An Australian Perspective on the ICA General Assembly
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 December 2009 02:21 Written by Trent Bartlett Tuesday, 24 November 2009 00:00
Australian co-operator Trent Bartlett,Chief Executive Officer of the Capricorn Society Limited, attended the International Co-operative Alliance's General Assembly on the 19 - 20 November 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. Trent has filed a report on this important meeting covering the DotCoop Global Awards, the ACT! climate petition, the keynote address, the three discussion themes and the statutory business. The ICA's official documentation and reports will be available soon from the International Co-operative Alliance web site.
What follows is Trent's report on the International Co-operative Alliance's General Assembly. We are grateful to Trent (pictured at right) for his report.
18 November 2009 - General Assembly
Winners of DotCoop Global Awards Announced in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland - DotCoop, the sponsor of the .coop domain name, announced the winners of the first-ever dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence. The three winners were:
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Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited, a fertilizer production and distribution cooperative based in India. IFFCO won in the category of large cooperatives with more than $50 million in revenue or assets.
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National Cooperative Grocers Association, a business services organization for retail food co-ops. NCGA won in the category of medium cooperatives with $1 million to $50 million in revenue or assets.
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Pachamama Coffee Cooperative, a cooperative based in the United States and owned by 150,000 coffee farmers worldwide. Pachamama won in the category of small cooperatives with less than $1 million in revenue or assets.
The dotCoop Global Awards are given to those cooperatives who demonstrate a strong commitment to the cooperative business model. DotCoop also looked for co-ops whose missions and practices clearly demonstrate cooperative values, especially in their web site.
DotCoop awarded honorable mentions to Cabot Creamery Cooperative of the United States and Crédit Coopératif of France in the large business category; The Phone Co-op of the United Kingdom and the Wedge Community Co-op of the United States in the medium-sized business category; and CAC Santa Maria Magdalena of Peru and FESAN (Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas de Servicios Sanitarios, Ltda) of Chile in the small business category. Additionally, the judges awarded a special recognition award to the Co-operative Press Limited, which received recognition for its overall contributions to the cooperative movement in the United Kingdom and the world as the oldest cooperatively-owned newspaper.
Robynn Shrader, chief executive officer of the NCGA, said the award will help her members market the cooperative advantage. "These awards can help bring awareness to the distinct differences between our stores and conventional food retailers," Shrader said.
The awards were presented on November 18th by the dotCoop board chair, Louie Doering, at the International Co-operative Alliance General Assembly. The winning cooperatives received funds to travel to the meeting as part of their award.
"We received over 50 applications, from around the world and across cooperative sectors," said Carolyn Hoover, chief executive officer of dotCoop. We're extremely pleased with the turnout of this year's competition, and expect an even greater turnout in 2011."
The next awards will be presented at the ICA General Assembly in 2011. Cooperatives can sign up for a reminder of the next awards at www.globalawards.coop.
Many people have already signed the ACT! climate petition, which calls for there to be a successful outcome to the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Have you?
Recent media stories, suggesting that there will not be a good or binding Agreement at Copenhagen, were compounded by a civil society announcement on 17th November in Brussels, where Cooperatives Europe were told that any binding Agreement was now highly unlikely.
It is essential that cooperators all over the world sign the ACT! climate petition. The cooperative voice is needed now more than ever and we must unite to put pressure on those global leaders who will be calling the shots in Copenhagen. The ACT! climate petition is partnered with the UN 'Seal the Deal 2009' campaign in a bid to maximize impact.
The ACT! campaign urges co-operatives to encourage their member to sign up to both the petition and the 10:10 pledge. The 10:10 pledge allows cooperative businesses, schools and cooperators to commit to reduce their emissions by 10% in 2010. A simple idea, but one that is achievable and sends a clear message to our politicians, that we are prepared to address the climate threat. So sign up to 10:10 and pledge to take one less flight next year or get the bus to work one day a week, it's that easy.
The third aspect of ACT! is the collection of case studies of co-operative climate action. This is needed to create evidence that will support any future lobbying in the area. It will also act as a networking tool and a forum for sharing ideas, and finally allow us to promote and gain recognition for the work of co-operatives, which will strengthen the global brand of cooperatives as a more sustainable business model.
Finally, ACT! wishes to promote the use and creation of renewable energy, which is key to fighting the climate threat and is an area in which cooperatives can take a lead and in many cases have already done so.
Remember the co-operative values of equity and social responsibility. Cooperatives were asked to visit www.actonclimate.coop, sign the petition if they have not already done so and get their co-operative to support ACT! through sharing case studies and mailing members.
19 November 2009 - General Assembly
Welcome
There were addresses from each of the Vice Presidents of Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe.
A tribute to Ivano Barberini was held which concluded with a standing ovation.
Ivano's book - "How the Bumblebee Flies - Cooperation, Ethics and Development" was launched at the GA and a copy given to all delegates
Keynote Address
Professor Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends and a noted economist and advisor to key political and economic leaders in Europe and the US shared his ideas on the key role that co-operatives can play in addressing the global economic meltdown, energy security, and Climate Change.
He invited the co-operative movement to be a key actor in shaping a new economic order - the Third Industrial Revolution - based on mutual economic benefit, environmental concern and a more ethical approach to economic and social development.
Some of the key points the Professor made were as follows;
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Cooperatives are excellent at setting up businesses and social networks together Cooperatives are the ultimate form of self-determination and individuals.
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Co-operatives are based on individuals and not on capital.
