating these pressing global problems. But, with appropriate support and greater understanding and recognition, they could contribute much more.

Major priorities are to make far more people aware of the co-operative form of enterprise, to provide people with the tools and back-up to establish, fund and develop sustainable co-operatives, and to remove barriers that get in their way.

Hence the purpose of this document is to set out a proposed Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade, and provide a clear direction for the coming years. The challenge now is for the ICA, national bodies, sector groups, co-operative societies and individual members to take this Blueprint forward into implementation.

Summary of the Blueprint Strategy

The starting point for the strategy for a global co-operative future is the powerful claim which co-operatives make to the outside world: that they have a way of doing business which is both better, and brings a more effective balance to the global economy than the dominance of one single model as now.

• Co-operatives are better because they give individuals participation through ownership, which makes them inherently more engaging, more productive, and both more useful and more relevant in the contemporary world.

The aim is to elevate participation within membership and governance to a new level.

• Co-operatives are better because their business model creates greater economic, social and environmental sustainability.

• Co-operatives are better because they are a business model that puts people at the heart of economic decision-making and brings a greater sense of fair play to the global economy.

• The characteristics of a co-op is looked at through the lens of identity – which is defined by the core values and principles of co-operation, and needs to be communicated through a powerful and distinctive message to ensure that co-operatives are seen and understood by everybody from policy-makers to the general public. So the aim is to build the co-operative message and secure the co-operative identity. With the intrinsic and abiding value of the co-operative model clearly established, and a distinctive co-operative identity and proposition.

• Co-operatives in every jurisdiction sit within a legal framework. This framework plays a critical role for the viability and existence of co-operatives. The Blueprint seeks to ensure supportive legal frameworks for co-operative growth.

• Co-operatives need access to capital if they are to be established, grow and flourish. The aim is to secure reliable co-operative capital while guaranteeing member control. These are the five interlinked and overlapping themes.

Blueprint strategy, which can be illustrated as follows:

To pursue the 2020 Vision, the Blueprint strategy involves concentrating on these 5 critical interlinked themes, and establishing implementation strategies in relation to each of them.

Would you like to learn about the implementation strategies and this might be achieved?

• Participation
• Sustainability
• Identity
• Legal framework
• Capital