Sustainability is recognized as one of the five pillars of the International Co-operative

Alliances (ICA) Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade, which aims to position coop-
eratives as builders of economic, social and environmental sustainability by 2020.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) highlighted
decent work as a central goal and driver for sustainable development and a more
environmentally sustainable economy. In order to bring cooperative voices into the
Cooperatives
discussion around the post-2015 development agenda, the International Labour
and the Sustainable

ILO Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015 development debate
Organization (ILO) and ICA launched an initiative on the contribution of cooperatives
to sustainable development.

This report is an integral part of this initiative. Its main recommendations include:
Development Goals
Increased and more visible participation and engagement of the cooperative move- A contribution to the post-2015
ment in the discussions around the post-2015 development agenda for sustainable
development; and further involvement and acknowledgement of the cooperative development debate
model by the international community in the processes leading on to sustainable
development goals. Cooperatives have much more to offer in ensuring inclusive and
democratic sustainable development beyond 2015, and this publication and the
wider initiative are an important step towards this objective.

This report is complemented by two briefs: one based on a survey on cooperative

movements engagement in sustainable development, and another one providing
Resilience
policy highlights on the topic.
in a downturn:
For information, please contact:
The power of financial
International Labour Office (ILO)
Enterprises Department
cooperatives
Cooperatives Unit
4 Route des Morillons
CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 799 7445
Fax: +41 22 799 8572
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ilo.org/coop
Cooperatives and the Sustainable
Development Goals:
A contribution to the post-2015
development debate
International Labour Organization
Enterprises Department
Cooperatives Unit
Geneva

Cooperatives and the Sustainable

Development Goals:
A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

by

Fredrick O. Wanyama

A Background Paper to highlight the role of cooperatives

in the realization of the illustrative Sustainable Development
Goals as defined by the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons
on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Copyright International Labour Organization 2014
First published 2014

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Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour
Office welcomes such applications.

Libraries, institutions and other users registered with reproduction rights organizations may make
copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find
the reproduction rights organization in your country.

Fredrick O. Wanyama
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015 development
debate - Geneva: ILO, 2014

ISBN 978-92-2-128730-8 (print)

ISBN 978-92-2-128731-5 (web pdf)

International Labour Office

sustainable development / the United Nations / international cooperation / cooperative development

/ Millennium Development Goals

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iv
Foreword

As we approach the Millennium Development Goals target date of 2015,

regional, national and online thematic consultations have been taking place to
frame the post-2015 global development agenda. A consensus on goals, targets
and indicators for sustainable development will have to be reached before the
end of 2015. The big questions revolve around the ways the international com-
munity will respond to the pressing issues of economic development, environ-
mental protection and social equity in a sustainable manner.

Among the preliminary findings of these consultations, is that job creation and
concerns about the quality of jobs especially in the informal economy - are
top priorities in most countries, and will remain a major challenge well beyond
2015.1 Jobs provide livelihoods, income and security for populations, and in
addition to creating new jobs, good quality jobs are a prerequisite for dignity for
all. The ILO Decent Work Agenda of job creation, rights at work, social protec-
tion and social dialogue has been recognized as among the guiding principles at
the debate. Achieving sustainable development must include the world of work.
As values-based organizations, cooperative enterprises provide livelihoods for
millions of people around the world, and are by nature sustainable and partici-
patory form of business. They can be found in all sectors of the economy, and
place emphasis on job security and improved working conditions, pay com-
petitive wages, promote additional income through profit-sharing and distribu-
tion of dividends, and support community facilities and services such as health
clinics and schools. In addition, cooperatives foster democratic knowledge and
practices and social inclusion, making them well-placed to support the achieve-
ment of sustainable development. Cooperatives have also shown resilience in
face of the economic crises.

An important dimension of the contribution of cooperative enterprises to

sustainable development has been acknowledged in the global consultations
on growth and employment: The role of cooperatives in expanding social

1
ILO: Jobs and livelihoods in the post-2015 development agenda: Meaningful ways to set targets
and monitor progress, Concept Note No. 2 (2013).

v
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

protection to the informal sector. Promoting cooperatives, it was noted, could

empower farmers to negotiate for better agricultural inputs and produce prices.2
Indeed, cooperatives have all along delivered towards sustainable development,
and this contribution should be further emphasised and acknowledged.

The present publication is part of a wider initiative of the ILO to ensure that
the voices of the cooperative movement are heard in the discussions around
the post-2015 development agenda. In close collaboration with partners such
as ICA, UNRISD and others, this work has already created increased interest
in incorporating these voices in the agenda. This initiative is in line with ICAs
Blueprint for Cooperative Decade, which seeks to place the cooperative model
as the acknowledged leader in economic, social and environmental sustaina-
bility by 2020. The publication of this timely and relevant study further demon-
strates the role of cooperatives in sustainable development, and is intended to
provide evidence to support increased inclusion of the cooperative business
model in the debate.

ILO and ICA have collaborated in sustainable cooperative development for

many decades, and this publication is a logical continuation of this work. The
main messages of the publication call for: Increased and more visible partici-
pation and engagement of the cooperative movement in the discussions around
the post-2015 development agenda for sustainable development; and further
involvement and acknowledgement of the cooperative model by the interna-
tional community in the processes leading on to sustainable development goals.
Cooperatives have much more to offer in ensuring inclusive and democratic
sustainable development beyond 2015, and this publication and the wider ini-
tiative are an important step towards this objective. Cooperatives can not only
contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, but offer a poten-
tial alternative model of social enterprise, that inherently addresses the triple
bottom line of social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Guy Ryder Dame Pauline Green

Director-General President
International Labour International Co-operative
Organization Alliance

2
UNDG: Growth and Employment in the Post 2015 Agenda, Messages from a global consultations
(undated) http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---nylo/documents/publication/
wcms_221951.pdf [accessed 27 March 2014].

vi
Table of Contents

Foreword.......................................................................................................... v
Abbreviations.................................................................................................. ix
Acknowledgements......................................................................................... xi
1. Introduction............................................................................................... 1
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate.......................... 3
2.1. Understanding Cooperatives.............................................................. 3
2.1.1 Cooperative Principles............................................................. 3
2.1.2 Classification of Cooperatives................................................. 5
2.2 Cooperatives and the Millennium Development Goals................... 7
2.3 Cooperatives in the post-2015 Development Agenda...................... 10
2.3.1 The Transition from MDGs to the post-2015
Development Agenda............................................................... 10
2.3.2 Cooperatives in the Debate on the post-2015
Development Agenda............................................................... 15
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable
Development Goals................................................................................... 19
3.1 Poverty Reduction.............................................................................. 19
3.2 Gender Equality................................................................................. 22
3.3 Quality Education and Lifelong Learning........................................ 25
3.4 Health................................................................................................. 27
3.5 Food Security and Good Nutrition.................................................... 30
3.6 Access to Water and Sanitation........................................................ 33
3.7 Sustainable Energy............................................................................. 36
3.8 Employment Creation, Livelihoods and Equitable Growth............. 39
3.9 Sustainable Natural Resource Management..................................... 45
3.10 Good Governance.............................................................................. 49
3.11 Promotion of Stable and Peaceful Societies..................................... 52
3.12 Global Enabling Environment and Long-term Finance................... 54

vii
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

4. The way forward to the sustainable development goals:

Cooperatives have a key role to play..................................................... 59
Recommendations........................................................................................... 61
Bibliography.................................................................................................... 63
Annex I: Survey Questions............................................................................ 75
Annex II: Interviewees.................................................................................... 79

List of boxes and tables

Box 1:
Cooperative principles...................................................................................... 3
Box 2:
The Millennium Development Goals.............................................................. 7
Box 3:
The Illustrative Sustainable Development Goals,
as proposed by the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons
on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.......................................................... 13
Box 4:
The Socit Des Eleveur De Vache Laitier De Foumbot
(COOVALAIF)................................................................................................ 33

Box 5:
Renewable energy cooperative in Grobardorf village.................................. 38
Box 6:
Argentinian worker cooperatives retain jobs
in the economic crisis...................................................................................... 41
Box 7:
The achievements of VEL and VANLA......................................................... 48
Box 8:
Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade: Governance is key............................... 50
Table 1:
Employment in cooperatives in selected countries......................................... 41

viii
Abbreviations

DGRV Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband

e. V. (German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation)

FSC Forest Stewardship Council

HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Acquired

Immunodeficiency Syndrome

HLP High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015

Development Agenda

ICA International Co-operative Alliance

ILO International Labour Organization

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations

REB Rural Electrification Board (Bangladesh)

SACCOs Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies

SDGs Sustainable Development Goals

SEWA Self-Employed Womens Association (India)

UK United Kingdom

UN United Nations

USA United States of America

VANLA Vereniging Agrarisch Natuur en Landschapsbeheer

Achtkarspelen (the Netherlands)

VEL Vereniging Eastermars Lansdouwe (the Netherlands)

ix
Acknowledgements

The report was coordinated by the ILOs Cooperatives Unit, headed by

Ms Simel Esim. Mr Waltteri Katajamki and Mr Guy Tchami facilitated
its production. The manuscript benefited from inputs and comments from
Ms Dipabali Chowdhury, Mr Roberto di Meglio, Ms Satoko Horiuchi,
Mr Emery Igiraneza, Ms Jihea Khil, Mr Raphael Peels, Mr Jrgen Schwettmann,
Ms Catherine Seya, Ms Valentina Verze and Mr Igor Vocatch of the ILO.
Ms Elizabeth Cecelski provided additional technical and editorial support.

Mr Rodrigo Gouveia from the International Co-operative Alliance and Mr Peter

Utting from the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development also
provided valuable comments and suggestions.

This report also builds on an analysis of the inputs of close to 300 respondents
from the cooperative movement to an online survey and related interviews,
as well as the feedback from participants at the sessions where the report was
presented.

xi
1. Introduction

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have successfully

drawn the worlds attention to the significance of ending extreme poverty and
exclusion. But, time is running out on meeting all the targets by the end of 2015.

To maintain the momentum generated by the MDGs on poverty reduction and

sustainable development, a new initiative to set the development agenda for
the post-2015 period was launched at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference
on Sustainable Development in June 2012. World leaders at the Conference
resolved to end extreme poverty and hunger as a matter of urgency by put-
ting poverty in the broader context of sustainable development. It is in this
regard that the final resolution of the Conference called for new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) that would expand on the gains of the MDGs, and
converge with the post-2015 development agenda (UNGA, 2012).

The Rio+20 Conference also launched an intergovernmental Open Working

Group to make recommendations to the UN General Assembly on the design of
SDGs. This has seen the discussion of SDGs gain traction, marking a clear dis-
tinction from the process that led up to the adoption of MDGs that was rather
hasty and lacked thorough debate and analysis (Brito, 2012).

The discussion on the SDGs is also gaining ground because of the growing
urgency to ensure the sustainability of the gains made in the development of
the entire world, especially in the developing countries. The Brundtland Report
defined sustainable development as the process of meeting the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs (WCED, 1987). It has since been generally accepted that sustainable
development involves a combination of economic development, environmental
sustainability and social inclusion.

However, the specific focus and objectives of these three elements differ glob-
ally, between and within societies. It is partly for this reason that there has
been no consensus regarding the tradeoffs and synergies across the economic,
environmental and social objectives that culminate in the sustainable use of
resources (Sachs, 2012). Consequently, SDGs are being discussed and debated

1
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

with a view to reaching a potential consensus before they are formally adopted
by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) before the end of 2015.

Whereas the detailed content of the SDGs is being discussed and debated by
a wide range of stakeholders, including international organizations, states and
civil society organizations, the voices of the cooperative movement are not
being heard clearly. Consequently, their involvement in the process of devel-
oping SDGs has yet to reach its full potential. This is in spite of the fact that the
Rio+20 Conference recognized the potential role of cooperatives in the achieve-
ment of social inclusion and poverty reduction (UNGA, 2012).

The invisibility of cooperatives is most probably due to a lack of understanding

of the actual and potential contribution cooperatives can make to sustainable
development, partly due to the disparate nature of the literature on this subject.

The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to highlight the contribution of cooper-
atives to sustainable development with a view to stimulating discussion on the
role of cooperatives in the design and implementation of SDGs.

The paper is based on the available secondary data, supplemented by primary

data from an online questionnaire survey of close to 300 cooperative actors
from around the world.1 In-depth interviews were held with leaders of the apex
cooperative organizations in East Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The starting point for this discussion is to clarify what cooperatives are and
locate their role in sustainable development and in the post-2015 development
agenda before delving into their potential contribution to SDGs.

1
The survey was organized in the last quarter of 2013 by the Cooperatives Unit of the International
Labour Organization (ILO) to support the analysis of the contributions and potential of the co-
operative movement to achieve sustainable development. Almost all of the respondents affiliated
themselves with the cooperative movement, representing primary cooperatives, international NGOs,
cooperative federations and cooperative support institutions, among others.

2
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015
development debate

2.1. Understanding Cooperatives

2.1.1 Cooperative Principles
There is an emerging consensus that cooperatives are autonomous associa-
tions of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and
cultural needs and aspirations through jointly-owned and democratically-con-
trolled enterprises (ICA, 1995; ILO, 2002). As a business model, cooperatives
are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality,
equity and solidarity. The members of these associations believe in the ethical
ideals of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

These values and ethical ideals have led to the formulation and revision of the
principles upon which cooperatives operate. The last revision of the princi-
ples was made in 1995 during the Centenary celebrations of the International
Co-operative Alliance (ICA) when the ICA adopted the seven universal princi-
ples of cooperatives listed in Box 1.

Box 1: Cooperative principles

1. Voluntary and open membership
2. Democratic member control
3. Member economic participation
4. Autonomy and independence
5. Education, training and information
6. Cooperation among cooperatives
7. Concern for community

Source: http://ica.coop/en/what-co-op/co-operative-identity-values-principles

3
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

The first principle voluntary and open membership implies that coopera-
tives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services
and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social,
racial, political or religious discrimination. However, there are membership
obligations which all members must abide by.

The principle of democratic member control affirms that cooperatives are

democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate
in setting policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected
representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives,
members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote). Cooperatives at
higher levels are also organized democratically.

Members do not only participate in the cooperatives governance, but also

contribute to economic activities as well; this hence refers to the principle
of member economic participation. Members contribute equitably to, and
democratically control, the capital of their cooperative; part of which is
the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited
compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership.
Members allocate part or all surpluses for developing their cooperative, pos-
sibly by setting up reserves; benefiting members in proportion to their transac-
tions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities as approved by the
membership.

The fourth principle is autonomy and independence. In line with the principle
of voluntary and open membership, cooperatives are autonomous, self-help
organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into any agreement
with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external
sources, they do so on their own terms that ensures their members maintain
autonomy, independence and democratic control.

Education and training are important for organizational effectiveness and this
is recognized by the fifth principle: education, training and information.
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected repre-
sentatives, managers and employees to effectively contribute to the development
of the organization and the wider society. In respect of the latter, cooperatives
inform the general public about the nature and benefits of cooperation.

The sixth principle is cooperation among cooperatives. Cooperatives

endeavour to support each other and enhance service provision to members. To
this end, cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the
cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional
and international structures that build their solidarity.

4
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate

Finally, the seventh principle is on concern for community. Cooperatives work

for the sustainable development of their communities, be it social, labour and
environment related, through policies, projects and practices that are approved
by their members. These principles define the identity of cooperatives around
the world (ICA, 2013b).

2.1.2 Classification of Cooperatives

Though cooperatives are guided by these principles, there has been debate and
discussion on how these organizations can be classified. It is generally accepted
that cooperatives can be distinguished or classified in two ways: either by their
ownership structure or by function of the goods and services they provide. On
the basis of the ownership structure, cooperatives have been classified into two
basic types: worker-owned and client-owned cooperatives (Schwettmann, 2012).

Worker-owned cooperatives are business associations that are owned and

democratically governed by their employees. The cooperative members own the
business, work in it, govern it and manage it. The business is owned by some or
all of the workers. Management structures of worker cooperatives vary greatly
depending on the desires of members. Some of them use a traditional manage-
ment hierarchy, while others opt for flatter management structures often called
collectives that allow employees to be more directly involved in management
decision-making. Others use a team-based structure that employs elements of
both traditional and open management systems. As employers, worker coop-
eratives pay their employees (who may also be members) a wage or salary in
return for the work rendered. Pay structures, however, also vary widely. Some
cooperatives use a traditional position-based pay scale while others pay strictly
on seniority. At the other end of the spectrum are worker cooperatives that pay
all workers the same wage. Like other cooperatives, worker cooperatives return
profits to their worker-owners in the form of annual patronage dividends based
on hours worked, salary and/or seniority.

