Co-operators around the world celebrated the Movement’s annual ‘International Co-operative Day’ on 6 July. Many events took place around the world, including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada.
In advance of 6 July celebration, and in line with the year’s theme — ‘Co-operative Enterprise Remains Strong in Times of Crisis’ — the International Labour Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Farmers’ Organisation have released messages supporting the movement.
Guy Ryder, Director-General of the ILO, said the organisation is pleased to celebrate the day and believed the theme is a “positive and encouraging affirmation at a time when confidence in enterprises and their respect for basic human values and ethical principles has often been badly shaken”.
Mr Ryder added: “Across continents, co-operative enterprises have been born out of crisis situations, responding directly to the needs of their members and are able to reach the poorest people. Today when their ideals are put into action, they continue to show their efficacy.
The FAO statement said “co-operatives are crucial to empowering rural producers including small-holder farmers”. It added that co-operatives help build a “solidarity economy” by focusing on serving members and communities.
“Co-operatives are also known to be effective agents for empowering rural women and youth, providing skills and experience that boost their economic independence and social standing,” added the statement.
The Co-operatives Day statement continued: “Evidence shows that those countries with strong co-operatives and producer organizations were able to overcome constraints and mitigate the negative effects of food and other crises. Strong producer organizations have helped to fill a void.
“In recent years, a broad variety of organisational arrangements have emerged, in response to small scale producers’ constraints to better respond to crisis situations. These organisations have been able to overcome market and policy constraints by providing members with access to a range of assets and services. For instance, they can reduce costs to farmers by allowing them to purchase in groups and benefit from better retail prices of agricultural inputs.”
The statement from the World Farmers’ Organisation said the organisation believes that without co-operatives farmers could not realise economic benefits, such as improving bargaining power in the marketplace, reducing costs and benefiting from collective marketing.
It continued: “In developing countries, farmers organisations and co-operatives play an important role in providing farmers, in particular smallholder farmers, a variety of services such as training in natural resource management as well as better access to information, technologies, innovations etc.
Courtesy: Cooperative News, ICA