In a rapidly changing world, cooperatives can harness digitalisation to create new collaborations, economic and market benefits, alternative business models and educational opportunities.
The ICA Global Conference in New Delhi explored this topic during its fourth plenary session, which featured a keynote address by Cory Efram Doctorow, Best Selling author of The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.
Plenary Address
Doctorow started by criticising platforms for what he referred to as a decline in the quality of products and services offered, a pattern he calls “Enshittification”.
Once users are locked on to the platform, the platform can maltreat them, he argued.
“These platforms used to be better and now they are worse. And they were always digital and they were always greedy,” he said, arguing that companies no longer fear the discipline of the market, but they could fear the discipline of the regulator.
But there is also good news - governments around the world are becoming interested in competition law. He argued that cooperatives should be at the centre of this.“We need a good internet founded on the principles we’ve spoken so much about here,” he said.
Yet, he warned that larger cooperatives can sometimes fail to engage with members, giving the example of the Mountain Equipment Cooperative (MEC) in Canada, which demutualised as a result.
“We need not just to be leaders of the new internet but to take the lesson that no matter how good you were when starting up, unless careful you could find yourself in a difficult situation,” he concluded.
Panel IV.A Creating and measuring cooperative impact
The plenary continued with a conversation on impact measurement as a way of making the case for enabling cooperative frameworks and policies.
Moderated by Sonja Novkovic, Professor of Economics and Academic Director of the International Centre for Co-operative Management Saint Mary’s University, Canada, the session featured contributions from a range of cooperative leaders, researchers and academics.
Prof Trebor Scholz, Platform Cooperatives Consortium, New York, talked about the Platform Cooperativism Consortium, which advocates for platform cooperatives and runs a research institute that focuses on the intersection between cooperatives and the digital economy. The Institute also ran classes in collaboration with the Mondragon Institute for more than 1,600 students.
“Systemic change also requires policy engagement,” he said. While the Institute does not engage in advocacy, it provides case studies and research for politicians.
Tone Cecilie Faugli, CEO, Fairtrade Norway, shared her experience growing up on a farm without realising her family belonged to a cooperative.
The most unique element about Fairtrade is the minimum price which is offered to farmers.
"Cooperatives are the heart and the soul of Fairtrade,” she said. She explained how they bring together small scale farmers in groups and that provides a platform for meaningful dialogue and gives Fairtrade the opportunity to support farmers and provide training through the co-ops.
Cooperatives also enable small scale farmers to gain access to resources and training and reduce costs and comply with regulations. And the Fairtrade premium is re-invested in cooperatives.
“Cooperatives are important to Fairtrade and Fairtrade is important to cooperatives,” she said.
According to Faugli, the main challenge for Fairtrade certified cooperatives is that they sell only 30% or less on Fairtrade terms. Therefore, giving market access and connecting companies to markets are high priorities for Fairtrade International.
“As Fairtrade we have a role to play connecting consumers and cooperatives and I think we can achieve more together,” she said.
Chiyoge Sifa talked about CoopStar (Cooperatives for Sustainable Transformation in Africa), a project to boost sustainable and transformational cooperative entrepreneurship in Africa. The project partners include the Korea Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC), Cera/BRS, the Belgian university KU Leuven, and the Global and African Regional Offices of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA and ICA-Africa).
Dr Simel Esim, Manager, ILO Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit, explained the ILO’s role as a standard setting institution, particularly in terms of statistics.
To drive transportational change, cooperatives need to embrace technology, strategic partnerships and networking and continue to work with governments, the African and UN bodies to achieve this, she added.
The ILO, along with other COPAC members, carried out four studies which were then used to develop guidelines on statistics on cooperatives. The guidelines were used for pilot projects in different countries. The findings from the pilot project will be used to develop a manual for cooperatives.
The initiative aims to help not only with data collection, but also getting the standards right and encouraging national statistics offices, researchers and apexes to work together. The IYC is an opportunity to build on this momentum, said Dr Esim.
Prof Axel Marx, Deputy Director Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven, talked about voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), such as Fairtrade, which have grown rapidly in recent years.
They are increasingly included in free trade agreements and corporate due diligence. His research found that voluntary sustainability initiatives do not always generate an impact.
Cooperatives play an important role, said Prof Marx, by helping capacity building for producers to learn how to produce more sustainably, complementing VSS.
Dr Ilcheong Yi, Senior Research Coordinator, UN Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva, argued that ESG frameworks fail to take into account certain issues and, as such, are not suitable for cooperatives.
Conventional frameworks might conclude that an enterprise is sustainable but reporting based on authentic sustainability reporting indicators can provide a different perspective.
“The authentic indicators can help provide a clear and objective measure of values and principles based on context-based approaches.”
They enable cooperatives to stay faithful to their values and principles and pursue growth.
“We are proud of cooperatives because we know they are doing good every day but we have to find a way to demonstrate this impact. We have to find very good, appropriate, progressive indicators to demonstrate the performance of cooperatives for the future,” he said.
Concluding the panel, Sonja Novkovic said: “Without research and education we are not going to go far. We need to be authentically educated as well.”
Panel IV.B Market-based solutions by and for cooperatives
The second panel of the fourth plenary showcased a range of innovative approaches that leverage cooperative principles to respond to economic and technological challenges. The session featured insights from leaders across sectors including technology, finance, and agriculture, highlighting how cooperatives are crafting market-based strategies grounded in values of equity and sustainability.
Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK, highlighted the importance of telling compelling cooperative stories. Drawing a parallel to the Rochdale Pioneers, she cited the Equal Care Co-op as an example of how cooperatives are tackling contemporary issues such as care and food access. She also emphasised the need for a strong cooperative identity and network infrastructure to build a more just economic future.
Shatadru Chattopadhayay from Solidaridad Network Asia talked about making trade more equal, just, and sustainable. He highlighted the role of collective action and shared values in driving inclusive trade models, explaining how local cooperatives in Indonesia have helped establish tea standards and branding that enable small producers to compete more effectively in the market.
Puvan Selvanathan, President and Founder, Bluenumber, addressed the growing importance of data rights. He introduced Bluenumber’s digital identity solution, which enables individuals, including farmers and cooperative members, to own and monetise the data they generate. In this way, cooperatives can add value and ensure authenticity while empowering members.
Violetta Nafpaktiti, CEO of DotCoop LLC, highlighted the strategic importance of domain names and platforms like Worldmap.coop in enhancing cooperative visibility and data access, helping cooperatives differentiate and scale their impact.
Mr Wouter Vandersypen, Executive Director, Kampani, shared how the organisation addresses financing gaps by providing patient, risk-tolerant capital for capital expenditures. Kampani avoids requiring collateral while offering tailored financial tools to agricultural cooperatives and small-scale producers seeking growth.
Accessing capital is an important challenge for tech cooperatives, argued Aaron Stewart, Deputy CEO of Coop Exchange, a platform designed to facilitate reinvestment within the cooperative economy, especially in digital sectors. Mr Stewart added that cooperatives can play a key role in directing investment toward the green economy.
Harm Haverkort, Director of Partnerships Asia & Pacific, Rabobank, presented Acorn, a digital platform that tracks biomass and tree growth data. He explained that while the technology exists, connecting with smallholder farmers remains a challenge. Cooperatives, he said, are ideally positioned to serve as a bridge, enabling broader adoption of climate-focused solutions and data collection.
Main photo: Cory Efram Doctorow with ICA General Assembly MC, Elsa Scholte
