Confidence, inspiration and enthusiasm were a few of the words used to describe what the International Year of Co-operatives has meant to Dame Pauline Green, President of the International Co-operative Alliance.
Dame Pauline said the Movement has been inspired, and cited examples of the Co-operative Movement in Rwanda, which has gone from zero to making up eight per cent of the country’s GDP in less than ten years, and India's success which is home to the AMUL dairy co-operative owned by over three million dairy producers.
Among Dame Pauline's highlights of the year included speaking at the launch of the IYC at the UN General Assembly in New York, the International Summit of Co-operatives in Quebec, Canada and the Co-operatives United conference in Manchester, UK, which attracted over 10,000 visitors.
She said Co-operatives United “was about demonstrating the businesses owned and controlled by ordinary folk. It was about the value and importance of that democratic ownership and about the social environment in which our co-ops operate.”
Through the International Year, doors have been opened for co-operatives that it has never had before, she added.
Co-ops had the opportunity to meet with the Obama administration in the White House, and work with UN organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization and the IMF.
“One of the key objectives of the IYC was to get governments to look at their legislation on co-ops and to make sure their legislation is fit for purpose in the 21st century, to make sure they have enabling legislation not prescriptive legislation;” she explained.
In countries such as the UK, Malaysia, Kenya, Indonesia – under law they cannot have a co-operative bank. “In most cases this is just an accident of history, but what the UN is saying is get rid of these accidents, because in any business sector where you can make a good sound case for a co-op business then that sector should be open to co-ops;” Dame Pauline added.
“We need to continue the discussions to fruition and not in memorandums of understanding or action plans but in some real deep rooted practical grassroots support that can show what we can do, because once you’ve built one exemplar co-op organisation, others will follow,” she continued.
The Co-operative Movement “can support the real economy a grassroots level” she explained and the benefits through co-operation, particularly in developing countries, of growth and prosperity will not end up in the hands of the “predator states” or multinational businesses”.
Dame Pauline said that her personal highlight of the year was speaking at the opening of the IYC, which she described as an “unbelievable experience".