Client-owned cooperatives are formed and owned by individuals or groups

that seek goods and services from the business that they have established. It
is in this type of cooperative that the second basis for classifying cooperatives
mentioned above is quite apparent. Since members of client-owned coopera-
tives seek specific goods and services, the nature of these goods and services
or functions has led to the distinction of two basic types of client-owned coop-
eratives: those oriented towards consumption and those oriented towards pro-
duction. Consequently, client-owned cooperatives consist of consumer and
producer cooperatives.

Consumer cooperatives are those owned and governed by individuals who

seek to purchase goods and services from the cooperative that may not be avail-
able from other businesses or are offered by other businesses at higher prices.

5
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

By organizing a cooperative, consumers are able to achieve better prices and

quality not available from for-profit businesses.

Consumers can create a cooperative to provide virtually anything that they want
to get access to and buy. Their purchases may include groceries, electricity or
telephone service, housing, health care or - under the label of credit unions -
financial services. Thus, consumer cooperatives are organized to deliver goods
and services to their members. Like other cooperatives, they often distribute
patronage refunds, in which profits are returned to members based on how
much they purchased from the cooperative. It is, however, important to note
that some consumer cooperatives do not track purchases well enough to offer
patronage refunds or donate the annual surplus to community organizations
chosen by the members or their elected leaders.

Producer cooperatives are owned and governed by people engaged in the pro-
duction of goods and services in separate enterprises as a means of supporting
their productivity. The cooperative members are independent producers, but
they own a business that may for instance buy and sell farm inputs and equip-
ments; advertise and market produce; or operate storage, transport and pro-
cessing facilities for their produce.

This form of cooperative is most common in agriculture, where farmers often

must band together to succeed in the markets, but can be also found in fishing,
forestry or crafts production, for example. In the absence of cooperatives,
farmers could be trapped in a situation where processors and middlemen dictate
the prices paid for produce. For instance in dairy farming, where the product
is too perishable to take to another processor, often miles way, farmers may
be forced to sell their milk at the price determined by the nearby processor or
middlemen. To avoid this, dairy farmers could form a producer cooperative for
producing, processing and marketing their milk to improve returns on sales.

Consumer and producer cooperatives tend to be further classified by the sector

of their core business. Accordingly, there are housing, agricultural marketing,
savings and credit, insurance, handicraft, health and social care cooperatives,
among others. Some of these categories are further subdivided. For instance,
agricultural marketing cooperatives may consist of cocoa, coffee, cotton, pyre-
thrum, sugarcane, tea and dairy cooperatives, to name just a few examples.
Cooperatives are, therefore, spread in many sectors of the world economy to
offer various goods and services to producers and consumers.

Most types of cooperative tend to be vertically organized in multi-level struc-

tures called federations or second-level cooperative unions. In some cases,
these secondary structures have both individual farmers and other primary
cooperatives as their members. These vertical structures help cooperatives

6
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate

balance local control and the economies of scale that are needed to not only be
competitive, but also to be productive in their activities.

2.2 Cooperatives and the Millennium

Development Goals
The Millennium Summit of the United Nations that met in New York in
September 2000, saw 189 states commit themselves to achieving the eight
Millennium Development Goals listed in Box 2 over a period of fifteen years.
As the world moves towards the deadline for realizing these goals, the available
evidence shows a mixture of results on each of the goals in different regions.
On the positive side, there is evidence that the MDGs have established the
momentum for development in developing countries. They have successfully
generated widespread public concern regarding poverty, hunger, disease, unmet
schooling, gender inequality and environmental degradation. By packaging
these priorities into an easily understandable set of eight goals, and by estab-
lishing measurable and time-bound objectives, the MDGs have become a type
of global report card for the fight against poverty. Developing countries have
subsequently made substantial progress towards achievement of the MDGs,
although the progress is highly variable across goals, countries and regions
(Sachs, 2012).

On average, low-income countries have seen improvements in core target indi-

cators of three MDGs: extreme poverty and hunger, HIV/AIDS and access to
safe drinking water (part of the goal 7) (CGD, 2013). This is indicated by:

Box 2: The Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Source: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

7
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

The proportion of people living on less than US$ 1.25 a day reduced by
more than half,

More children than ever before attending primary school,

The drop in mortality rate for children under five by 41 per cent,

The decline in maternal mortality rate by 47 per cent,

The incidences of starvation and malnutrition reduced in most parts of

the world,

The incidences of HIV/AIDS reduced and the important gains achieved

in making antiretroviral drugs accessible to those infected,

Significant strides made in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis, and

The achievement of the target of halving the proportion of people without

access to safe drinking water (United Nations, 2013).

Nevertheless, the MDGs have also been criticized of having significant short-
comings. For instance, the trading gap between the developed and developing
countries has persisted; environmental sustainability is under severe threat,
more so than it was in 1990 following the increasing emission of carbon dioxide
and overexploitation of natural resources; and gender-based inequalities in
decision-making and power persist in most parts of the world (United Nations,
2013).

With little emphasis on the sustainability of development initiatives, it has also

been observed that there has been little commitment of the global North to
the responsibilities set out in goal eight while the responsibilities of the global
South, as outlined in goals one to seven, have been excessive, resulting in an
imbalance between the North and the South in responsibilities for ensuring
realization of MDGs.

Furthermore, it has been argued that some of the positive indications of MDGs
could be a result of reliance on national averages that tend to obscure inequal-
ities within countries; and that global targets arrived at through a non-consul-
tative process were not only brought down to the national level, but were also
interpreted to be the national targets.

Indeed, the manner in which MDGs were agreed upon has been criticized
and blamed for the lack of enthusiasm by some actors to contribute towards
their achievement. The MDGs were adopted by acclamation by a resolution of
the UN called the United Nations Millennium Declaration. This procedural
innovation, called consensus, stands in stark contrast to UN tradition, which

8
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate

requires texts of this sort to be carefully prepared and discussed at great length
in committees. In the case of the MDGs, the discussions prior to the said resolu-
tion were neither inclusive nor comprehensive. The preparatory meetings of the
earlier cycle of summits, organized in the 1990s to generate discussions on the
goals, tried to organize assemblies of civil society representatives parallel to the
official conferences that were only attended by state representatives. However,
in reality, it was the charitable non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which
receive financial support from large foundations and states that found space at
these discussions. This led to a situation where many popular organizations
struggling for social and democratic progress were excluded (Amin, 2010).

Despite being neither involved in the design of MDGs nor in the delivery mech-
anisms for realizing them, cooperatives have contributed to the realization of
the positive outcomes of MDGs. This is partly because these goals are con-
sistent with the fundamental values associated with cooperatives: freedom,
equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility
(Birchall, 2004). Thus, the convergence of values allowed cooperatives to make
important contributions to the MDGs.

Poverty alleviation and elimination of hunger

The natural disposition of cooperatives to create income-generating opportu-
nities for their members has helped to raise a significant number of people out
of poverty. Cooperatives provide jobs and livelihoods for millions of people
around the world, and, together with small and medium-sized enterprises, are
the most significant source of new employment (ILC, 2007). Additionally,
cooperatives have contributed to food security by supporting members to diver-
sify the production and marketing of food (Sizya, 2001; Wanyama, Develtere,
and Pollet, 2008; Khurana, 2010; IFAD, 2012).

Access to primary education

Cooperatives improve access to primary education by raising incomes, allowing
people to afford school fees and other requirements (Evans, 2002; Develtere,
Pollet and Wanyama, 2008), and also by improving school infrastructure
(Meskela, 2012).

Improvements in maternal health & combatting of HIV/AIDS, malaria and

other diseases
Health cooperatives in Canada, USA, Japan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, among
others, have contributed to maternal and child health care services as a routine,
while cooperatives in many African and Asian countries have played a sig-
nificant role in providing HIV/AIDS awareness services and facilitated access
to health care by people living with the virus (WOCCU, 2010; Lo lacono and
Allen, 2011; Keregero and Allen, 2011).

9
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

Environmental sustainability
Forestry and environmental cooperatives have helped reduce the depletion of
natural resources by providing fora for local people to get involved in finding
solutions to environmental challenges and changes and defining their property
and user rights, managing natural resources, and diversifying their economic
activities to embrace green economic ventures such as renewable energy (ILO
2013c, Wiskerke et al, 2003; Renting & Van Der Ploeg, 2001).

Enhance global partnership for development

With respect to facilitating a fair trading environment between the North and
the South, cooperatives have supported the creation of an alternative marketing
structure in the North for products from the South through fair trade initia-
tives, which are helping producers in developing countries obtain improved
market access and better trading conditions in the developed countries mar-
kets. Focusing on exports from developing countries, the fair trade marketing
structure has arguably contributed to better prices; decent working conditions;
ethical production, marketing and consumption; and fairer terms of trade for
farmers and workers in the developing world (Develtere and Pollet, 2005;
Global Exchange, 2011, 2013).

These examples clearly indicate that cooperatives have significantly contributed

towards the realization of the MDGs despite not being involved in the process
and being largely invisible in the targets, indicators, and implementation mech-
anisms.

The exclusion of cooperatives from the MDG process would seem to have been
a missed opportunity to make use of the most appropriate institutional frame-
work for poverty reduction. This is particularly the case because the coopera-
tive business approach is not only inclined towards combating poverty, but is
also suitable for the general development of society.

Consequently, the ongoing debate on the post-2015 development agenda must

seek to harness the cooperative advantage in the formulation and implementa-
tion of sustainable development goals if it is to have the full impact it desires.
What role have cooperative played in this process until now?

2.3 Cooperatives in the Post-2015

Development Agenda
2.3.1 The Transition from MDGs to the post-2015 Development Agenda
Though the MDGs have arguably succeeded in mobilizing the world to face
the challenges of eradicating poverty, the timeframe for these goals ends at
the end of 2015. The widespread recognition among national and international
actors that the MDGs have significantly contributed to the progress in reducing

10
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate

poverty around the world has led to the resolution that a globally agreed agenda
to fight poverty should continue beyond 2015. To this end, a number of initia-
tives have been set in motion to formulate the post-2015 development agenda.

The initial effort was the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General
Assembly of the United Nations on MDGs. This requested that the Secretary-
General initiates thinking on a post-2015 development agenda and include rec-
ommendations in his annual report for the efforts to accelerate MDG progress
(UNGA, 2010).

The UN Secretary-General subsequently established the UN System Task Team

on the Post 2015 UN Development Agenda that was chaired by the Department
of Economic and Social Affairs and the United Nations Development
Programme and brought together the efforts of more than 60 UN agencies and
international organizations. In its first report to the Secretary-General in May
2012,Realizing the Future We Want for All, the Task Team outlined a vision for
the post-2015 development agenda and suggested the four key dimensions of:
inclusive social development, environmental sustainability, inclusive economic
development, and peace and security (UN System Task Team on the Post-2015
UN Development Agenda, 2012).

Another initiative to set the post-2105 development agenda was launched at

the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June
2012. World leaders at the Conference resolved to end extreme poverty and
hunger by putting the fight against poverty in the broader context of sustain-
able development. The Conferences final resolution called for new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) that would expand on the gains of the MDGs. The
Rio+20 Conference also launched an intergovernmental Open Working Group
(OWG) to act as the main forum for debate and make recommendations to the
UN General Assembly on the design of SDGs (UNGA, 2012).

As part of the process for developing an acceptable new global development

agenda, Expert Groups and member states agreed that the process of devel-
oping the post-2015 development agenda must foster a broad-based, open and
inclusive dialogue with all relevant stakeholders.

Consequently, dialogue was initiated through the Development Cooperation

Forum (DCF) on the possible features of a renewed global partnership for
development in the post-2015 setting, and the characteristics of a monitoring
and accountability framework. Representatives from governments, UN and
other multilateral organizations, civil society, philanthropic organizations, aca-
demia and the private sector were, and continue to be, engaged in these con-
versations, which will also examine the broader implications for development
cooperation of a post-2015 development agenda (ECOSOC, 2013).

11
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

To further stimulate international debate on how the global development agenda

should look like after 2015, the UN launched national consultations in more
than 70 countries. In addition, the United Nations Development Group (UNDG)
organized a set of eleven thematic consultations on: conflict and fragility; edu-
cation; environmental sustainability; governance; growth and employment;
health; hunger, food and nutrition security; inequalities; population dynamics;
energy; and water. A report with the preliminary findings from the national and
thematic consultations was issued in March 2013.

In July 2012, the Secretary-General launched his High-level Panel of Eminent

Persons (HLP) to provide guidance and recommendations on the post-2015
development agenda. The Panel, consisting of representatives of governments,
the private sector, academia, civil society and youth, published its report in
May 2013, proposing five transformational shifts in development as guiding
principles for the post-2015 development agenda:

1. No one should be left behind in moving from reducing poverty to ending

it. Based on the concept of universal equality, the guideline here is that no
person should be denied basic economic opportunities and fundamental
human rights, regardless of age, gender, race, nationality or disability.
2. Sustainable development should be at the core by shifting away from
destructive patterns of economic development towards sustainable
patterns of production and consumption to stop climate change.
3. Economies need to transform to support job creation and inclusive
growth by ensuring that growth benefits the societies and people who
need it most, while ending the jobs crisis and harnessing the energy of
youth.
4. To build peace and effective, open and accountable institutions for all;
recognizing that peace and good governance are essential for human
well-being and sustainable development.
5. Moving towards building a new broad global partnership that is able to
deliver the post-2015 agenda and harness the finance needed to invest in
change (HLP, 2013). This is essentially an appeal for coherent multi-lateral
decision-making and strict enforcement of rules to promote the other
four shifts. The relevant policy areas include fair trade, environmental
protection, security and other global challenges (Balk, 2013).

To facilitate the successful implementation of these programmatic principles,

the Panel proposed a list of 12 illustrative Sustainable Development Goals (see
Box 3). Fifty-four targets four or five for each goal provide a roadmap for
translating the goals into concrete, tangible and measurable action.

12
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate

Box 3: The Illustrative Sustainable Development Goals, as

proposed by the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons
on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
1. End poverty
2. Empower girls and women and achieve gender equality
3. Provide quality education and lifelong learning
4. Ensure healthy lives
5. Ensure food security and good nutrition
6. Achieve universal access to water and sanitation
7. Secure sustainable energy
8. Create jobs, sustainable livelihoods and equitable growth
9. Manage natural resource assets sustainably
10. Ensure good governance and effective institutions
11. Ensure stable and peaceful societies
12. Create a global enabling environment and catalyze long-term
finance
Source: HLP, 2013

The Panels report received mixed reactions. While some civil society groups
generally welcomed its scope and the ambition to eradicate absolute poverty,
others criticized the decision not to include an explicit goal to reduce income
inequality, together with broader-based growth to ensure a fairer distribution of
the benefits of globalization. Others have criticized the lack of explicit goals on
climate change, planetary boundaries or on population aging. The green lobby
has, however, praised the reports emphasis on greater integration of develop-
ment and sustainability. The reaction of UN member states is important, but
most governments were yet to make a public response at the end of 2013 (Evans
and Steven, 2013).

This mixed reaction has served to shift the post-2015 agenda into a next phase
that entails debating contentious issues arising from the SDGs, which will
culminate in the Open Working Group submitting its own report to the UN
General Assembly in September 2014.

While the Panel has made a strong start in setting out a possible post-2015
agenda, there remain a number of substantive issues to be debated before any
agreement is reached (Evans and Steven, 2013). This debate is increasingly

13
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

generating some convergence on the parameters of sustainable development in

the post-2015 period. For instance, in a world that is already suffering from the
vagaries of climate change and other environmental ills, there is widespread
agreement that worldwide environmental objectives need a higher profile along-
side the poverty-reduction objectives if sustainable development is to be real-
ized (Sachs, 2012). It is in this regard that the sustainability of development
initiatives has become the prime focus of the post-2015 development agenda.
The realization of sustainable development depends largely on a framework
that binds together and ensures greater balance between economic progress,
social equity, a healthy environment and democratic governance (Independent
Research Forum, 2013). This is what has also been referred to as the triple
bottom line plus good governance (Sachs, 2012).

