In India, the needs of 67% of rural
households are covered by cooperatives. Neela Jayaram lives in the
village of Kesavarayampatti, Tamil Nadu State. Few years ago, she was
toiling away in the paddy fields struggling to support her four
children and ageing husband. Life was hard and sometimes she slept on
an empty stomach. Today, Neela Jayaram's life, and that of her family,
has dramatically improved. Together with a host of other women from the
120 families living in Kesavarayampatti, she has formed a self-help
group based on dairy farming. Photo:ILO/Crozet M.

 

Cooperatives boost rural tourism:
rural tourism cooperatives offer rural populations a means to diversify
incomes, create new employment opportunities and thus reduce rural
exodus, while enabling a positive valuation of heritage and culture.
Many are established along eco-tourism principles. CoopeSilencio in
Costa Rica is an agricultural cooperative that has been active in
eco-tourism since 1997. Although its main activity is the production of
palm oil and basic cereals, it is also engaged in reforestation,
environmental protection and agro-tourism activities. Together these
activities have enabled the cooperative to not only provide farm
training, but also operate a child day-care centre and school. It also
provides social protection (health care and pensions). Photo:ILO/

 

Not only an attractive resource due to
its low cost and ecological benefits, wind energy also creates local
employment. However, establishing wind farms requires that the
communities are part of the planning process to ensure its acceptance
and continued operation. Denmark is living proof that community-owned
power can go a long way to creating a renewable energy future. Started
in the 1970's when three rural Danish families banded together to
install a wind turbine, wind power cooperatives are now a nationwide
movement with more than 100,000 family members. Together the
cooperatives have installed 80% of Denmark's turbines which now account
for 10% of the entire country's electricity needs. Photo:ILO/Crozet M.

 

ILO research undertaken in Africa in
2005 revealed that cooperatives in Africa are about to enter a phase of
'renaissance' but need a favourable legal and institutional
environment, greater visibility, a stronger voice, further
diversification, improved governance, better management, and solid
horizontal networks and vertical structures. In the quarries of
Mtongani (Dar Es Salaam), a cooperative mushroom and hen house project
directed was proposed as an alternative to the stone breaking that used
to be the principal economic activity of women in the district. Lazia
(left), who is 50 years old and has 6 children, now works at the
mushroom cultivation project. Photo:ILO/Crozet M.

 

In 2007, the ILO launched a new
programme in Africa called Cooperative Facility for Africa, or in short
COOPAFRICA. The programme pursues the overarching goal of mobilizing
the cooperative self-help mechanism and to improve their governance,
efficiency and performance in order to strengthen their capacity to
create jobs, access markets, generate income, reduce poverty, provide
social protection and give people a voice in society.
Photo:ILO/Maillard J.

 

The Oromia Coffee Farmers' Cooperative
Union (OCFCU) is a representative example of how agricultural
cooperatives improve their members' income and social conditions. In a
broader sense, it is also an illustration of how cooperatives help to
reduce poverty, fight against child labour through education,
contribute to the Millennium Development Goals and promote Decent Work.
Photo:ILO/

 

As a producer of fair-trade coffee,
Oromia Coffee Farmers' Cooperative is able to use Fair Trade Premium
and its social fund to finance community development programmes. It has
already funded 28 education projects (construction of new primary
schools, expansion of existing schools, etc), 8 health projects
(establishment of health clinics, purchase of medical equipment and
maintaining clinic operations), 36 clean water projects, the
construction of a bridge and the improvement of electrical supply.
Photo:ILO/

These brick layers are part of the
Yebo umbrella cooperative. Created in March 2003, the Yebo cooperative
is a support and organization serving its members in eight of the nine
provinces in South Africa. It has brought together people who have the
same or similar needs and interests in a wide number of sectors and
economic activities. For example, the Yebo-Mayibuye Waste Recycling
Cooperative brought together 38 scavengers who collected recyclable
waste to sell to recycling companies. By organising in a cooperative,
the members were able to end victimisation by municipal officials and
exploitation by the recycling companies who offered low prices. Today
the 128 member-strong cooperative is purchasing equipment and setting
up a savings and credit cooperative. Besides creating new jobs and
increasing its members' income, Yebo cooperatives have contributed to
improving supplies such as foodstuffs especially in the rural areas and
townships of South Africa. Photo:ILO/

 

Maintaining or increasing diversity in
economic activities is one of the most important targets for rural
development, i.e. to get the widest possible participation of
stakeholders. In the beginning of the 21st century, the role of
cooperatives in Finland is remarkable in national and local economies
as well as for households. In food and forest sectors, retail trade,
banking and insurance, cooperatives are market leaders. Since the
1990's, cooperative enterprises have been established in Finland in new
fields, providing innovative contributions both to changing labour
markets and emerging service needs. Cooperatives have been able to turn
diverse know-how into successful businesses, work for the unemployed,
and preventing social exclusion. Photo:ILO/

 

Officials in Madagascar recognize
that cooperatives have a potential in reducing poverty, addressing food
security issues and creating jobs. As such, they are interested in
including a cooperative component in the new "one United Nations"
project to promote food security by introducing a network of grain
banks in southern Madagascar where drought and desertification are
common. Photo:ILO/Crozet M.

 

With 3,200 enterprises, cooperatives
play a prominent role in agriculture and the food industry in France.
They employ 150,000 full-time workers and represent a turnover of over
80 billion Euros. Three out of four of the 406,000 French farms are
members of cooperatives. Their impact translates as well into
sustainable development policy, such as building sustainability
indicators, enhancing biomass development, environmental and social
responsability. Photo:ILO/Maillard J.

 

"Cooperatives can lead us closer
towards a democratic, people-centred economy which cares for the
environment, while promoting economic growth, social justice and fair
globalization" said the Director General of the ILO, Juan Somavia. The
International Labour Organization (ILO) has been active in cooperative
development for the last 86 years, providing member States with
assistance in cooperative policy, legislation, training, business
development and networking. It is the only UN-organization with a
dedicated cooperative development Branch, and the only organization
that has developed an international standard in this field (i.e. ILO
Recommendation 193). Photo:ILO/Crozet M.