The Plunkett Foundation is the 2013 winner of the prestigious Rochdale Pioneers Award. The Award, presented at ICA’s General Assembly in Cape Town, recognises the outstanding contribution of Plunkett Foundation to the global co-operative movement. It is the highest honour the International Co-operative Alliance bestows.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Foundation said the Plunkett team was honoured to receive the award. Plunkett Foundation is the first organisation to receive the Rochdale Pioneers Award.
“We are proud to carry on the work of our founder Sir Horace Plunkett by inspiring people living and working in rural communities to believe through co-operation in what they can achieve together. This award has made us even more determined to take this message further and wider,” said Mr Couchman.
The Foundation was founded by Sir Horace Plunkett in 1919 and has been pioneering agricultural co-operatives ever since.
Dame Pauline Green, President of the International Co-operative Alliance, said: “We are delighted to award the Rochdale Pioneers Award to the Plunkett Foundation. Since it was founded in 1919 the Plunkett Foundation has been a leading light in the international co-operative movement.
“Today Plunkett is leading work to connect up different types of rural co-operatives and we look forward to this work continuing and developing. We have therefore awarded this honour to the Plunkett Foundation for both their past and present contribution to the international co-operative movement.”
Apart from helping rural communities through co-operation to take control of issues affecting them, Plunkett Foundation has also played an active role in promoting the International Year of Co-operatives.
In 2012 the Foundation brought together rural co-operatives, co-operative representative organisations and United National agencies to develop a global agreement, the Dunsany Declaration for Rural Co-operative Development. The Declaration has gained international recognition not only from the International Co-operative Alliance, but also from United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization.
Photo: Peter Couchman, CEO of Plunkett Foundation, at the ICA General Assembly in Cape Town.