Economic progress is a function of a vibrant economy that provides the

basis for peoples livelihoods and the goods and services that are necessary
for development. However, this progress has to be structured in ways that do
not undermine progress on poverty reduction, social equity or environmental
conservation. With regard to social equity, it can be realized by securing the
basic material needs and human rights of everybody on the planet (Independent
Research Forum, 2013). This requires a commitment to eliminate all extreme
deprivation hunger, extreme income poverty and avoidable diseases and
death. The outcome is that some places may remain poor, but no place should
be so destitute that it cannot meet the basic needs of its people (Sachs, 2012).
The realization of social equity is significant for economic progress because
income inequality slows growth, destabilizes the economy and retards poverty
reduction.

Besides linking economic progress to social equity, environmental conserva-

tion is dependent on healthy and productive natural systems. The worlds eco-
nomic activities are dependent on ecosystem goods and services and common
property resources help the poor to survive and thrive in the face of social
and economic inequities. Consequently, achieving sustained prosperity for all
requires development pathways that respect ecological limits and restore eco-
system health while optimizing the contribution of the environment to eco-
nomic progress and social equity (Independent Research Forum, 2013).

Ultimately, a vibrant economy, universal human well-being and a healthy envi-

ronment need to be regulated by a form of governance that provide poorer
people with the capabilities to choose and enact their own pathways to sus-
tainable development (STEPS, 2012). This implies enhanced linkage between
global science and local participation in decision-making and implementation.
To this end, equitable participatory processes, transparency and accountability
are essential to build the necessary cooperation among communities, govern-
ments, businesses and other stakeholders (Independent Research Forum, 2013).

14
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate

Thus, good governance complements the triple bottom line of economic, social
and environmental objectives in the realization of sustainable development. This
forms the gist of the proposed SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda.

2.3.2 Cooperatives in the Debate on the post-2015 Development Agenda

In total, about one billion people are involved in cooperatives in some way,
either as members/ customers, as employees/participants, or as or both.
Cooperatives employ at least 100 million people worldwide. It has been esti-
mated that the livelihoods of nearly half the worlds population are secured by
cooperative enterprises. The worlds 300 largest cooperative enterprises have
collective revenues of US$ 2 trillion, which are comparable to the GDP of the
worlds ninth largest economy - Italy (ICA, 2013c).

As value-based and principle driven organizations, cooperative enterprises are

by nature a sustainable and participatory form of business. They place emphasis
on job security and improved working conditions, pay competitive wages, pro-
mote additional income through profit-sharing and distribution of dividends, and
support community facilities and services such as health clinics and schools.
Cooperatives foster democratic knowledge and practices and social inclusion,
making them well-placed to support the achievement of sustainable develop-
ment. Cooperatives have also shown resilience in the face of the economic crises.

Hence, cooperatives are well-placed to contribute to the proposed triple

bottom line plus governance agenda; not least because they are enterprises
that endeavor to meet the economic progress of their members while satisfying
their socio-cultural interests and protect the environment. This has been partly
illustrated through their positive contribution to sustainable development. They
offer an alternative model for enterprise, with contributions to sustainable
development well beyond job creation. Since cooperatives share in GDP and
total enterprises is currently relatively small in most countries, their promotion
and expansion could be an important instrument for achieving the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).

The governance modalities for linking the household to the global level through
equitable participatory processes, transparency and accountability are well-en-
grained in cooperative principles. The cooperative model, therefore, seems to
be one of the means through which the envisaged sustainable development
goals may be realized in the post-2015 period.

It is important to emphasize that cooperatives are present in all sectors and con-
texts of the economy. This includes the natural resource-based sectors like agri-
culture, fisheries and forestry where there are environmental issues revolving
around the need to implement sustainable practices in the use of resources.
Indeed, certain cooperatives have been created in reaction to acute ecological

15
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

crises. Examples include cooperative pastures set up in the 1930s to manage

land damaged by drought and poor farming practices on the Canadian prairies,
and textile cooperatives initiated to rebuild economies and communities shat-
tered by war in rural Guatemala.

Cooperatives are also frequently present in sectors with low rates of return on
capital largely due to their drive to provide a service. Other cooperatives have
been formed in places where conventional firms stay away due to high risks
and low returns, particularly in remote rural areas. Cooperatives also exist to
foster cultural, social, and technological change that is very significant for the
realization of sustainable development (Gertler, 2001).

Based on their values and principles, cooperatives routinely integrate multiple

economic, social and environmental objectives in their activities. They are
practical vehicles for cooperation and collective action, thereby building and
reinforcing democracy and a sense of community. Given their community ties
and lower level of interest in short-term profits, cooperatives have the capacity
to embrace and act on long-term planning horizons. In this regard they help to
stabilize regional economies and provide an enabling environment for further
investment. Cooperatives reduce inequalities and promote equitable sharing of
the costs and benefits of development by empowering marginalized and vul-
nerable groups. Beyond the local community, cooperatives serve as facilitating
partners in alliances involving local, national and international, and public and
private sector organizations. With organizational capacity for training, educa-
tion and communication, cooperatives are part of a global movement for sus-
tainable development. It is for these reasons that cooperatives should find space
in the post-2015 development agenda.

However, the extent to which the voice of cooperative movement is being heard
in the on-going debates and consultations on the post-2015 development agenda
is unclear. The results of an online survey of the ILO to the cooperative move-
ment showed that almost more than half of the respondents have been involved
in the process at the national, regional or thematic consultations, while a sub-
stantial number had not participated in these.

The most dominant reasons for not participating in the process included not
being invited to the consultations; not knowing about the consultation process;
lack of expertise in the thematic focus of the consultations; the consultations
being outside the focus area of the organization; and not being aware of the
consultations altogether. These reasons demonstrate a lack of knowledge on the
post-2015 process, and highlight the need to sensitize cooperative movement
about the agenda and bring cooperatives and their partners and affiliates into
the upcoming SDG dialogues at different levels (national, regional and inter-
national). Furthermore, the respondents in the in-depth interviews informed

16
2. Cooperatives and the post-2015 development debate

that cooperatives tend to be more concerned with local issues than national and
international issues.

Despite concerns over the participation of cooperatives and cooperative move-

ment in the debate, the survey respondents were emphatic that the proposed
SDGs were relevant to their interests and that most of the proposed goals were
addressing issues that they were already helping to resolve. To shine further
light on this argument, let us illustrate the actual contribution of cooperatives
to the proposed Sustainable Development Goals.

17
3. Cooperatives and the proposed
Sustainable Development Goals

Cooperatives are highly relevant and important in the realization of the pro-
posed sustainable development goals. This chapter highlights the actual contri-
bution of cooperatives to the twelve SDGs proposed by the High-level Panel of
Eminent Persons in the Post-2015 Development Agenda in their report of 2013.
Though the specific goals, targets and indicators will not be agreed upon until
September 2015 as part of the ongoing process, these twelve proposed goals
reflect the range of themes that will likely be covered by the SDGs.

Though the Rio 20+ Conference recognized the actual and potential role of
cooperatives in achieving sustainable development, reducing poverty and cre-
ating employment there has been limited efforts to make this a reality. The HLP
report and on-going discussions on the SDGs have not underlined cooperatives,
nor has the cooperative movement been particularly active in the consultation
process for adopting the goals. Consequently, there is little understanding of the
activities of cooperatives that have a direct bearing on the design and realiza-
tion of the proposed SDGs listed in Box 3 above.

If harnessed, the experience and capacity of cooperatives could provide a head

start in the realization of sustainable development as envisioned in the goals,
given cooperative strength of an estimated more than one billion members from
around the world.

What follows is an illustration of the contribution of cooperatives could make

to the proposed SDGs.

3.1 Poverty Reduction

With almost half the worlds population living below their national poverty
lines, poverty alleviation has become the biggest challenge to human society. In
response, the global campaign against poverty has been going on for decades,
with various development actors suggesting the use of different instruments to
alleviate poverty.

19
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

One proposed solution is participatory development, which helps people help

themselves and become active agents in improving their own lives. Participatory
development has been justified by the idea that the poor can only stay trapped
in the vicious circle of poverty if left on their own. The poor need to get organ-
ized to work together to gain from the collective strength that they do not have
individually.

But what types of organization are best at doing this? There are several types,
including the public sector, private for-profit sector, non-governmental organ-
izations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs) and cooperatives,
among others (Birchall and Simmons, 2009). However, there is a widely
held consensus among many actors, including the United Nations (UN), the
International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Co-operative
Alliance (ICA), that the cooperative enterprise is the type of organization that
is most suited to addressing dimensions of reducing poverty and exclusion
(Birchall, 2004; 2003; ILO/ICA, 2003).

Why cooperatives? The broad argument is that cooperatives have the advan-
tages of identifying economic opportunities for the poor; empowering the
disadvantaged to defend their interests and to take part in decision-making con-
cerning them; and providing security to the poor by allowing them to convert
individual risks into collective risks. It is in this regard that different types of
cooperatives mediate the access of their members to assets that they utilize to
earn a living.

For instance, savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) facilitate their mem-
bers access to financial capital, while agricultural cooperatives help farmers
access the inputs required to grow crops and keep livestock, and help them
process and market their produce. Similarly, consumer cooperatives make it
possible for their members and the society at large to get access to household
supplies like food, clothing, and other products (Birchall, 2004). Such services
ultimately help members to improve their living conditions, thereby helping to
pull some of them out of poverty.

Here are some further examples that illustrate the contribution of cooperatives
to poverty reduction around the world. Many of these highlight how coopera-
tives effectively help raise their members incomes.

In Tanzania, a significant proportion of farmers and their households

access the market to sell their produce to earn an income through their
cooperatives. Improved cooperative marketing of agricultural produce
like milk and coffee has afforded cooperative members the money to pay
fees for the education of their children (Sizya, 2001).

20
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

In Egypt, about four million farmers derive their income from selling
agricultural produce by virtue of being members of agricultural
marketing cooperatives (Aal, 2008).
In Ethiopia, about 900,000 people are estimated to generate most of their
income through agricultural cooperatives. Even more significant for
income-generation is that these cooperatives not only create marketing
opportunities for their members, but also try to increase their income
margins by negotiating for better prices for their produce, as is the case
with grain producers cooperatives (Lemma, 2008).
Coffee cooperatives in Ethiopia have been able to penetrate higher-value
alternative fair trade markets of Europe and USA (Tesfaye, 2005).

Besides agricultural cooperatives, SACCOs are increasingly becoming a major

source of the productive resources that are invested by members to create
employment opportunities and increase household income. This is possible
due to the growing ability of these cooperatives to mobilize substantial savings
from which members can borrow.

In Kenya, the main type of back office loan offered by most SACCOs is for
paying school fees, which has afforded many members to educate their chil-
dren. Development loans offered by most SACCOs have been used to buy land;
build houses; invest in businesses and farming; buy household furniture and
meet other family obligations (Wanyama et al, 2008). It is a similar story in
Ghana, where a study of the University of Ghana Cooperative Credit Union
indicates that members frequently obtain loans to support informal businesses
that supplement their wage income. These informal businesses are also known
to offer part-time employment to housewives and domestic assistants in the
University Staff Village. Indeed an examination of the uses to which loans
and withdrawals by members of the cooperative are put listed business as
the leading of the nine substantive uses to which members direct their funds
(Tsekpo, 2008).

In Rwanda, members of Assetamorwa (Association de lEsperance des Taxi

Motor au Rwanda), a cooperative and trade union for motorcycle taxi drivers,
have received loans from their cooperative to buy their own motorcycles to
increase their revenues. They previously paid extortionate daily rental fees
(Smith and Ross, 2006).

In Tanzania and Sri Lanka, a study by Birchall and Simmons (2009) confirms
that cooperatives significantly improve members incomes in various ways.
Multi-purpose and savings and credit cooperatives enable members to receive
small loans to support their own self-employment through retail shop-keeping,
farming or keeping livestock. Some SACCOs have different types of loans for

21
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

different business activities, enabling members to repair buildings, install elec-

tricity, and buy essential machinery or equipment. In addition to helping to start
up new businesses, they also provide working capital and loans to grow the
business. Such loans were very difficult for people to get elsewhere and these
business activities might not have existed without the cooperative.

In addition to improving incomes, cooperatives also make significant contri-

butions to poverty alleviation through provision of non-financial services. For
instance, evidence from Tanzania and Sri Lanka shows that cooperatives make
a particular contribution in terms of skill development and education; gender
equality and the empowerment of women; help when members suffer illness
or other setbacks such as bereavement, and help to improve members shelter
and living standards. They also take their central role in communities seriously,
particularly in terms of solving common problems in the community and the
creation of good citizens (Birchall and Simmons, 2009).

3.2 Gender Equality

Despite major progress towards gender equality and womens empowerment
over the past few decades, inequalities persist in many societies. There is still
a significant gap between women and men in terms of leadership and partic-
ipation in decision-making, access to productive resources, job opportunities,
and quality of employment and wages. In addition, violence against women and
girls remains widespread.

Gender inequality and other forms of discrimination not only violate the uni-
versal standards of justice enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, but also deprive societies of the full productive potential of large
shares of their populations and thereby undermine sustainable development.
Consequently, the HLP report considers gender equality and womens empow-
erment central to sustainable development and the post-2015 development
framework.

It is envisaged that gender equality will be realized by stopping violence against

women and girls; enabling women and girls to reach their full potential by
having equal access to resources and economic opportunities; and building
womens capacity to influence decision-making by eliminating discrimination
against women in leadership and public life (HLP, 2013; Puri, 2013).

Cooperatives contribute to advancing womens access to resources and eco-

nomic opportunities by expanding their participation in local and national
economies. More women join SACCOs to save and get access to financial
services to enhance their economic well-being around the world. In consumer
cooperatives, most members are women. In Japan, for example, women have

22
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

reached 95 per cent and have gained a place in the governance structure of their
cooperatives (Suzuki, 2010).

Women are particularly showing a strong presence in worker cooperatives:

According to the Spanish Confederation of Worker Cooperatives
(COCETA), 49 per cent of worker cooperative members in Spain are
women. Amongst them, 39 per cent have directorial positions, while in
other enterprise models the percentage of women in these positions is
barely six per cent.
In Italy, according to ANCPL-Legacoop, the presence of women in
worker cooperatives in the fashion industry is 95 per cent. The best
example of this is the cooperative Stienta CAPA (Rovigo), consisting of
around 100 member-workers with an annual turnover of more than three
million Euros (CICOPA, 2011).

In East Africa, there are indications that womens participation in cooperatives

is rising:
In the financial cooperative sector, data from Tanzania indicates that
womens membership in SACCOs more than quadrupled between 2005
and 2010, increasing from some 86,000 to more than 375,000 members,
bringing womens share in SACCO membership to over 43 per cent
(Majurin, 2012).

In agricultural cooperatives, a survey of 55 Area Cooperative Enterprises

(ACEs) in Uganda found a more pronounced increase in womens
participation between 2007 and 2010 than in mens (132 and 94 per cent,
respectively).

In terms of womens leadership, the survey shows that womens presence

on financial cooperative boards ranges from 24 per cent (Kenya) to 65
per cent (Tanzania), with a regional average of 44 per cent (Majurin,
2012).

In Southern Africa, women make up 60 per cent of cooperative members

in Lesotho, and form the majority in all categories of cooperatives apart
from mining and service providing cooperatives (Qoane, 2010).

In the occupied Palestinian territory, despite a history of low womens par-

ticipation in cooperatives, changes are beginning to take shape in favour of
women. For instance, the Union of Cooperative Associations for Savings and
Credit, registered in 2005, has more women members than men. The vision of
the union is to build a better future for Palestinian women living in rural areas
based on cooperative principles (Al Madmouj, 2012).

23
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

Another example is the experience of the members of the small Benkadi wom-
ens cooperative in the Segou region of Mali. Members were experiencing
difficulties getting a good price for their produce and as a result were unable
to invest and expand their production. By reaching out and coming together
with 21 other small associations of women shallot producers, they were able
to integrate the women into the larger Faso Jigi farmers cooperative. Faso Jigi
invested in 19 shallot storage facilities and marketed the produce where prices
were more advantageous, offering the women a better income and the oppor-
tunity to invest in their businesses and expand their production (FAO, 2012a).

In India, womens cooperatives offer self-employment opportunities that can

contribute to womens social inclusion and empowerment (Bhatt and Gailey,
2012). Women-only cooperatives are also being reported in the Arab states where
womens access to economic opportunities and public life has been limited (ILO,
2009; Esim and Omeira, 2009). Whereas some cooperative societies in Tanzania
and Sri Lanka consist of a majority of women, some are increasingly being set
up exclusively by and for women. Women have also been empowered to take up
leadership roles, set up their own management committees and organize welfare
activities through the cooperative (Birchall and Simmons, 2009).

