Peter Couchman is Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, which has been empowering rural communities through co-operative and community ownership since 1919. Mr Couchman will be speaking at Towards 2020, the Alliance's Global Conference in Antalya, Turkey, on the future of co-operative governance. In this interview we speak with Mr Couchman about the state of the co-operative sector today and the challenges and opportunities towards 2020.
E-digest: Mr Couchman, the UN reports that 54% of the world lives in urban areas, and that this will increase to 66% by 2050. What does this mean for co-operatives in rural communities? How do governments think about the future of their rural areas?
Peter Couchman: In spite of this trend, one of the things to realise is that still three billion live in rural areas, so we are still talking about a very substantial number of people! However, bigger cities may mean that less resources may go to rural areas, so here lies an opportunity for rural co-operatives ... As more resources flow to cities, people in rural areas may increasingly find themselves being less catered to their their needs, by governments and the private sector.
So therefore, I think we need to see the rural world not as a shrinking market, but as a co-operative opportunity. And we know that our movement has a tremendous track record around the world at tackling rural development issues.
Another observation would be that those three billion people in rural areas would be the ones producing the food for the others! So, therefore, the interaction between rural and urban is going to be increasingly important as we try to feed an expanding world population. The idea that rural matters less, is one we need to challenge.
One of our challenges is making the co-operative solution relevant. The reality is that our movement does not always communicates to people the opportunities that they have to be involved with co-ops. If you actually look at how the movement presents itself, it is very rarely putting significant resources behind suggesting that ordinary people can find the solution for their everyday problems in actually forming and belonging to co-ops. We tend to talk about ourselves as institutions rather than as solutions. The Plunkett Foundation‘s experience has been that it is only when we are perceived as the solvers of real problems, that we actually find relevance with policy makers and the general public. We need to find the right language to express this.
E-digest: People are staying alive and healthy longer. What does this imply for participation? Will the elder have more time to participate and influence the community? Will they surprise us and participate more online than do young people?
Peter Couchman: First of all, we should recognise that the movement has been doing a lot about involving young people in the movement. We now probably need a similar effort to engage the elderly. Some of them are co-op virgins! It’s not just about those people who spend their lives in the movement, but also the newcomers. The majority of people we are working with are often those approaching retirement who’ve never before been involved in a co-op. To them, co-ops are the solution to the problems they face. There’s a real opportunity, and we have to realise that just because someone is older, doesn't mean they’ve always been involved with the movement.
Next, an aging population presents challenges for the government. The biggest one being health costs. The old ways of simply either state-directed or private sector-directed health care simply won’t stack up. The only solution is to encourage people to remain healthy inside their community – and also to keep each other healthy – we find that purposeful engagement through co-ops has a major impact on the elderly’s physical and mental wellbeing.
E-Digest: Digital media are often cited as holding potential to improve participation. An example is the decision making platform Loomio. What concrete ways might there be more, for digital media and coops?
Peter Couchman: The reality is that most of our structures were designed to operate several hundreds of years ago. It was hard for people to interact if they weren’t fact to face. Digital is dramatically changing that. One aspect is democratic involvement. People today want continuous input, constant dialogue. Simply a one-off vote and stand by for the rest of the mandate is a thing of the past. Coop members would have to interact constantly rather than just now and then. Digital media can help creating that dialogue. In the 19th century we were good at adopting new technology and co-ops today again have to be pioneers in this. New cooperative business opportunities can scale from community initiatives.
E-Digest: China and many Asian countries will gain importance as a direct business partners to western co-ops. While they do have a strong co-operative culture, it is sometimes different from the West’s, perhaps also due to their relationship with governments. Your views?
I think co-ops in Asia will not simply duplicate Western models but develop new ways and part of that will be how they choose to engage with people. Another point is that they have been able to watch and sometimes experience the effects of the west’s over-liberalization. I think these co-ops have actually seen what happens when you simply liberalise a market and let the private sector loose within it. The co-op model at its best can combine a very clear sense of direction both nationally and at community level, but a genuine engagement of people is essential.I think we should see an evolution of the co-op models in Asia, but based on what’s already there and building on those strengths. I think co-operation in those countries will look different but there’s a real opportunity for it to be a real example for us, if they can get the engagement question right.
The United Nations’ summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda will be held from 25 to 27 September 2015. The UN is also looking at being more local. Is there an opportunity for local co-ops in this?
Peter Couchman: Absolutely, it’s vitally important to engage in international issues. I often think though that our challenge is actually that, when we arrive at the table, we’re not clear on what we want to obtain. I think the Alliance's Blueprint is a vital step for the movement in having a very clear agenda of what we are trying to achieve.
UN agencies actually have now what perhaps we may have lost along the way; they are starting to think local. And therefore, as a movement, our challenge is going to be to bring forward models of genuine engagement, beyond our top 300 co-ops and their successes. So I think the time is coming where we need to value the people on the ground delivering in very small co-ops, but having a huge impact on their communities and that’s what international organisations will want to hear about.