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Scientists now report that our great Arctic in the North Pole will be open water within 30 years.
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1/7 people in the world are denied access to food for life.
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Climate change is affecting agriculture so quickly we may see its collapse in 30 years.
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The world is in the sunset of one of the great energy booms.
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The world is in the grip of three separate crises -- global economic meltdown, global energy crisis and the impact of climate change on agriculture.
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These crises have been coming since the second crisis which delivered the Industrial Revolution.
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The world came out of that crisis and since there was no new revolution we lived off the earnings of the Industrial Revolution.
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Globalisation based on US purchasing power which was basically spending earnings from the Industrial Revolution (living off the prosperity of the last revolution)
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$80 a barrel is a key price point for oil at which prices go up across the whole supply chain. Prices will peak out at $134 a barrel at which point it becomes unsustainable and a crisis occurs.
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The world needs a new economic vision and model to move into the post-carbon era by the year 2040.
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We are on the cusp of a third Industrial Revolution to move civilisation forward.
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This revolution is the "Distributed Communication Revolution"
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There will be a whole new generation of collaborative, distributed social spaces
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New distributed ICT is converging with distributed energy
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EU is committed to 20% renewable energy by 2020
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25% of the human race has never had electricity.
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Another 25% only have limited access to power.
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2 billion people worldwide do not have electricity.
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Cooperatives are not just a business model -- they are a frame of reference, a cultural story and are what human nature is all about
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Every being and creature has a right to their fair share of energy
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The cooperative movement has to rethink the 21st century
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Global connectivity in a higher energy world needs to create biodiversity consciousness
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it is not about business, it is not about energy - it is about the human story
Session I: Towards a sustainable energy economy
The Assembly was provided with more details on how co-operatives can take charge of energy resources and create partnerships for sustainable development..
The session looked to the future in terms of co-operatives in addressing the major challenges of the energy crisis and sustainable development, and the opportunity for co-operatives to be a key player in changing the economic model.
Key points noted were;
- A nationwide campaign has been established at www.ourenergy.coop.. A Senate body is looking at clean air technology.
- What can the individual consumer accomplish? Energy efficiency and conservation, utilities scale renewable energy initiatives, community-based renewable energy initiatives.
- NCBA is in discussion with the government on assisting in the development of sustainable energy is in the US.
- Touchstone energy cooperatives www.togetherwesave.com is 100% focused on energy efficiency
- Cooperative opportunities that exist in purchasing co-op is in the green and supply chain management -- policy positions with cost savings on the Greenside.
- New energy cooperative development. Many donor agencies are not co-operative aware and therefore our sector needs to work on it.
- The vision is for the democratisation of energy by bringing energy decisions back to a local level and into the hands of the consumer through the cooperative business model
- There is a convergence between cooperative values and a distribution network of energy. We need a new network of global trust.
- The third phase of development is cooperative development
- This has been described as COOP3.0 -- a mix of one-person one-vote business models with new technologies in communications using the social web to distribute economic models placing the individual at the centre
- Renewable energy is a cooperative opportunity. The world has to be changed and the world has to be saved and Cooperatives are the solution
- Renewable energy is the pillar of the third revolution. 100 years ago it sounded like a bright idea. 100 years from now and maybe the only solution.
- Cooperatives are a social, political and business force and can provide models to balance efficiency and empathy.
- Empower the powerless
Session II: Co-operative resilience to global crisis
The Assembly was provided with updated information on why the co-operative model has enabled the survival and even the growth of co-operatives in this time of economic challenges. It also looked at the future of the co-operative model and challenges that lay ahead in terms of policy environments including legislation, regulation and accounting standards.
Key Points were;
- The co-operative movement is resilient - generated by our service ethos
- Cooperatives are going into the serious complexity of business
- The world is economically shocked over the capitalist business model
- The co-operative model has challenged -- it is not yet recognised as reliable by authorities and policymakers. It has demonstrated resilience domestically - it has to do so globally.
- The co-operative model is a link between two capital structures -- social and finance capital.
- Social capital = trust, norms, networks & obligations enabling people to work together.
- People -- finance -- people -- it cannot be imposed from outside
- Social capital is the economy of cooperative enterprise. Social capital comes first -- it uses capital finance to pursue the aims of the people.
Session III: "Climate Change: The co-operative response
The Assembly had the opportunity to learn more on the regional responses to Climate Change, both actions on the policy level and concrete activities.
Key Points were;
- There are four things Cooperatives can do themselves
- measure and reduce our own CO2 emissions
- production/use of renewable energy
- inform and motivate our members
- lobby and campaign
- Copenhagen UN climate change conference December 7 18 globally important.
- If you don't take change by the hand, change will take you by the throat
Sectoralisation and Implementation of Restructuring
Gun-Britt Martenson spoke on the sectoralisation and implications of ICA's restructuring report.
The Cooperative movement is the largest values driven but not faith-based organisation in the world.
The restructuring working group oversaw a complete renewal of the subscription system for ICA.
There are centre, region and sectors that make up the sectoralisation strategy for ICA.
Statutory Business
The statutory business of the 2009 ICA GA was then conducted.
Key points to note were;
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The election of Dame Pauline Green as the first woman president of the ICA.
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The appointment of Kathy Bardswick, president and CEO of The Cooperators Group of Canada to the main board.
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The passing of four motions
o corporate enterprise and the economic crisis
o towards a sustainable energy economy the cooperative agenda climate change
o Cooperatives and peace
o Cooperatives and nuclear disarmament
Picture: Peter Eneström