The increasing membership of women in cooperatives and their participation

in cooperative leadership is arguably contributing to bridging the gap between
women and men in access to resources and participation in decision-making.
Nevertheless, a number of challenges remain in the path of cooperatives in
realizing gender equality:
For instance, women tend to be marginally represented in traditional
cash/export crop-related cooperatives (for example, coffee, cocoa, cotton,
or tobacco) where men are more likely to be the owners of the crops. On
the other hand, women are more numerous, and their numbers are on the
rise, in subsectors such as fruits, spices or cereals, as well as dairy, in
which land ownership is less critical and capital investment requirements
often less heavy.
In financial cooperatives, similarly, the occupational composition of the
membership heavily influences its female-to-male ratio; for instance,
teachers SACCOs often have a fairly balanced gender ratio, whereas
transport SACCOs are likely to be almost exclusively composed of men.
There is also a gender difference in the nature of womens and mixed-sex
cooperatives, with womens cooperatives usually being smaller in terms
of capital, membership, and volume of business; often concentrated in
women-dominated (and in some cases low-value) sectors; and generally
less well connected to cooperative unions, federations and other support
structures. (Majurin, 2012).

24
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

Furthermore, the formation and operation of womens cooperatives may be

limited by a range of socio-economic factors. In many countries, women have
lower levels of literacy, limited access to education and skills development,
land, credit, productive inputs as well as information, which both directly and
indirectly hinders their ability to form or even join and use the services of
cooperatives. Yet in other countries, traditional conceptions of the roles of
women and men, and their expected behavioural patterns, are leading to a
lower participation of women in economic and public leadership activities.
This is consequently constraining womens engagement with cooperatives
(Majurin, 2012). The implication is that there is need for sustained gender
mainstreaming in cooperative activities to enhance the contribution of these
organizations to gender equality as envisaged in the post-2015 development
agenda.

3.3 Quality Education and Lifelong Learning

Despite the contributions of MDGs in facilitating access to education, there are
still concerns about low enrolment and basic education completion rates, espe-
cially in developing countries. Furthermore the quality of education, both in
the developed and developing countries, has not been satisfactory (Heyneman,
2004). In any case, education is said to be a lifelong experience, which has
seen the search for learning opportunities throughout the lives of individuals.
Consequently, the realization of sustainable development may significantly
depend on access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities.

Whereas household costs for education such as fees, uniforms and tuition mate-
rials discourage enrolment for basic education in developing countries, public
budgets at the national level tend to be too low to ensure a quality education.
The challenge is, therefore, to ensure that every child, regardless of circum-
stance, completes primary education and is able to read, write and count to
an acceptable standard. There is also a need to increase the number of adult
women and men with the skills, required for work and ensure opportunities for
lifelong learning, including technical and vocational skills.

It has already been pointed out that cooperatives play a significant role in facil-
itating access to education by increasing household incomes that translates into
ability to meet educational costs. Sometimes cooperatives are a direct source
of educational finance: loans from savings and credit cooperative societies
(SACCOs) have been particularly instrumental in this regard:

In Kenya, the main type of back office loan offered by most SACCOs
(at interest rates of 1 to 1.5 per cent on monthly reducing balances for a
12-month period) is for paying school fees.

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

Similar reports have been obtained from Ghana, Nigeria, Cape Verde,
Uganda and other African countries (Wanyama et al, 2008).
Kuapa Kokoo Ltd., a sophisticated multipurpose cooperative organization
in Ghana, has used returns from its fair trade premiums to finance social
projects, including the construction of classrooms in primary schools in
the local communities (Wanyama, 2013).
Oromia Cooperative Union in Ethiopia has used premiums from fair
trade to improve infrastructure in primary schools (Meskela, 2012).

Where local governments have failed to provide school infrastructure, cooper-

atives have often filled the gap by using their own funds to build and support
local schools (Birchall, 2004). A number of cooperatives have even set up their
own youth cooperatives as a way of both developing the skills of young people
and encouraging them to save. The support of cooperatives runs from the direct
provision of pre-schools and schools, to scholarships to members children to
attend school, and to help with higher education opportunities. Some cooper-
atives are also directly involved in educational activities, for example organ-
izing competitions, such as singing, dancing and literature competitions, essay
writing competitions, speech competitions and so on. Furthermore, some coop-
erative societies fund equipment and stationery for schools, or maintain a small
library.

Cooperatives are increasingly getting involved in direct provision of quality

education by setting up their own schools. For instance in Tanzania, Mugeza
Secondary School was started by the Kagera Cooperative Union (KCU) in 1992
in a remote area in the hills above Lake Victoria to enable members children
to access secondary education in a place where there were few other secondary
education opportunities. The cooperative was at first able to support parents by
paying half of their school fees and made large payments to the school itself for
buildings and general infrastructure. The school had to fundraise in any way it
could to secure money for paying teachers. Schools like this show the contri-
bution that cooperatives can make to education (Birchall and Simmons, 2009).

In the United Kingdom, the Manchester-based Cooperative College is pro-

moting the provision of quality education through the democratically driven
growth of Cooperative trust schools. These schools were prompted by Tony
Blairs 2006 Education and Inspections Act that established trust schools, billed
as independent state schools, were to be set up with weaker links to local
authorities than conventional state-funded institutions. They would be run by a
trust that could include businesses, charities, faith groups and universities. Each
had to have a parents council that would have a say in the schools day-to-day
affairs. Distinctively, each school allows pupils, teachers, parents, local people
and employers to become members of the trust, forming a community-based

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3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

mutual organization. The members elect representatives to a stakeholder forum,

which then expresses the views of the wider group to the school leadership,
while also electing trustees, who in turn elect some of the members of the
schools governing body. Typically, several Cooperative schools are linked
together in a single trust: often a group of local primary schools working with
a secondary. This cooperative school movement, and sponsored academies in
particular, has a strong commitment to social justice and moral purpose. It
means a dedication to the communities served and a deep desire to improve
outcomes and close the gap for students in some of the most challenged com-
munities. All of this seems to fit well with what many within the cooperative
movement view as core educational values of democracy, equity and fairness
(Mansell, 2011).

However, it is not only children who benefit from educational opportunities

supported by cooperatives. Alongside the skills training and knowledge devel-
opment provided by many societies for their members, further opportunities
are also provided by some cooperative societies for improving the literacy
and numeracy of never-schooled members through the provision of basic lan-
guage and arithmetic classes (Birchall and Simmons, 2009). For instance,
in the United Kingdom example above, Cooperative academies are striving
to provide an outstanding education for all learners, founded on cooperative
values, welcoming to both adults and children of all faiths (The Cooperative
Membership, 2013).

3.4 Health
To ensure healthy lives for the majority of the people around the globe, the
fourth proposed Sustainable Development Goal endeavours to end prevent-
able child mortality in infants and the under-fives; reduce maternal mortality
rates; and reduce the burden of disease from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria,
neglected tropical diseases and priority non-communicable diseases.

This essentially calls for the provision of both preventive and curative health
services for people around the world, especially in the developing countries that
lack functional health insurance schemes and where the burden of HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis is highest.

How have cooperatives contributed to the provision of health care? One of the
ways the cooperative movement has responded to the challenges of health care
delivery is the creation of health cooperatives. Such cooperatives are made up
of health care providers (worker cooperative), patients or community members
(client or user-owned cooperative), or a hybrid of the two (multi-stakeholder
cooperative). They can provide anything from home care services to full-scale
hospitals.

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

To become a member, each user or worker must purchase a share in the coop-
erative. The membership elects a board of directors nominated from within the
membership. Their responsibility is to oversee the operation of the cooperative
for an allotted term. The board of directors is then responsible for hiring a man-
ager to negotiate contracts with health insurance companies, the government
and health care providers. The manager is in charge of the day-to-day operation
of the health cooperative and is the functional link between the health care pro-
viders, the board of directors and the membership (MacKay, 2007).

The ICAs Global Monitor estimates that the turnover of 53 health and social
care cooperatives distributed in 12 countries amounted US$ 20.84billion in
2011. International Health Cooperative Organization estimates that there are
more than 100 million households worldwide that are served by health cooper-
atives. In Canada, the majority of health cooperatives currently provide home
care services, but in many countries they operate on scales as large as whole
hospitals. Across Canada there are more than 100 health care cooperatives
providing care to more than a million people spanning its eight provinces.
Saludcoop in Colombia, a health care cooperative, is the second-largest national
employer and serves 25 per cent of the population. In Japan more than 125 med-
ical cooperatives serve nearly 3 million patients (MacKay, 2007).

In Sri Lanka, health cooperatives began in the 1960s, mainly to provide ser-
vices to members of consumer and agricultural cooperatives. There are now
ten of them, funded by primary cooperative societies (who pay the fees and
recover them from members over time), and by public funding. A number of
multi-purpose agricultural cooperatives have also provided their own hospitals
in rural areas (Birchall, 2004).

In the USA there are several health care cooperatives that operate hospitals
and clinics, employing large numbers of people. For instance, Group Health
Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin has 65,000 members and employs its
own professional medical staff to work in its own clinics. It had gross annual
revenue of US$ 260 million in 2010. There is also the example of Group Health
Cooperative of Puget Sound with 650,000 members in Washington State and
Northern Idaho. It operates 30 cooperatively owned medical facilities and has
contracts with 44 other hospitals, employing 9,500 people, 1,000 of whom are
physicians (Oemichen, 2011).

In Nepal, the chaotic health care system has spawned an array of care delivery
mechanisms, including primary health care cooperatives. These cooperatives
first began surfacing in wealthier communities and neighbourhoods but are
slowly spreading to poor communities as it becomes apparent that primary
care is a major deficiency of the government system, which is perceived as
poor because of corruption and inadequate funding. International donors

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3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

provide money for polio and other vaccinations, but not for basic health care.
Cooperatives offer members primary health care services at an annual family
fee of US$2 to US$4, for which they receive clinic services, as well as a 50 per
cent discount on fees at the Kathmandu Model Hospital. Full hospital subsidies
are available for the extremely poor (Glauser, 2010).

Besides clinics and hospitals run by cooperatives, there are also pharmacy
cooperatives that focus on providing members easier access to genuine and
affordable medicines. For instance, in Turkey at the end of the 1970s, drug
supplies depended largely on imports yet wholesalers only wanted to do busi-
ness with pharmacies that could pay in foreign currency, which was in short
supply. The lack of foreign currency saw many pharmacies go out of business.
With few pharmacies in business, there were risks that the products sold on the
markets could be counterfeit. The price of medicines and other products also
went up. This situation led to the creation of the Association of Pharmacists
Cooperatives in 1989, which has enabled small pharmacies to team up with
others and benefit from the collective purchasing power of cooperatives to
supply genuine and affordable medicine to members. The cooperative has a
network of 13,000 pharmacies all over Turkey providing jobs to 40,000 people.
It is reputed for its quality service, especially when delivering drugs that are
urgently needed, which is backed up by professional advice from trained per-
sonnel (ILO, 2012).

Cooperatives also support their members in financing health care. For instance,
health care cooperative is one of the most popular types of health care insur-
ance options for the citizens of the USA. It is a type of a mutual health insur-
ance, where the insurance holders are actually the stakeholders of the health
care cooperative. The cooperative uses the money from the insurance premium
to pay for the coverage and the profits are given to the policyholders as dividend
or exemption in the insurance premium after the reduction of the operational
costs. Effectively, the insurance cooperative is owned by the policyholders
(Bavoso, 2013).

It should also be recalled here that cooperatives that do business under the fair
trade label in Africa, such as Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in
Ethiopia; Kuapa Kokoo Ltd. in Ghana; and Heiveld Cooperative Society in
South Africa, among others use fair trade premiums to provide public health
and health care services in remote rural areas (Wanyama, 2013). Furthermore,
cooperatives are not only providing home-based care services to members living
with HIV/AIDS in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho and Swaziland (Lo
lacono and Allen, 2011; Keregero and Allen, 2011), but are also meeting med-
ical insurance, employment, housing and representation needs of people living
with the virus in many parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America (ILO, 2013b).
It is also worth noting that the World Council for Credit Unions (WOCCU) has

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

worked through SACCOs on peer-to-peer training to raise awareness, share

information and mitigate the spread of HIV/AIDS through prevention in many
countries (WOCCU, 2010).

Cooperatives have also to contributed to healthy lives indirectly by creating

employment opportunities to guarantee livelihoods; increasing peoples
incomes; facilitating improves in housing and food security; and providing
social protection and other indirect contributions to public health.

3.5 Food Security and Good Nutrition

Food security 1 is a major factor in the realization of sustainable development,
yet nearly one in seven people globally suffer from undernourishment. The
problem of hunger seems to be worse in rural areas than in urban areas, given
that of the estimated 842 million hungry people in the world today (FAO, 2013),
70 per cent live in rural areas where agriculture is the economic mainstay (FAO,
2012b). Indeed, the nourishment problem seems to be growing from the lack of
adequate food to inadequate nutrition, especially in early childhood.

Good nutrition has been recognized as a basic pillar for social and economic
development. This is largely due to the fact that economic growth and human
development require well-nourished populations who can learn new skills, think
critically and contribute to their communities. Given that child malnutrition
impacts cognitive function and contributes to poverty by impeding the ability
of individuals to lead a full and productive life, it is imperative that adequate
nutrition in early childhood is ensured. Proper nutrition ultimately enhances
healthy growth, proper organ formation and function, a strong immune system
and neurological and cognitive development.

Despite these virtues of good nutrition, recent statistics indicate that malnutri-
tion has persisted in many parts of the world (UNICEF, WHO and The World
Bank, 2012). This is vindicated by reports on stunting, underweight and over-
weight, especially among children. An estimated 165 million children under-
five years of age in the world, or 26 per cent, were stunted in 2011 and more
than 90 per cent of them lived in Africa and Asia. An estimated 101 million
children under-five years of age in the world, or 16 per cent, were underweight
in the same year. Globally, an estimated 43 million children under-five years
of age, or 7 per cent, were overweight in 2011. Increasing trends in child over-
weight have been noted in most world regions, not only developed countries,
where prevalence is highest (15 per cent in 2011). In Africa, the estimated

1
The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as a condition that exists when all people,
at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

30
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

prevalence under-five overweight increased from 4 per cent in 1990 to 7 per

cent in 2011. The prevalence of overweight was lower in Asia (5 per cent in
2011) than in Africa, but the number of affected children was higher in Asia
(17 million) than in Africa (12 million) (UNICEF, WHO and The World Bank,
2012). These statistics show that good nutrition remains a fundamental goal for
sustainable development.

Numerous success stories around the world have shown that cooperatives con-
tribute to food security by helping small farmers, fisher folk, livestock keepers,
forest holders and other producers to solve numerous challenges that confront
them in their endeavours to produce food. Cooperatives together have an esti-
mated 32% of the global market share in this sector (Bibby, 2014).

For instance, most small producers in developing countries are often too far
removed from what happens on national and international markets to benefit
from higher food prices. Farmers also face difficulties accessing high-quality
inputs. While the selling price for crops may be higher, farmers also have to
factor in the variable cost of buying seeds and fertilizer before deciding whether
to expand their production. Access to loans to buy these inputs can also be a
problem. Even when all these conditions are favourable, many small producers
face still other obstacles such as lack of transport to take their produce to local
markets, or the absence of proper infrastructure in rural areas (FAO, 2012b).

Agricultural cooperatives have helped farmers overcome these difficulties by

offering their members a variety of services. These services range from access
to natural resources, information, communication, input and output markets,
technologies and training:

Through practices like group purchasing and marketing, farmers gain

market power and get better prices on agricultural inputs and other
necessities. Some institutional arrangements, such as input shops (for
collectively purchasing inputs) and warehouse receipt systems (for
collective access to credit and market outlets) have increased producers
access to markets and productive assets, while reducing high transaction
costs. This has enabled them to increase food production, market their
goods and create jobs; thereby improving their own livelihoods and
increasing food security in the world (FAO, 2012b).

Cooperatives are central in building small producers skills, providing

them with appropriate information and knowledge, helping them to
innovate and adapt to changing markets. Some enable farmers to
build their capacity to analyze their production systems, identify their
problems, test possible solutions and eventually adopt the practices and
technologies best suited to their farming systems.

