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| Submission declined on 1 June 2025 by Timtrent (talk). A wall of text with no sections and no obvious references. I have corrected some of your layout, but you must do the rest. Please read and apply WP:MOS Declined by Timtrent 2 days ago. | |
Comment: WP:MOS tells you how to lay it out correctly. Please do not plough your own furrow 🇵🇸🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦🇵🇸 19:55, 1 June 2025 (UTC)
Collective Organisation
Usually referred to as a cooperative, or co-op, a cooperative organisation is a voluntary association of people who come together to address shared economic, social, and cultural goals via a jointly owned and democratically run business. Their ideas of member ownership, democratic governance, and shared benefits set cooperatives apart from other kinds of corporate companies.
From providing reasonably priced food and accommodation to giving access to finance and employment, cooperative businesses operate in many different fields and have a broad range of uses. With about one billion members worldwide and bringing in trillions in income, cooperatives are major players in both local markets and the international one.
Etymology and Conceptual Development From Latin cooperari, which means to labour together, the word cooperative comes. Unlike conventional company models that give profit for shareholders top priority, cooperatives seek to satisfy the needs of their members and sometimes work towards more general social goals including community development, sustainability, and equity.
Development Historically
Early Activities and Ancestors Though the contemporary cooperative model first arose in the 19th century, cooperative-like behaviours have centuries of history. Mutual aid societies and guilds helped to distribute labour and resources in ancient cultures such Babylon and Egypt. Early examples of group economic activity in mediaeval Europe came from village commons and trade guilds.
Whereas stokvels and tontines served comparable purposes in Africa, the "mujin" system operated as a revolving savings and credit club in Japan.
The modern foundation and Rochdale Pioneers The turning point for the cooperative movement came in Rochdale, England, in 1844 when 28 weavers and artists founded the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. Having bad product quality and exploitative prices, they opened a consumer-owned store providing fair pricing, honest weights, and high-quality merchandise.
They wrote the Rochdale Principles, a set of rules stressing:
1 Transparency and voluntary participation
2 Democratic rule with one member, one vote.
3 Share of extra to members
4 Learning and instruction
5 Cooperative collaboration among cooperatives
Later on, cooperatives all around accepted these ideas, which also formed the foundation for the cooperative identity framework of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).
Global Influence and Expansion Europe's
As tools of economic democracy and opposition against monopolies, cooperatives bloomed in Europe. Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen and Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch pioneered agricultural and credit cooperatives in Germany, therefore laying the foundation for what would become Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken. Emerging as potent networks of worker and consumer cooperatives in Italy are the Legacoop and Confocooperative federations. America north-east In the 19th century, the Grange Movement in the United States advocated agricultural cooperatives, which resulted in the founding of prosperous co-ops as Land O'Lakes and Ocean Spray. Founded in 1900, Desjardins Group developed into among the biggest financial cooperatives in North America in Canada.
In Latin America Cooperatives became Latin America's answer to land inequality and poverty. Cooperatives sprang up in Argentina in industries like housing and dairy. Major actors in exports in Brazil are agricultural cooperatives like Coamo and Copacol.
Asia and Africa respectively. To enable economic self-reliance, postcolonial governments in Asia and Africa welcomed cooperatives. Founded in 1946, India's Amul Dairy Cooperative changed the dairy sector and contributed to start the White Revolution. Financial inclusion in Kenya depends much on SACCOs, or savings and credit cooperative organisations.
Cooperative Concepts Inspired by the International Co-operative Alliance, the seven contemporary ideas governing cooperatives are:
Voluntary and Open Membership: No discrimination based on ideas, social level, or gender.
Democratic Member Control: Every member has one equal vote.
Members participate economically fairly in the capital and split in the gains.
Co-ops are free from outside control and self-governing, autonomous entities.
Information, training, and education help members and the general public to be empowered.
Cooperation among cooperatives local, national, and worldwide.
Concern for the Community: Social responsibility and environmentally friendly development
Models of Cooperative Organisations Cooperative membership structures and goals define their classification:
1. Cooperatives for Consumers owned and run by customers to buy collectively products and services.
One could find examples like
Norfood Norge (Norway)
Erosski (Spain)
Park Slope Food Cooperative United States
2. Cooperation among Producer Cooperatives Created by producers—such as farmers or craftspeople—to market and handle products.
Examples:
Spray from the USA Ocean
Fonterra from New Zealand
Amul (India)
3. Employee cooperatives owned and under control by staff members distributing duties and profits.
Examples:
Spanish Mondragon Corporation
United States Cooperative Home Care Associates
4. Financial Coops and Credit Unions Often serving underprivileged groups, offer loans, savings, and other financial services.
Illustrations include:
Canada's Desjardins
Federal Credit Union, Navy Federal USA
Rabobank ( Netherlands).
5. Cooperatives in Housing Let members jointly own and run residential buildings.
Among other things:
New York City Cooperative Housing Projects
HABITAT Group ( Sweden)
6. Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives Add several membership groups including workers, customers, and supporters.
Examples include:
Quebec health cooperatives in Canada
Social cooperatives across Italy
Legal and Policy Frameworks Though they differ depending on the nation, laws controlling cooperatives usually give certain advantages and recognition. Many countries have introduced tax incentives and cooperative societies acts to assist in cooperative development. For instance:
The Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 is UK legislation.
The Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act (2002) Indian legislation
Cap 490 Cooperative Societies Act Kenyan legislation
International labour standards for cooperative policy-making are outlined by the ILO Recommendation 193 (2002), on the Promotion of Cooperatives.
Cooperatives show resilience in times of financial crisis and greatly help with sustainable development:
The biggest 600 cooperatives worldwide, according to the International Cooperative Alliance, bring in more than $2 trillion yearly.
The ILO estimates that cooperatives give around 280 million people worldwide jobs.
In member satisfaction, environmental norms, and crisis reaction, they routinely beat investor-owned companies.
Difficulties and Objections Notwithstanding their benefits, cooperatives must deal with issues including:
Member-based financing causes capitalisation restrictions.
Complexity of governance in either large or diverse co-ops
Public misinterpretation and ignorance of the cooperative model
rivalry from businesses driven by profits
Strong leadership is said by some detractors to be necessary for co-ops to avoid inefficiencies or "democratic inertia."
Cooperation and the Sustainable Development Goals Particularly in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), cooperatives directly help:
SDG 1: Zero Poverty
SDG 5: Equity for Gender
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Development
SDG 12: Eco-friendly Production and Consumption
Notable Groups and Movements in Federalism Alliance of International Cooperative Agreements (ICA)
The European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse)
Co-operatives UK
NCBA CLUSA, United States
ICA Pacific Asia-Pacific
In popular culture and education Several colleges and institutions grant degrees in cooperative management as well as courses in this field:
The Co-operative College, United Kingdom
Universidad Mondragon (Spain)
References
Birchall, J. (2011). People-Centred Businesses: Co-operatives, Mutuals and the Idea of Membership. Palgrave Macmillan.
International Co-operative Alliance. (n.d.). https://www.ica.coop
Fairbairn, B. (2003). Three Strategic Concepts for the Guidance of Co-operatives. University of Saskatchewan.
United Nations. (2012). International Year of Cooperatives. https://www.un.org/en/events/coopsyear
ILO Recommendation 193. https://www.ilo.org
Mondragon Corporation. https://www.mondragon-corporation.com
Desjardins Group. https://www.desjardins.com