International Day of Cooperatives, 4 July 2009
"Driving Global Recovery through Cooperatives"
This year's International Day theme focuses on recovery rather than crisis. It aims to highlight the role that cooperatives have in not only promoting economic growth, but also in promoting ethical values - values which have been severely challenged during the financial and food crisis. It underlines that cooperatives can effectively contribute to global economic recovery and that they will do so in respect of the Cooperative Values and Principles which guide their operations. The theme also allows stakeholders to address the response of the cooperative movement to crisis - financial, food, values. However, it is key to be reminded that cooperatives serve their members needs in both good and bad times whether it be economically, socially and/or culturally. They are not tools to address crisis, but a sustainable form of enterprise that outlives crisis and drives recovery.
World Bank Development Report 2008: Agriculture for DevelopmentThe World Bank Development Report for the first time in many years includes positive references to the role cooperative model of enterprise in promoting development, thus reversing its negative position on cooperatives of the past. The report notes the success of the co-operatives in industrialized country agriculture and the contribution that cooperatives are already making in the developing world noting areas where policy changes are needed to enable cooperatives to grow. It notes the need for legal reform and co-operative autonomy and includes strong statements against government controlled co-operatives.