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

Another powerful contribution of cooperatives is their ability to help

small producers voice their concerns and interests and ultimately
increase their negotiating power and influence policy-making processes.
They facilitate farmers participation in decision making-processes
(IFAD, 2012).

While benefiting from these services, small producers can secure their liveli-
hoods and play a greater role in meeting the growing demand for food on local,
national and international markets (FAO, 2012b).

Cooperatives have also contributed to food security by preserving indige-

nous food crops. For instance, in Argentina indigenous potatoes that come
in a rainbow of colours (red, pink, purple, yellow, orange, black, and blue)
have become threatened by increasing agricultural standardization and climate
change. However, a farmers cooperative is working to save ancestral Andean
crops like the potato, as well as amaranth, quinoa and maize. The Cooperativa
Agropecuaria y Artesanal Unin Quebrada y Valles Ltda (Cauqeva) is helping
farmers improve their cultivation of these crops, providing mechanized ser-
vices for tilling, reproducing and supplying native seeds, offering training
and technical assistance and processing and promoting indigenous prod-
ucts. Cauqeva also processes food products, which are marketed locally and
internationally. A museum, the Museo de la Vida Campesina Quebradea,
and a small restaurant run by the cooperative help communicate the traditional
crops and the way of life of the indigenous farmers of the community (Stories.
coop, 2013a).

Besides making food available, cooperatives also contribute to good nutrition

by diversifying household food supply. Dairy cooperatives have been par-
ticularly instrumental in this regard by making milk available to households
as a food supplement, while also making it available as a source of income
(giving them the funds to meet other dietary needs). Success story of Societe
Des Eleveur De Vache Laitier De Foumbot (COOVALAIF), presented in Box
4, illustrates how dairy cooperatives can help determined farmers improve not
just their household livelihoods but to go beyond their community and help
build food security and good nutrition through an integrated crop/livestock
energy-recycling farming system.

However, elsewhere, factors such as poor infrastructure, limited access to ser-

vices, information, productive assets and markets, as well as poor representation
in national decision making processes, have sometimes prevented cooperatives
from realizing their potential. Cooperative members around the world continue
to face constraints that keep them from reaping the benefits of their labour and
contributing to food security not only for themselves but for all through active
participation in markets every day (Shiferaw, 2012).

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3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

Box 4: The Socit Des Eleveur De Vache Laitier De Foumbot

(COOVALAIF)
In 2005, small-scale farmers from the Foumbot community of the Western
region of Cameroon formed an agricultural cooperative called Socit Des Eleveur
De Vache Laitier De Foumbot (COOVALAIF). The farmers relied mainly on food
crop production, so working together gave them the chance to find alternative
livelihoods to unproductive food crop farming. Upon receiving training, as well as
34 heifers and three bulls from Heifer International Cameroon, 34 farming fami-
lies embarked on dairy farming to supplement crop production in 2006. With the
improved farming practice of fertilizing the land with cow dung harvested from
the dairy farms, cooperative members witnessed an unprecedented boost in the
yield from food crop production. Within six months, average production leaped
from a baseline of 976 pounds to 5,500 pounds for maize; 423 pounds to 754
pounds for beans; and from 661 pounds to 1,219 pounds for Irish potatoes.
Fresh milk production also witnessed an overwhelming increase, from an average
of 125 gallons to 5,230 gallons.
Not only did these 34 farming families drink fresh milk daily, they also supplied
hundreds of litres of milk to the cooperative every morning for marketing. With
timely financial contributions from the cooperative members, the group bought
equipment for processing milk into yogurt, butter and cheese adding further value
to their products. This earned them extra income that guaranteed them household
food security, which is demonstrated by an increase in the number of households
with year-round access to quality food from 14 per cent at the beginning of the
project to 76 per cent in 2012. Besides improved nutrition, the average annual
household income for each farm family increased from an initial 215,000 Central
African francs, or US$430, in 2008 to 1,500,000 Central African francs, or
US$3,000, in 2012. Cooperative members used their extra income to pay school
fees for their children, attend to family emergencies or to buy land and diversify
into poultry and goat farming. The success of the cooperative saw membership in
the cooperative increase from 34 in 2007 to 48 in 2012. The dairy-herd size has
also increased from 34 heifers to 78 with more than 16 bulls sold by members
for increased income.
Source: Heifer International, 2012

3.6 Access to Water and Sanitation

Understanding the problem of fresh water scarcity begins by considering the
distribution of water on the planet. Approximately 98 per cent of our water
is salty and only 2 per cent is fresh. Of that 2 per cent, almost 70 per cent is
snow and ice, 30 per cent is groundwater, less than 0.5 per cent is surface water
(lakes, rivers, etc) and less than 0.05 per cent is in the atmosphere (Mcintyre,
2012). Due to geography, climate, engineering, regulation, and competition for
resources, some regions seem relatively flush with freshwater, while others face
drought and debilitating pollution. In much of the developing world, clean water

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

is either hard to come by or a commodity that requires laborious work or sig-

nificant financial resources to obtain. Rapid urbanization around the world is
greatly increasing pressure on public water utilities, with the result that getting
clean drinking water and safely disposing of waste have become some of the
biggest problems facing not just city-dwellers, but virtually all parts of devel-
oping countries.

A success story from Bolivia shows how cooperatives might provide an alterna-
tive way for urban communities to get clean water and safe sewerage services.
The Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra experienced soaring population
growth in the 1970s, leading to increased demand for an efficient water ser-
vice. In 1979, the national government approved the request of the autonomous
water board to become a cooperative, known as SAGUAPAC. Since then,
SAGUAPAC has become the largest urban water cooperative in the world, with
183,000 water connections serving 1.2 million people, out of a total popula-
tion of 1.6 million. According to a study by Corporacin Andina de Fomento,
Santa Cruz de la Sierra scores 99.3 per cent in water quality, which is one of
the purest in Latin America, courtesy of the efforts of the cooperative. All of
SAGUAPACs water comes from an underground aquifer through 60 deep wells
(360 meters deep), with an annual production of 64 million cubic meters. The
water is directed to four storage tanks and pumped to the city through 3,370
kilometres of primary and secondary networks. All of the collected wastewater
is led to treatment plants where it is purified before being released into local
rivers, something that is not always so common in Latin America (ICA, 2012).

In the Philippines, the water service system of Binangonan city in Rizal

Province used to be run by the Barangay Councils or homeowners asso-
ciations. In 1998, the Municipal Council of Binangonan resolved to allow
cooperatives to provide water service because the Barangay Councils and
homeowners associations were experiencing managerial problems and finan-
cial losses, mostly due to corruption and politicking. This resolution was also
necessitated by the prevailing water shortage then, due to the El Nio phe-
nomenon, and the relative successes of water cooperatives put up by a number
of communities to respond to the difficulty in accessing water before 1998.
Water cooperatives seized the opportunity to set up water delivery systems in
their neighbourhoods. Besides supplying water to the residents, today these
water cooperatives also provide employment opportunities to the community,
employing meter readers, bill collectors, maintenance crew, operators, treas-
urers and cashiers (Klikpad, 2004).

There are also examples of water cooperatives providing water to remote loca-
tions away from cities that would otherwise have no service. An interesting
illustration of this is reported by Sree (2012) in India in the panchayat of
Olavanna in Kozhikode; an area that has always faced an acute drinking water

34
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

shortage during the summer months. In 1990, members of 23 households in the

panchayat decided to form the first drinking water cooperative society in the
region. They dug wells in the most ideal locations - on slopes or in the valley
- and pumped water into small overhead tanks. From those wells people began
drawing water through small networks of pipes. Each network was financed
and managed by people who had formed the registered cooperative societies
and contributed to the initial investment. By 2012, there were 70 drinking water
cooperative societies operating in the 30 hillocks in the panchayat, providing
water to more than 14,000 households in the region. The users pay a mainte-
nance charge to the cooperative, which in turn takes decisions on the mainte-
nance and upkeep of the wells and tanks. While general assembly meetings
are convened three times a year, the executive committee meets every month
to monitor the functioning of the water cooperatives. Though the quantity of
water each household gets has been declining, owing to the increasing number
of households in the area, the water cooperative societies have helped respond
to the water shortage to a great extent (Sree, 2012).

In Africa, cooperatives in Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa, among others, are
increasingly supporting access to clean drinking water in rural areas by set-
ting up water points like boreholes using fair trade premiums and establishing
local groups to maintain the water supply points. However, cooperatives have
not fared as well in the urban areas where rapid urbanization has dramatically
increased the demand for water, which outpaces supply. In the absence of the
most suitable institutional framework for provision of water in the urban areas,
local communities and cooperatives are increasingly being presented as the
alternative.

Water cooperatives are not just confined to the developing world; for instance,
in the United States, 89 per cent of the population that is served by public
water systems is served by either a publicly owned, municipal water system or
a cooperative utility. Cooperatives are the most common organizational form of
water provision in small communities. Water cooperatives, which are consum-
er-owned utilities formed to provide safe, reliable and sustainable water service
at a reasonable cost, are most often found in suburban and rural areas that are
located too far from municipal water companies to receive service. Most of
these cooperatives are small (serving 501 - 3,300 consumers) or very small
(serving fewer than 500 consumers). There are about 3,300 water cooperatives
in the USA. They provide water for drinking, fire protection and landscaping
irrigation. In addition, many of them provide wastewater services (University
of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, 2013).

With regard to sanitation, housing cooperatives that attempt to address the

problem of providing shelter in the urban areas have made contributions
through upgrading slums in developing countries:

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

In India, the National Cooperative Housing Federation (NCHF) has

utilized various participatory development programmes to mobilize the
urban poor and slum dwellers to form housing cooperative societies for
improving their shelter. There are more than 92,000 primary housing
cooperatives with a membership of over 6.5 million people in the country.
These housing cooperatives have constructed/financed about 2.5 million
housing units in various parts of the country, with 75 per cent of housing
units going to low income families (Khurana, 2010).
Turkey presents another unique cooperative example of providing
cooperative housing for low-income people through the Batikent
housing project undertaken by Kent-Koop (Union of Batikent Housing
Construction Cooperatives) in collaboration with Municipal Authority
of Ankara and Workers Unions. Batikent is on the western corridor of
Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. The Batikent Project began in 1979,
with the foundation of Kent-Koop, and since 1983 has sheltered 200,000
low and middle income people in 45,000 housing units, growing from a
humble start of 516 housing units. The project has helped supply housing
to bridge the housing shortage and keep down selling and rental prices
in Ankaras housing market (MOST Clearing House, 2013).
In Africa too, housing cooperatives have been playing an important role
in solving the housing problem of slum dwellers. In Kenya, for instance,
the National Cooperative Housing Union (NACHU) has been at the core
of the Slum Up-grading Programme. It has organized slum dwellers into
cooperatives and helped some low-income dwellers to acquire decent
houses around Nairobi (NACHU, 2012; Mwende, 2012).

3.7 Sustainable Energy

In the developed world, there is ready access to the electricity needed to power
virtually every activity. Over 1.3 billion people, 20 per cent of the worlds popu-
lation, do not have access to electricity worldwide (IEA, 2013). Access to clean
and affordable energy directly helps women the save time risk of collecting
fuel, fetching water and preparing food. It helps farmers to make the transition
from subsistence to income-generating activities by, for example, providing
irrigation and post-harvest processing. And it reduces health problems deriving
from cooking with solid fuels.

It is for these reasons that securing sustainable energy through increasing the
availability of renewable energy, ensuring universal access to modern energy
services, improving energy efficiency in different sectors, and phasing out inef-
ficient fossil fuel subsidies plays an important role in the post-2015 debate. The
available case studies suggest that cooperatives are contributing to both clean
energy production and energy access.

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3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

In Bangladesh, cooperatives have contributed to the connection of rural com-

munities to the limited available electric supplies. Before 1977, electrification
was carried out by the Bangladesh Power Development Board and was mainly
limited to urban centres. A national rural electrification programme began in
1977, under the aegis of the Rural Electrification Board (REB), with technical
help from a non-profit subsidiary of the National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association, a common-services cooperative owned by the US electric coop-
erative industry. The REB works with rural communities to establish energy
cooperatives that generate and distribute electricity. Over the years, more than
70 rural electric cooperatives have been created with impressive results: electric
cooperatives have installed more than 219,000 kilometres of distribution lines
connecting about 47,650 villages and 30 million people to the electricity grid,
including 170,000 rural irrigation pumping stations (ILO, 2013c).

Rural electric cooperatives In the USA are consumer-owned utilities established

to provide reliable and affordable electricity by purchasing electric power at
wholesale prices and delivering it directly to the consumer. These distribution
cooperatives are primarily located in rural areas where the return on expensive
infrastructure investment was not high enough to attract the investor-owned
utilities. There are 864 distribution cooperatives delivering 10 per cent of the
nations total kilowatt-hours of electricity directly to consumers each year. They
serve 12 per cent of the nations electric consumers (42 million people), but
own and maintain 42 per cent of the nations electric distribution lines that
cover 75 per cent of the countrys land mass. To assure an adequate supply
of cost-effective and reliable power, distribution cooperatives formed genera-
tion and transmission (G&T) cooperatives to pool their purchasing power for
wholesale electricity. There are 66 G&T cooperatives owning 6 per cent of the
nations miles of transmission lines. They supply wholesale power to their mem-
ber-owners either by purchasing and delivering power from public- or inves-
tor-owned power plants, or by generating electricity themselves (University of
Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, 2013).

Besides connection to available electric supply, there is a drive towards gener-

ating cheaper and environmentally sustainable sources of energy. In the United
Kingdom, cooperatives are ahead in supplying energy through waste minimi-
zation and recycling. For instance, the East of England Cooperative is selling
different type of renewable energy. In its stores, customers can buy British char-
coal and briquettes for open fires and burners from Suffolk-based Bridgebrooke
Energy. The firm manufactures charcoal and briquettes from recycled and sus-
tainable materials in a factory, which itself harness all its electricity and heat from
a neighbouring anaerobic digester (Kidd, 2013). Cooperatively-owned energy
generation is also vibrant and growing. Renewable energy cooperatives are on the
rise with more than 30 being registered since 2008 (Willis and Willis, 2012). This
is exemplified by solar power cooperatives that are fast emerging as an innovative

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

way for local communities to gain access to renewable energy generation. Over
the last few years, several such initiatives have been successfully launched in a
number of cities including London and Bristol (Williams, 2013).

In Germany, a rural energy revolution is underway. The cooperative model

is being successfully utilized for renewable energy production. These energy
cooperatives are expected to aid the countrys transition from a centralized
energy system based on fossil fuels to one supplied by distributed renew-
able energy. The formation of these new energy cooperatives is growing at
an impressive rate. According to the German Cooperative and Raiffeisen
Confederation (DGRV), of the approximately 250 new cooperatives in 2011,
158 were energy cooperatives. From 2006 to 2011, 430 new energy cooperatives
were formed in Germany. The example from Grobardorf village, presented
in Box 5, is particularly illustrative of the positive economic, environmental
and social impact of these energy cooperatives on local communities and the
opportunity for a diverse mix of individuals and businesses to work together to
supply renewable energy directly to a community (Bilek, 2012).

With renewable energy cooperatives spreading in a number of European coun-

tries, efforts are being made at the regional level to develop an overall strategy
and position Cooperatives Europe 2 to implement concrete actions over time. To

Box 5: Renewable energy cooperative in Grobardorf village

Grobardorf is a village in the northern Bavaria region of Germany with 928
inhabitants. Over a period of four years, individual citizens invested and leveraged
outside capital totaling approximately US$19 million for the development of pho-
tovoltaic roof systems, solar power plants, a biogas plant with a combined heat
and power (CHP) unit and a district heating network. As a result of these projects,
the village generates four times the energy needed to power individual businesses
and homes. The district heating system meets 50 per cent of the heating needs
for homes and businesses in the village. Approximately 80 per cent of the heat
supplied is from the CHP unit at the biogas plant. The village has plans to install
a wood heating system to increase the amount of renewable heat supplied to the
village. The renewable heat sources supplied to the village are reducing fossil
fuel energy use, ensuring stable prices for home heating and saving businesses
money. A new manufacturing facility being constructed near the biogas plant will
be connected to the district heating system and will realize a one-time saving of
approximately US$100,000 by connecting to the district heating system instead
of installing a traditional heating source. All of these different renewable energy
ventures also add economic value to the village through local taxes.
Source: Bilek, 2012

Cooperatives Europe is the European branch of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).
2

38
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

this end, a working group on energy and environment at Cooperatives Europe

was set up in 2011, to promote the role of cooperatives in renewable energies. It
is a combination of sector organizations and individual cooperatives involved in
the energy sector with members from several European countries (Cooperatives
Europe, 2013a).

