A very happy 2015 to you all! May the New Year continue to bring renewed vigor and growth to the cooperative movement! This is a good time to take stock and focus on the challenges ahead.
While in some countries governments are looking at cooperatives as the third leg (along with public and private) of economic growth in others there is a lack of political will in promoting cooperatives. Cooperatives needs to work with governments to improve the enabling environment and remove excessive regulations that have turned many cooperatives away from being self-reliant entities.
There is general lack of awareness and limited discourse in the public sphere about cooperatives. Even in many cooperative, members feel left behind and have limited sense of belonging. There is need to look closely at levels of participation and ways in which cooperatives project themselves and communicate the cooperative message and ideals.
Cooperatives empower people while protecting the planet, and represent a viable business model that contributes to inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth. Cooperatives need to engage in the consultative process of formulating the Sustainable Development Goals in order to ensure they have a vital role to play in the implementation of the post-2015 global development.
According to the ICA Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade – “With political institutions in many nations struggling to keep up with a rapidly changing world, it is essential that citizens become increasingly resourceful, enterprising and co-operative in order to face the inevitable social and environmental challenges we face as a world community.
Rarely has the argument in favor of co-operatives looked stronger than it does in 2012.” This speaks for the need for concerted action by cooperatives not only by looking in but also the outside. At the International Cooperative Alliance Asia and Pacific, we look forward to working closely with our members to move forward the cooperative agenda!
-Balu Iyer, Regional Director Asia and Pacific
International Cooperative Alliance