In developing countries, a good number of success stories are emerging from

different parts of India. A biomass-based rural cooperative in Tumkur district
of Karnataka owes its success to institutional aspects like well-defined property
rights in ownership, institutionalized markets and decentralized environmental
governance. The biomass is derived through tree-based farming, which pro-
vides employment to 30 households. In this cooperative, the farmers manage
the supply of biomass, the panchayat owns and operates the plant and, through
a power purchase agreement, the excess power is given back to the Central grid
(Business Line, 2013).

A major challenge facing energy cooperatives is the high capital outlay required
to set up the infrastructure. Renewable energy-based rural cooperative models
across the world require high levels of initial seed capital. It may, therefore,
be necessary for the government, private players such as big industrial houses
and high net-worth philanthropic organizations and individuals take the lead in
supporting rural energy cooperatives by establishing financing mechanisms.
Private-cooperative partnerships could also be explored for this purpose. Such
a partnership model can be either a corporate social responsibility initiative or
a model that intends to develop local industry (primarily small-scale industries)
in the villages, which provide processed raw material inputs to the industries.

3.8 Employment Creation, Livelihoods

and Equitable Growth
The rising level of unemployment has made decent job creation a global con-
cern that requires immediate attention.

After the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2007, global growth has
decelerated and unemployment has started to increase again, leaving an accu-
mulated total of some 202 million people without a job in 2013 (ILO, 2014).
Moreover, the global jobs gap continues to widen, reaching 62 million jobs
in 2013, with 32 million additional jobseekers. Despite a moderate pick-up in
output growth expected for 201314, the unemployment rate is set to increase
again and the number of unemployed worldwide is projected to rise by another
13 million by 2018 (ILO, 2014).

A quarter of the increase in global unemployment in 2012 took place in

advanced economies, while the remaining was in other regions, with marked

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

effects in East and South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Those regions that
have managed to prevent a further increase in unemployment have often expe-
rienced a worsening in job quality, as vulnerable employment and the number
of workers living below or very near the poverty line increased (ILO, 2013a).
The challenge of promoting and generating full and decent employment, there-
fore, faces policymakers everywhere and the problems of unemployment and
underemployment cut across all social, economic and geographical boundaries.

It is widely accepted that cooperatives play a significant role in employment

creation and income generation. The cooperative model of economic and social
organization has been credited with mobilizing social capital and bridging the
economic and the social dimension of Sustainable Development by providing
employment, an equitable distribution of profits and, above all, social justice.
Typically, cooperatives place more emphasis than the private sector businesses
on: job security for employees, paying competitive wages, promoting addi-
tional income through profit-sharing, distributing dividends and other benefits,
and helping establish community facilities such as health clinics and schools
(Logue and Yates, 2005). The cooperative model, therefore, offers an impor-
tant employment creation opportunity in the face of the global unemployment
and underemployment problem.

Cooperative enterprises impact on employment in three ways (Wanyama,

Develtere, and Pollet, 2008):
They employ people directly;
Indirectly they promote employment and self-employment through
creating marketing opportunities and improving marketing conditions;
and
They influence non-members whose professional activities are closely
related to transactions with cooperatives (such as tradesmen or input
suppliers).

Globally more than 100 million jobs exist in cooperatives, as cited by the ICA
(ICA Co-op Facts and Stats). The United Nations estimated in 1994 that the
livelihood of nearly 3 billion people, or half of the worlds population, was
made secure by cooperative enterprise. Together with small and medium-sized
enterprises, cooperatives are the most significant sources of new employment
(ILC, 2007). While global data on cooperatives contributions to creating
employment needs improvement, available country evidence is quite compel-
ling, as shown in Table 1.

The cooperative business model is often cited as placing more emphasis on

job security, long-term perspective, and work quality for employees. Recent

40
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

Table 1: Employment in cooperatives in selected countries

Country Number of jobs

United States 2 million
France 1 million
Italy 1.1 million
Brazil 274,000
Argentina 290,000
Kenya 250,000
Indonesia 300,000
India 100,000 dairy cooperatives employ 12 million women
Colombia 137,888 jobs through direct employment and an additional
559,118 jobs as worker-owners in worker cooperatives

Source: International Cooperatives Alliance, 2014 http://ica.coop/en/whats-co-op/co-operative-facts-figures

evidence has found that employment in employee-owned enterprises is less

likely to be negatively affected by cyclical downturns and had greater levels of
employment continuity over the recent economic downturn (see Box 6). A UK
study found that employee-owned businesses were more likely to adopt longer-
term horizons when investing in their business, invest more in human capital,
and had a stronger focus on organic growth (Brown et al, 2014).

A recent book on capital and the debt trap (Bajo and Roelants, 2013) examined
four case studies of large cooperatives that showed that enterprises organized
and behaved according to cooperative principles - by which democratic control

Box 6: Argentinian workers cooperatives retain jobs in the

economic crisis
Argentinian workers cooperatives retain jobs in the economic crisis
Argentina experienced its most devastating economic crisis in December 2001,
which plunged much of the country into poverty. The crisis coincided with the
emergence of a phenomenon that has since been qualified as revolutionary: the
empresas recuperadas, literally translated as recuperated or recovered compa-
nies. The workers who had lost their jobs due to factory closures following the
crisis took over the companies, organized themselves into worker-cooperatives
without using the term or even knowing what organizational form they were
creating to keep the factories running, and secured their jobs in the converted
empresas recuperadas.
Source: Howarth, 2007

41
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

goes together with joint ownership - have weathered the brunt of the crisis, and
are even increasing employment and restructuring. The study suggests some
reasons for this success:
In the short term, cooperatives are member-based so rather than shedding
labour, they think of new activities (productivity, exports, restructuring).
Members are aware of an imminent crisis and can prepare for it, due to
democratic structures and information sharing in real time.
Since decision-making is participatory and income gaps small among
members, cooperatives are more able to take hard decisions that are seen
as legitimate.
Safety and support funds guard against shocks, and common reserves
that cannot be withdrawn guarantee financial stability.
In the long term, cooperatives build pension and education mechanisms
for members and target community needs with a long-term vision.
Restructuring and entering new activities are standard practice for
cooperatives.

Interestingly, an increasing body of evidence suggests that employee-owned

businesses also outperform non-worker-owned enterprises in normal times,
with higher financial returns and greater productivity (Logue and Yates,
2005). Research in the US has found a consistent positive relationship between
employee-ownership and labour productivity. Past research across a number
of countries within a range of different sectors suggests that employee-owned
businesses provide higher financial returns, greater productivity levels, and
higher levels of employment stability (Brown et al, 2014).

Other contributions to livelihoods and equitable growth documented for coop-

eratives include income security, jobs for rural communities, strengthening
farmers position in the value chain, employment in diverse sectors of the
economy, spillover effects on employment, provision of infrastructure and other
services, and social inclusion, as described below:

Income security
Evidence from around the world also shows the contributions cooperatives
have made in promoting decent work and providing income security, espe-
cially among those previously excluded. For instance, research on the dairy
industry in India indicates that cooperative members enjoy higher and more
secure incomes than non-members within the industry, particularly at the pri-
mary level of production. Similarly, recent research in Ethiopias agricultural
sector demonstrates how agricultural producers organized in cooperatives see

42
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

better incomes, more savings and reduced input costs, relative to those who are
not (UNDESA, 2012).

Jobs for rural communities

As agriculture remains the major source of income and employment in rural
areas and the majority of cooperatives are found in the agricultural sector,
cooperatives play a key role in providing jobs to rural communities. They
provide direct employment, as well as seasonal and casual work. However,
cooperatives also maintain a farmers ability to be self-employed given that
for many farmers the fact that they are members of a cooperative and derive
income from its services, allows them to continue to farm and contribute
to rural community development. The impact of cooperatives in providing
income to rural populations creates additional employment through multiplier
effects, including enabling other rural enterprises to grow and in turn provide
local jobs (ILC, 2007).

Strengthening farmers position in the value chain

Cooperatives provide real economic benefits to agricultural families by
increasing the stability of the farming sector, improving market access for their
products and strengthening the farmers position in the value chain. Improving
farmers living conditions supports rural development and preserves the via-
bility of rural communities. Given that 70 per cent of the worlds poor reside
in rural areas, employment growth in rural areas should be strengthened by
increasing agricultural productivity, and also through the creation of non-farm
employment. With the increasing focus on the revival of the agricultural sector
towards poverty reduction, policy-makers would do well to take the opportu-
nity to further promote the cooperative model as a mechanism for employment
creation in this sector.

Spillover effects on employment

Besides increasing income for members, there is also the spill-over effect of
the cooperative sector on employment creation and income generation. Though
very difficult to estimate, it is clear that a large number of people rely on the
vibrancy of the cooperative movement for their income by providing inputs
to cooperative enterprises or selling products from cooperatives at the mar-
ketplace. For instance in Kenya, a substantial number of entrepreneurs who
are not members of cooperatives derive their income from trading in office
stationery used in cooperatives, particularly SACCOs; packaging paper used
by dairy cooperatives to pack products; machinery for primary processing of
agricultural produce like coffee and milk; and farm inputs stocked in coopera-
tive stores. Then there are people who earn some income by marketing products
from cooperatives. Dairy cooperatives, for example, produce various products
like fresh milk, ghee, butter and yoghurt while other agricultural cooperatives
market coffee, fish, pyrethrum, etc. that are usually handled by non-member

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

entrepreneurs at some point in the marketing chain. It is estimated that over

10 per cent of the countrys total population derive a significant part of their
income from the activities and services of cooperatives (Wanyama, 2008;
Wanyama et al, 2008).

Employment in diverse sectors of the economy

An increasing number of worker-cooperatives worldwide provide employment
to millions of worker-members in diverse sectors of the economy. Cooperatives
are also major sources of employment in large-scale enterprises providing food-
stuffs, services to consumers and financial services. Financial cooperatives pro-
vide people with secure institutions where they can deposit savings and access
credit, which encourages the establishment of new enterprises and thus creates
new jobs. In Europe alone, cooperatives employ more than 5 million individ-
uals (Cooperatives Europe, 2013b).

Providers of infrastructure and other services

Cooperatives are often the only provider of services in rural communities given
that traditional companies can find it too costly to invest in these areas or antic-
ipate unacceptable levels of economic return. This is the case, for example,
for the provision of services like electricity or water supply that enables other
enterprises to be established and grow. Lack of infrastructure has been identi-
fied as one of the main constraints on rural development

Further, the cooperative form of enterprise is flexible and so it can respond

the needs of its members. For example, in a number of countries new forms
of cooperatives are being formed, especially in rural areas. In rural Canada
individuals, local authorities and other enterprises have chosen the cooperative
form of enterprise to address service provision for their communities and in
doing so are reducing rural-urban migration and preserving rural community
culture. Other countries too are forming community interest cooperatives to
address the needs of people in rural areas (ILC, 2007).

Social inclusion
Cooperatives are also providing more quality job opportunities for youth,
women, indigenous people, those with disabilities and other marginalized
groups. The ability of cooperatives to integrate women and youth into the work-
force is particularly important, as these groups face discrimination and poor
opportunities for employment.

There is evidence that appropriately designed cooperative enterprises are par-

ticularly helpful for women; the women not only benefit greatly from the added
security afforded by such group efforts but this form of social organization
promotes the retention of economic gains accruing from their own initiative
and innovation (Majurin, 2012).

44
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

Indigenous peoples have also used the cooperative model to create viable eco-
nomic enterprises while still sustaining their cultural identity and way of life.
Cooperative efforts have enabled more efficient utilization and adaptation of
local resources and production methods, while strengthening the capacities of
indigenous groups in negotiating for fairer market conditions.

For all these reasons, cooperatives are often seen as an inherently sustainable
business model, with their triple bottom line of social, economic and environ-
mental sustainability. The promotion and expansion of cooperatives could hence
be an important instrument for achieving the SDGs. In light of the employment
generation capacity of cooperatives, it becomes compelling for policy-makers
at the local, national and international levels, to consider ways and means of
mainstreaming the contribution of cooperatives to meet the employment chal-
lenge facing the world today. In this regard, an important consideration is how
the employment creation impact of cooperatives can be scaled up to massively
generate new employment opportunities in those areas where public and private
sector initiatives are weak or absent.

3.9 Sustainable Natural Resource Management

Environment and natural resources are one of the three key dimensions of sus-
tainable development. People rely on many of the resources that nature provides
to cover basic needs- air, food, water, shelter, warmth and energy.These envi-
ronmental assets also provide crucial ecosystem services such as regulating the
climate, purifying water, absorbing and transforming waste, preventing disease
and providing the genetic resources that are the basis for many medicines.

For society to be truly sustainable there is a need to understand the impact of

peoples lives on nature and the resources it provides. This would help make
decisions that minimize adverse impacts so that the natural systems can con-
tinue to support life. Scientists and primary producers are working together to
better manage soil, water, vegetation and biodiversity so there will always be
food to eat, fibre to use and a natural world to live in.

Cooperatives have contributed to the management of natural resources in a variety

of ways. To ensure that natural resources are not depleted, cooperatives have pro-
vided a forum for local people to get involved in finding solutions to environmental
change by defining their property and user rights, managing natural resources,
and diversifying their economic activities to embrace green economic ventures.

The best examples of this are the forestry cooperatives that promote the sus-
tainable use of tropical hardwood. In Indonesia, where much of the worlds
teak comes from, native forests are often clear-cut. Consequently, the state has
imposed several legal restrictions on the harvesting and transportation of teak,

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

resulting in fewer wood buyers who can, therefore, gain a monopoly over teak
prices. Not being organized into groups that individual farmers are obliged to
sell their teak for very low prices. To overcome this challenge and earn a liveli-
hood from forest wood sustainably, a group of farmers in Konawe Selatan dis-
trict partnered with The Forest Trust (TFT) and Jaringan Untuk Hutan (JAUH,
Network for Forests) in 2003 organized themselves into a cooperative known
as Koperasi Hutan Jaya Lestari (KHJL). With training from these organizations
in livelihood strategies, community organizing, the technical aspects of forest
management and wood processing, along with help to access international
wood retailers seeking Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified products,
the farmers can now manage their teak in a largely sustainable manner. In May
2005, the cooperative received FSC certification and is now producing certified
sustainable teak for the international furniture market (Stories.coop, 2013b).

Some cooperatives are dedicated to helping individuals adopt more responsible

patterns of consumption, thereby consuming fewer resources. Others support
practices that return value to environmental resources. Cooperatives pro-
mote environmental sustainability through their creation of ecological knowl-
edge and encouraging people to care for the environment, as well as reduced
resource consumption and increased efficiency through cooperation. They
also encourage environmental sustainability indirectly through the promotion
of social and economic accountability, including equality and empowerment,
democracy, local economic security and self-governance (Horwat, 2009).

Besides these normative practices that are embedded in the cooperative model
of business, there is a growing number of environmental cooperatives around
the world formed specifically to conserve the environment. These cooperatives
are innovative associations of farmers and non-farmers alike at local or regional
level, which promote activities relating to sustainable natural resource manage-
ment and agriculture, and rural development in their locality. In most cases, the
activities involve nature and landscape management, as well as the reduction of
environmental pollution on the members farms. They also include water man-
agement, tourism, production of quality regional foods and organic farming.

These cooperatives emerged in the early 1990s in response to the crisis of high-
tech agriculture, concerns over the deteriorating public image of farming and,
most of all, the increasing number of environmental regulations of the govern-
ment. Notable is The Netherlands, with a growing number of environmental
cooperatives (see Box 7). The first of these was established in 1992 as a self-help
group with voluntary membership. It is estimated that there are now more than
125 environmental cooperatives in the country. Environmental cooperatives
represent a new form of social organization that has become the most impor-
tant vehicle through which farmers contribute to natural resource management
and the evolution of agri-environment policy. These cooperatives allow Dutch

46
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

conservation agencies to develop environmental management contracts with

groups (i.e. clubs) of land managers - allowing landscapes to be worked whole
rather than piecemeal. Environmental schemes have developed options that allow
joint applications by neighbouring farmers, allowing connectivity between hab-
itats and the development of linear features across land under different manage-
ment and ownership, forming corridors, stepping stones and allowing enhanced
management of habitat edge effects (Franks and Mc Gloin, 2007).

The factors that have triggered the formation of environmental cooperatives

have often been highly localized in nature. It is for this reason that each envi-
ronmental cooperative tends to have a strong emphasis on locality and context
in its portfolio of activities (Franks and Mc Gloin, 2007). A good example is
the VEL & VANLA cooperative, a combination of the Vereniging Eastermars
Lansdouwe (VEL) and Vereniging Agrarisch Natuur en Landschapsbeheer
Achtkarspelen (VANLA), in the Frysln province in the northern part of the
Netherlands. The state regulations on soil pollution, which threatened to block
any further prospects for farm development in the area, triggered the formation
of VEL and VANLA (Renting and Van Der Ploeg, 2001). The achievements of
VEL and VANLA highlighted in Box 7 give an indication of the potential of
environmental cooperatives for sustainable natural resource management.

Environmental cooperatives are also active in Italy, where social cooperatives

provide services for the maintenance of public green spaces, urban waste col-
lection and urban sanitation. The census of social cooperatives conducted by
the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT) in 2003, reported approximately
400 such cooperatives operating in the green sector, which also includes agri-
culture and forestry. Municipal administrations have contracted the collection
of certain types of waste and waste-recycling facilities to social cooperatives.
Furthermore, the maintenance of public green spaces has also been outsourced
to social cooperatives.

Cooperatives also work on private gardens and sanitize industrial areas, cre-
ating a macro-scale area of activity that can be designated as hygiene ser-
vices. Some Italian social cooperatives have found it relatively easy to enter the
market for the installation of solar panels. Though very few social cooperatives
have entered the more industrial phases of the waste cycle, the most innovative
social cooperatives in Italy are shifting toward waste prevention and reuse. In
other words, these organizations have developed initiatives with low techno-
logical, but high cultural content that enable them to promote more moderate
consumption and conduct workshops to repair discardedbut otherwise func-
tionalgoods for re-sale (Osti, 2012).

In developing countries, waste pickers often work in poor conditions, with lack
of physical infrastructure and training, while contributing significantly cleaning

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

up the environment. They lose a significant amount of profit to middlemen who

sell the recyclables to industry. In an effort to circumvent the middlemen and
increase their profits, waste pickers have taken to forming cooperatives; some
of which are engaged in recycling waste to increase income while at the same
time ameliorating problems of final disposal of solid waste in landfills with
exhausted capacity. Accordingly, waste pickers have successfully established
cooperatives in Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Philippines, India and
Indonesia, among other countries, where the members of the cooperatives ben-
efit from increased incomes. In some cases, such cooperatives also provide wel-
fare services such as scholarships and insurance. Furthermore, the cooperatives
have helped to dignify waste picker activities, which is also sanitizing environ-
mental conservation (Medina, 2005; Tirado-Soto and Zamberlan, 2013).

Box 7: The achievements of VEL and VANLA

In the early 1990s the farmers in the Frysln Woodlands were worried. They were
concerned that small-scale farming wouldnt remain viable unless they followed
the path of intensification of production and scale enlargement. Furthermore,
they witnessed a growing tension between agricultural production, nature conser-
vation and landscape preservation. Pressure for dairy farming with low production
costs in the midst of reducing farm sizes left little room for landscape and nature
management. The Dutch government had also issued a series of environmental
rules and regulations to reduce the impact of agriculture on environment. The
increasing body of rules and regulations on environment and nature conservation
were seen as difficult to implement, badly balanced and contradicting each other.
The response to this situation was the establishment of VEL and VANLA environ-
mental cooperatives as a means for the farmers to create more room for self-reg-
ulation and develop locally effective means to realize environmental objectives.
These cooperatives opted to integrate environmental, nature and landscape
objectives in their farming practices by taking full responsibility for the govern-
ance of landscape preservation. By observing their own farming regulations,
cooperative members have reduced the level of environmental pollution of their
farming operations through reduced use of external inputs and a more efficient
use of internal farm resources. At least 270 ha of land is under special meadow
birds and botanic protection, 240 kilometres of hedgerows and 220 ponds are
actively managed, with a positive impact on local natural resources. The coop-
erative also help members to take up new activities to diversify farm revenues,
as evidenced by agri-tourism. The activities with the local tourist agency have
substantially improved the reputation of the area as a tourist destination, creating
new opportunities for the farms in the area. These cooperatives have also contrib-
uted to important cost reductions. Farmers now spend less time on bureaucratic
regulations and manage their farms more efficiently. There is also a sharp reduc-
tion in state control costs as monitoring is now conducted, to a large extent, by
the cooperatives themselves, while external state control is reduced to one visit
in several years.
Sources: Renting and Van Der Ploeg, 2001; Stuvier, Van Der Ploeg, and Leeuwis (2003) Wiskerke
et al., 2003

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3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

3.10 Good Governance

Responsible and effective governance has been identified in the post-2015 process
as an enabler for socio-economic transformation and the eradication of structural
inequality, as well as an end in itself. The new development agenda provides the
opportunity for societies to shift to a more just world, where resources are shared
more equitably and people have a greater say in the decisions that affect their
lives. Cooperatives have an important role to play in this process.

First, one of the principles of cooperatives is democratic member control. The

equal voting rights of cooperative enterprises, on the basis of one member, one
vote, impart the necessary and legitimate representativeness to make them key
actors in the social dialogue process especially in rural and informal economy
settings. Good governance characteristics such as transparency, responsibility,
accountability, participation, responsiveness to the peoples needs, and respect
for the rule of law, are also features of the cooperative identity. Deeply rooted
in the community they operate, cooperatives can empower people by enabling
even the poorest segments of the population to participate in economic pro-
gress. Furthermore, by creating a platform for local development initiatives
they bring together a range of community institutions to foster opportunities for
decent work and social inclusion (ILO, 2003) Cooperatives can be schools for
practicing democracy first hand through participation and control (ICA, 2013b).

Second, cooperatives and cooperative members, in their dual role as stake-

holders and owners or controllers, can provide an important voice in the global
debate on governance and transparency. Strong and legitimate governance
institutions, including social enterprises like cooperatives, are needed to ensure
that the benefits of development are equally shared and sustainable over time.
In Britain, for example, the retail co-operative movement has been concerned
with social as well as economic aims since its origins. In more recent times,
it has been an early supporter both of the Fair Trade movement and of ethical
banking. The first adopters of the new Fair Tax Mark, to be awarded to compa-
nies that meet their corporate tax obligations fully and transparently, have been
included the cooperative and social enterprise family (Bibby, 2014).

A vibrant economy, universal human wellbeing and a healthy environment are

needed to go beyond the realization of static development goals by embracing
a form of governance based on mutually reinforcing actions from household
to global levels. The argument is that the post-2015 development framework
should also focus on providing poorer people with the capabilities to choose and
enact their own pathways to sustainable development (STEPS, 2012).

To this end, equitable participatory processes, transparency and accounta-

bility are essential to building the necessary cooperation among communities,

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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

Box 8: Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade: Governance is key

Collectively members own their co-operative, and through democratic arrange-
ments they participate in its governance. Individually they have a right to informa-
tion, a voice, and representation There is good evidence to suggest that pro-
viding consumers and workers with a voice inside organisations produces better,
more intelligent and responsive forms of business.
Source: ICA (2013), Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade

governments, businesses and other stakeholders in the quest to achieve sustain-

able development. The challenge is to identify the institutional framework for
ensuring this form of governance. What can be learned from the cooperative
model?

It should be recalled that one of the cooperative principles is democratic member

control. This principle affirms that cooperatives are democratic organizations
controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies
and decision-making processes. Men and women serving as elected representa-
tives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives members have
equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels
are also organized in a democratic manner. All members are, therefore, equal
decision-makers in the organization. This form of governance is based on the
cooperative values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity
and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe
in the ethical ideals of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for
others. Thus, the principle of democratic member control along with the coop-
erative values and ethical ideals have bequeathed cooperatives a distinct identity
and governance culture that resonates with good governance.

The concept of good governance refers to the process of making decisions in

the management of public affairs that is transparent, accountable, participatory,
responsive, effective and efficient, follows the rule of law, and inclusive and
equitable, As these are features of cooperative identity as well as good gov-
ernance, cooperatives are well positioned to contribute to good governance in
societies around the world.

This does not mean that cooperatives automatically have good governance.
Implementing the democratic decision-making model has sometimes been a
challenge for cooperatives, with issues such as poorly defined property rights
and membership apathy. Governance challenges are being countered by inno-
vative responses, such as formulating codes of conduct for management boards
in cooperatives. The ILOs Recommendation 193 provides an international

50
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

standard that has helped with re-vamping new cooperative laws and policies in
ninety-seven countries around the world (ILO, 2002).

Case studies by the ILOs COOPAFRICA technical cooperation program con-

firmed that the institutional set-up of the cooperative model with its general
assemblies, elected and co-opted boards of directors, management commit-
tees and different controlling agencies is well-suited to make collective deci-
sion-making conflict-low and to a certain extent predictable. Nonetheless, this
often implies a lot of member education, deliberations and internal debate, as
shown in the COOPAFRICA case study on the fast-growing Rooibos cooperative
in South Africa (Wanyama et al., 2008)

Though cooperative governance is a rather unique model that embodies the best
ideals of good governance, implementing democratic principles has sometimes
proved to be daunting. For instance, a recent study of agricultural marketing
cooperatives in South Africa indicates that cooperatives performance has
been affected by institutional and governance problems. Institutional problems,
which stem from poorly defined property rights in traditional cooperatives, give
rise to low levels of equity and debt capital, reliance on government funding,
low levels of investment and subsequent loss of members. Governance prob-
lems are strongly linked to the ballot system (absence of secret ballot), low
levels of education, lack of production and management skills training, weak
marketing arrangements and consequent low returns to members as patrons or
investors (Chibanda et al., 2009).

Similarly, a study of Spanish credit cooperatives has revealed difficulties in imple-

menting the democratic decision-making model, in which decisions emanate
directly from the members General assembly and indirectly from the members
representatives on the Management Board. It shows that there is membership
apathy as evidenced by the low attendance rates at members meetings, the few
times that members speak at these meetings and the very low level of questions
referring to the operations of the cooperative that they ask when they speak.
Thus, there is low participation in cooperative decision-making, but members
do mobilize to affirm their positions whenever there is a management decision
that threatens the identity of the cooperative. For instance, the attempt to merge
Cajamar and Caja Rural del Duero cooperatives in 2007 saw members mobilize
to resist the interference from outside. Though members assert themselves in the
making of critical decisions that could affect their cooperatives, a major challenge
for Spanish credit cooperatives is to strengthen a participation culture among
their members to ensure that managerial performance responds to the objective
of meeting the financial needs of their members and users (Chaves et al., 2008).

Nevertheless, such governance challenges are being countered by innovative

responses. For instance, cooperatives are increasingly formulating codes of

51
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

conduct for their management boards to ensure that member interests and goals
prevail in the governance of the cooperatives (Ernst and Young, 2012). Thus,
the innovative spirit of the cooperative movement still provides lessons for good
governance that is central to the realization of sustainable development.

3.11 Promotion of Stable and Peaceful Societies

Peace and stability are fundamental ingredients of sustainable development in
society. This can best be understood by considering the impact of armed con-
flict on development. Conflict undercuts or destroys environmental, physical,
human and social capital, diminishing available opportunities for sustainable
development. It is in this regard that conflict adversely affects human well-
being, quality of life, the capabilities of people to live the kinds of lives they
value, and the real choices they have. Livelihoods are directly affected through
decreased access to land, and inadequate access to natural resources as a result
of exclusion, displacement and the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, personal
or inter-group conflict erodes inclusion among people by exaggerating sanguine
notions of community, group or nation as axes of organization that facili-
tate violence against others perceived as different.

A pressing challenge in peace building, therefore, consists of finding ways to

restore the interpersonal or intergroup relationships that have been eroded as a
result of conflict (Staub, 2003). It is against this background that societal sta-
bility and peace become fundamental for sustainable development.

In the aftermath of violent social conflict in many places around the world,
cooperatives have often emerged as sources of positive social capital, fos-
tering a strong sense of community, participation, empowerment and inclusion
among its members and restoring interpersonal relationships. For instance, a
case-study of two cooperatives in post-genocide Rwanda, shows that in addition
to dealing with structural causes of grievances poverty, discrimination and
exploitation the cooperatives also provide emotional support for members
dealing with loneliness and seeking justice (Sentama, 2009). Furthermore, the
cooperatives aim to promote social inclusion and reconciliation by fostering
positive dialogue among members of different communities, thereby seeking to
replace fear, suspicion, anger and hatred with hope and peace.

Another example is from womens cooperatives in Nepal. This country emerged

from a ten-year long Maoist insurgency in 2006, which claimed the lives of sev-
eral hundreds and resulted in widespread displacement, loss of property, and
destruction of infrastructure. The total casualties due to rebel and army activity
in the conflict are estimated at around 12,700 (Douglas, 2005). Shima and Ghale
(2007) have illustrated how, during and after the conflict, cooperatives in con-
flict-affected rural areas helped women to survive, to manage their livelihood

52
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

options and to look after their families through the provision of credit exten-
sion services, counselling and skills development training. In the post-conflict
period when the country embarked on adjusting to newly established democ-
racy, womens cooperatives worked at the grassroots levels to raise conscious-
ness and political participation among citizens, overcoming several challenges
and obstacles in the process (Ramnarain, 2011). Shima and Ghale (2007) argue
that one reason cooperatives in Nepal were able to play the role of mediator
during the Maoist insurgency was embedded in the very operating principles of
these cooperatives, viz. transparency, flexibility, pride of local ownership, dem-
ocratic functioning and a concern for community. Through these principles,
cooperatives were able to (re)build trust among members of the community and
emerge as voices of justice and peace in the aftermath of the Maoist insurgency.

In India, the state of Gujarat has seen inter-household tensions in the form of
severe communal rioting in the recent past. Ahmadabad city, in particular, has
had a history of communal riots in the post-independence period with violence
exploding several times over the past five decades. The communal violence in
2002 was arguably the most horrific, with massive loss of life, destruction of
property, loss of livelihoods and particularly grievous perpetration of sexual
violence against women. During and in the aftermath of the 2002 communal
riots, the Self-Employed Womens Association (SEWA) Federation intervened
in the relief camps by providing much needed relief to displaced riot victims.
Besides running four of these camps, SEWA Federation and its cooperatives
also stepped in to provide women in the camps with some means of livelihood,
access to basic health care, childcare, and counselling. Employment was gener-
ated for 805 women in these camps through the provision of stitching and craft
work. In the aftermath of the riots, SEWA Federations cooperatives continued
its work with the women in these camps through the Shantipath programs car-
ried out with the support of the Canadian Cooperative Association and other
donors. Thus, SEWA Federation and its cooperatives significantly contributed
to peace-building by promoting reconciliation and amity between the two com-
munities (Ramnarain, 2011).

Cooperatives have also contributed to rebuilding societies after conflict. This

is exemplified by a womens cooperative in Lebanon. In July 2006, Dayr
Qanoun Ras al Ayn, a village in southern Lebanon, was heavily shelled by
the Israeli bombing. Homes, lives and livelihoods were destroyed. A wom-
ens cooperative with 20 members that produced traditional foodstuffs, mostly
jams, pickles and dried herbs, sought support from the Land & People Relief
Programme of the American University of Beirut to rebuild the community.
By identifying and reviving local and traditional products that faced extinction
in the aftermath of the bombing, the cooperative expanded its market from
immediate neighbours to the larger village and emigrants who visit the village
every year. Today, these revitalized products have not only contributed to the

53
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

incomes of the 20 cooperative members, but have also helped to rebuild the
memory of the village following its destruction by the bombing (Esim and
Omeira, 2009).

These case studies clearly illustrate how womens cooperatives have supported
their members in mediating conflict and building peace. Cooperatives have
emerged as sources of emotional, moral and political support for women, as
spaces for their collective voices and action to flourish, and as guardians of
peace alongside their financial and/or production roles. They have also been
significant mobilizers for addressing deep-seated prejudices and inequalities, as
effective schools of democracy and participation, and as powerful platforms
through which the members of these cooperatives are able not just to intervene
in domestic and social conflicts but also to transform public consciousness and
undertake social transformation. The cooperatives have succeeded in many
cases to unify and mobilize women into a significant collective force for peace.
The case studies illustrate that cooperatives and their members can be powerful
agents of a bottom-up approach to peace building and that womens coopera-
tives indeed have a significant role to play as brokers of peace and development
(Ramnarain, 2011).

3.12 Global Enabling Environment

and Long-term Finance
The last of the twelve proposed SDGs concerns the creation of a global ena-
bling environment to support an open, fair and friendly trading system and
ensure stability of the global financial system.

This is particularly important for bridging the development gap between devel-
oped and developing countries. Poor countries encounter barriers to trade and
patent restrictions in their attempts to get access to technology in the devel-
oped countries in the midst of a growing debt burden that has already become
unsustainable. Indeed, the unsustainable debt is increasingly attracting a con-
sensus that developed countries need more trade opportunities instead of aid
to develop. Conversely, poor countries also have some positive contributions to
growth in developed countries. There are natural resources in developing coun-
tries that can spur further economic growth in developed countries to the global
benefit. Thus, a global enabling environment that can facilitate the exchange of
opportunities to realize sustainable development is needed.

As has already been pointed out, cooperatives contribute to the creation of a

global enabling environment by closing the trade gap between the developed
and developing countries to enhance development. Through fair trade, for
instance, they have helped alter the imbalanced trade relationship between the
different regions of the world. Today, thanks to cooperatives, there is a wide

54
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

and growing range of fair trade products including coffee, tea, handicrafts,
cocoa, sugar, bananas, honey, wine and flowers, among many others.

For example, in Nicaragua, Promotora de Desarollo Cooperativo de Las

Segovias (PRODECOOP) is a fair trade coffee export cooperative that is part
of the larger worldwide fair trade network that has the goal of promoting social
change by increasing the incomes of farming families in developing nations.
PRODECOOP was established in 1993 to provide its member farmers with
assistance in sustainably producing and marketing their coffee. Based in Esteli,
Nicaragua, it includes 45 cooperatives with more than 2,420 families, most of
whom typically farm 7 to 11 acres. PRODECOOP markets its members coffee
to Europe and the US and provides much-needed loans for rehabilitating and
improving coffee production. Additionally, it provides advice and technical
assistance to farmers with the goal of improving self-management capabilities
and productive capacity for the member cooperatives. PRODECOOP is also a
leader in the organic coffee movement. Almost all of their members grow their
coffee organically under the shade of the forest canopy, resulting in better soil
conservation, reduced pollution of streams and groundwater, and the preser-
vation of songbird habitat in the trees above the coffee. The coffee production
is often integrated with other crops like corn, beans and bananas, which are
grown for household consumption (Global Exchange, 2011).

In West Africa, the case of Kuapa Kokoo Limited in Ghana also provides an
example of how cooperatives are closing the trading gap between the north and
the south. Kuapa Kokoo started in 1993 as a limited liability company using
a cooperative model and subsequently was transformed into a sophisticated
multipurpose cooperative organization. It has about 50,000 farmer members
spread across 1,650 village societies and supplies 10 per cent of Ghanas cocoa
production. It is the largest cooperative in Ghana and is often cited as a success
story in the field of fair trade through which most of its products are sold. The
cooperative has five main subsidiaries: Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union; Kuapa
Kokoo Limited; Kuapa Kokoo Credit Union; Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Trust; and
Divine Chocolate Company. Among these subsidiaries, Kuapa Kokoo Farmers
Union is the primary organization of the cocoa farmers and it is basically a
production cooperative. Just as the meaning of its name implies (Kuapa Kokoo
simply means good cocoa farming in the local Twi language), the cooperative
embraced fair trade to enhance better farming practices for the production of
high quality cocoa so as to improve the social, economic and political wellbeing
of its members. In 1997, members of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union at their 4th
Annual General Meeting resolved to set up a chocolate Company in the United
Kingdom to manufacture chocolates using Papa Paa (best of the best in Twi
language) cocoa beans produced by members themselves. In partnership with
Twin Trading, UK and supported by the Body Shop, Christian Aid and Comic
relief, the then Day Chocolate Company was formed in the United Kingdom

55
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

in 1998, with Kuapa Kokoo owning a third of its shares. Divine Chocolate
Company has since grown into a unique fair trade company with a trading
system that allows members of Kuapa Kokoo to own the majority stake in the
company and share in its profits. It has extended its business beyond the United
Kingdom to the USA. Owning shares of the Divine Chococalate offers mem-
bers of Kuapa Kokoo multiple benefits as it not only gives them a voice in the
global trade of chocolate, but it earns them profits that are invested in social
projects (Kuapa Kokoo website).

The list of examples of cooperatives in the south that are using fair trade,
organic and other produce labelling to obtain better trading terms with the
north can be very long. What is clearly apparent is that the fair trade mecha-
nism is increasingly helping link up cooperatives in the south to markets in the
north, with rebates for ethical production and marketing of products being used
to support a variety of social development projects in local communities in the
south. It is in this way that cooperatives are contributing to the creation of a
global enabling environment to chaperon sustainable development.

Cooperatives are also significantly contributing to the stabilization of the global

financial system. They have fared well in overcoming the instabilities caused
by the economic crisis which started in 2007 largely because of the ability
to control debt and hold onto common reserves. Cooperatives and cooperative
members have a dual role as stakeholders and owners or controllers. In terms
of capital, members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the
capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common
property of the cooperative. Thus, it is the customer-owned business model
that has made them so resilient in a downturn (Birchall, 2013). Diverse studies
show that those organized and behaving according to cooperative principles, by
which democratic control goes together with joint ownership, have weathered
the brunt of the crisis, and are even increasing employment and restructuring.
Thus, amid the crisis, cooperatives offer hope, resilience and innovation (Bajo,
2013).

Besides thriving during financial crises, it should also be recalled here that
financial cooperatives are some of the best means for financial deepening. They
provide the financial base for other kinds of development activities in many
parts of the world. In most cases, they are the only formal financial organi-
zations available, particularly in remote rural areas, where members can save
and borrow money to develop their own businesses. For instance, in Rwanda,
the Union des Banques Populaires, a savings and credit federation, has a huge
membership of close to 400,000 and employs 600 members of staff. It has accu-
mulated US$ 44 million in savings; it has expended US$ 36 million in loans;
and makes an average annual surplus of US$ 1.5 million. The union is increas-
ingly becoming instrumental in the provision of risk coverage to SACCOs in

56
3. Cooperatives and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals

the country, thereby strengthening SACCOs capacity to serve a larger clientele

(Nyamwasa, 2008). Cooperatives also provide micro-insurance in the form of
health insurance and death benefits. It is in these ways that cooperatives ensure
stability of the global financial system for long-term finance.

57
4. The way forward to the Sustainable
Development Goals:
Cooperatives have a key role to play

Cooperatives are already present in all the areas that the proposed Sustainable
Development Goals envisage the direction the world will take in its journey to
make sustainable development a reality. Although cooperatives are central to
the realization of sustainable development around the world, with their focus on
members and local needs, they have not always been proactive in national and
international debates. With little visibility at national and international levels,
the potential and importance of the contribution that cooperatives can make
to the design and realization of SDGs seems to have been missed by policy
makers at respective levels. This explains the relatively limited visibility and
attention that cooperatives are enjoying in the debate on the post-2015 develop-
ment agenda.

This debate should not just build on cooperative experiences, but should also
accommodate the voices of the cooperative movement. This is particularly
important because, as was the case in the implementation of the MDGs, the
realization of the proposed SDGs will most likely require the active participa-
tion of cooperatives and such participation needs to be elicited right at the point
of formulating the goals.

There is a widely held consensus among many actors, including the United
Nations, the International Labour Organization, and the International
Co-operative Alliance, that the cooperative enterprise is the type of organiza-
tion that best meets all dimensions of reducing poverty and exclusion. This is
because the way cooperatives help to reduce poverty is important - they iden-
tify economic opportunities for their members; empower the disadvantaged to
defend their interests; provide security to the poor by allowing them to convert
individual risks into collective risks; and mediate member access to assets that
they utilize to earn a living.

Cooperatives are contributing towards gender equality, not just by increasing

female membership, but by expanding opportunities for women in local

59
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

economies and societies in many parts of the world. They support access to
quality education and life-long learning opportunities by providing the means
for financing education; supporting schools; establishing their own schools
to provide quality education to both the youth and adults; and by serving as
centres for lifelong learning. Cooperatives ensure healthy lives by creating the
infrastructure for delivering health care services; financing health care and
providing home-based health care services to people living with HIV/AIDS,
among others.

Cooperatives contribute to food security by helping small farmers, fisher

folk, livestock keepers, forest holders and other producers to solve numerous
challenges that confront them in their endeavours to produce food. They are
increasingly becoming major actors in facilitating access to clean water and
sanitation services to make up for the failures of both the public and private
sectors. Energy cooperatives are contributing to the achievement of the sustain-
able energy goals of energy access, energy efficiency, and reduced emissions.

Cooperatives play a significant role in employment creation and income gener-

ation, with more than 100 million jobs worldwide. Recent evidence has found
that cooperatives are more resilient and perform better during financial and
economic crises.

Whereas environmental cooperatives are spearheading the sustainable manage-

ment of natural resources for posterity, the cooperative governance model can
easily provide the framework for equitable participatory processes that guar-
antee transparency and accountability in cooperation with communities, gov-
ernments, businesses and other stakeholders to realize sustainable development.

In the aftermath of violent conflict in many places around the world, cooper-
atives have often emerged as sources of positive social capital, fostering a
strong sense of community, participation, empowerment and inclusion among
its members and restoring interpersonal relationships and peace. Womens
cooperatives have been especially active as brokers of peace and development.

Finally, cooperatives also contribute to the creation of a global enabling envi-

ronment for sustainable development by closing the trade gap between the
developed and developing world; by stabilizing financial systems during crises;
and by providing the base for financial deepening around the world.

60
Recommendations

For all these reasons, cooperatives can be seen as an inherently sustainable

business model, contributing to the triple bottom line of social, economic and
environmental sustainability. To this end, the recommendations are:

The United Nations should recognize the role of cooperatives in the realization
of sustainable development by including cooperatives in the indicators, targets
and funding mechanisms for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Cooperatives should be proactive by getting involved in discussions at all

levels (local, national, regional and international) on the post-2015 development
agenda in order to secure the opportunity to share their experiences on the real-
ization of sustainable development.

National, regional and international cooperative organizations should enhance

their representation and advocacy roles to improve the presence and voice of
cooperatives in the post-2015 development agenda and the wider international
policy debates.

61
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Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
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73
Annex I: Survey Questions

I. Institutions

1. What type of institution are you associated with?

(Please tick as appropriate)
Primary Cooperative

Cooperative Union

Cooperative federation

Cooperative support institution

A national cooperative support institution

Government Institution responsible for cooperatives

Others: Please indicate

II. Involvement of Cooperatives in the promotion

of the Millennium Development Goals

2. Based upon a four point rating scale, how would you rate
your institutions contribution to the Millennium
Development Goals?

Millennium Development Goals Four -point rating scale

4=very significant, 3=significant, 2=not very significant and 1=insignificant

Eradicating Extreme Hunger and Poverty 1 2 3 4

Achieving Universal Primary Education 1 2 3 4

Promoting Gender Equality and Empower Women 1 2 3 4

Reducing Child Mortality 1 2 3 4

Improving Maternal Health 1 2 3 4

Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases 1 2 3 4

Ensuring Environmental Sustainability 1 2 3 4

Developing a Global Partnership for Development 1 2 3 4

75
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

3. What was the nature of involvement of the institution that you are
associated with in achieving the above development goals?
(Please mark all that apply)
Providing logistic support
Contributing to research
Providing training
Providing financial support
Direct project implementation
Sharing knowledge through publications, organizing conferences
Participating and contributing to discussion platforms organized
around the above-mentioned goals
Other ways of involvement (please indicate) ..........................................

4. At what level were your institutions contributions to issues related

to sustainable development?
A. Local National Regional International

B. Would you briefly explain what your contributions are or were about?
(In 2 or 3 sentences)

III. About the post-2015 development agenda framework

5. In which of the following consultations, organized on the post-2015
development agenda, did your institution participate?
(Please mark all that apply)
Thematic consultation National consultation
Regional consultatio None

6. If you didnt participate in the consultations around the post-2015

development agenda, what do you think prevented your institution
from participating? (Please mark all that apply)
It is not our focus area

We didnt know about the consultation process

We were not invited/included in the consultations

Lack of expertise in the area

Others reasons: Please indicate

76
Annex I

7. Do you think the proposed goals are in line with the priorities
of your organization?
Yes No

8. Based upon a four point rating scale, how would you rate the potential
of cooperatives to contribute to the achievement of the following
goals? (Please mark the point you deem most appropriate)

Proposed Sustainable Development Goals Four -point rating scale

4=very efficient , 3=efficient, 2=inefficient and 1=very inefficient

Poverty Reduction 1 2 3 4

Promotion of Gender Equality 1 2 3 4

Quality education and lifelong learning 1 2 3 4

Health Promotion 1 2 3 4

Food Security and good nutrition 1 2 3 4

Access to water and sanitation 1 2 3 4

Sustainable Energy 1 2 3 4

Employment Creation, livelihoods

1 2 3 4
and equitable growth

Natural Resources management 1 2 3 4

Good governance 1 2 3 4

Promotion of stable and peaceful societies 1 2 3 4

Enabling environment and long-term finance 1 2 3 4

9. Of the twelve areas above, please list the top three most important
goals in your opinion in priority order

77
Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015
development debate

IV. Cooperatives, vibrancy, employment and decent work

10. Looking at the last ten years, which following statements
reflect the reality for cooperatives in your country/region?
1. The number of cooperatives:
increased decreased remained unchanged

2. Individual membership:
increased decreased remained unchanged

3. The governmental support:

increased decreased remained unchanged
4. The number of people employed by cooperatives:
increased decreased remained unchanged

11. Has your institution been involved with the promotion of decent work
and job creation?
Yes No

12. If yes, how have you been involved?

Contributing to Jobs creation
Advocating for and promoting social protection to all
Promoting freedom of association

Other: (please indicate) ......................................................................

13. How do you think cooperatives could play a bigger role in contributing
to achieving the proposed goals?

14. Are there any cooperative case studies/success stories/good

practices that you would like to share?

15. Do you have any other observations you would like to share either on
the challenges or opportunities for cooperative in your country?
(any available figures)

16. Please provide contact information if you would be willing to talk

with us further (Optional)
Name of respondent:..................................................................................
Institution:................................................................................................
Email:......................................................................................................

Telephone:................................................................................................

78
Annex II: Interviewees

Name Organization

Joo de Azevedo Independent Consultant (Portugal)

Peter Couchman Plunkett Foundation (UK)

Kofi Ansong Denkyi MDG Centre (Senegal)

Mirna De Hart IMAC Services (South Africa)

Lekh Nath Dhakal Nepal Information and Communication Cen-

tral Cooperative Union

Canadian Co-operative Association Interna-

Ingrid Fischer
tional Development Division

Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives

Raul Montemayor
(Philippines)

Judith Nthiga Cooperative Alliance of Kenya

Romulo Villamin Coop Institute (Philippines)

Yoshiko Yamada JWCU (Japan)

79
Sustainability is recognized as one of the five pillars of the International Co-operative
Alliances (ICA) Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade, which aims to position coop-
eratives as builders of economic, social and environmental sustainability by 2020.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) highlighted
decent work as a central goal and driver for sustainable development and a more
environmentally sustainable economy. In order to bring cooperative voices into the
Cooperatives
discussion around the post-2015 development agenda, the International Labour
and the Sustainable

ILO Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015 development debate
Organization (ILO) and ICA launched an initiative on the contribution of cooperatives
to sustainable development.

This report is an integral part of this initiative. Its main recommendations include:
Development Goals
Increased and more visible participation and engagement of the cooperative move- A contribution to the post-2015
ment in the discussions around the post-2015 development agenda for sustainable
development; and further involvement and acknowledgement of the cooperative development debate
model by the international community in the processes leading on to sustainable
development goals. Cooperatives have much more to offer in ensuring inclusive and
democratic sustainable development beyond 2015, and this publication and the
wider initiative are an important step towards this objective.

This report is complemented by two briefs: one based on a survey on cooperative

movements engagement in sustainable development, and another one providing
Resilience
policy highlights on the topic.
in a downturn:
For information, please contact:
The power of financial
International Labour Office (ILO)
Enterprises Department
cooperatives
Cooperatives Unit
4 Route des Morillons
CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 799 7445
Fax: +41 22 799 8572
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ilo.org/coop