Cornwall’s Renewable Energy Co-operative, a worker owned renewable energy company, has beaten nearly 6000 other Co-operative businesses throughout the UK to become one of just three selected finalists for the coveted Co-operative of the Year UK award. R-ECO is up for the award for ‘demonstrated excellence in the areas of business and commercial performance, installing […]
Housing Coop Commissions Work of Art
The Berlin housing cooperative GeWoSued commissioned the artist Sandra Lange with a wallpainting. Once Building Art was a marketing-must of commercial housing developers. Due to a high housing demand in the big german cities investors today neglect any additional effort. The GeWoSued cooperative tries to achieve with every building or modernisation something special. As art […]
Maximizing farmer benefits
Linking its farmer members to local, regional and national markets – thereby doing away with the middlemen who profit at the expense of the farmers – is the key to the success of agricultural cooperatives. The latest report from the FAO on hunger released on October 9, shows that 870 million people do not have […]
A Model for Small-Scale Farmers in Zanzibar
Though the tropical island of Zanzibar, off the Tanzanian coast in the Indian Ocean, is renowned as an island of spices, white beaches and turquoise waters, it is also home to many incredibly poor people who never see the benefits of the floods of tourists who arrive for their holiday in the sun. Out of […]
Quenching Thirst, Building Economy
Its hot, dusty work in the fields around Fatick, a small agricultural town in the Senegalese interior. Theres nothing better, locals say, than a sweet, soothing drink of bissap, a beverage made from hibiscus blossoms that is renowned for its ability to cool the head and fortify the body. That’s not just folklore: bissap is […]
A flow of member benefits
We sell plumbing gear to plumbers who are mainly our members, each with an equal vote. That’s the succinct description of the Plumber Supplies Co-operative (PSC) given by Tony Rogic, its general manager, sales. And it applied equally well when the co-operative was formed back in 1955. At that time Australian tradespeople faced a post-war […]
Latincoop
We are a worker Co-operative. In response to the growth of Latino immigrants in the province of Ontario Canada Cooperative born the first Hispanic named “Latincoop”. This idea is realized after a hard work of a group of eight Hispanic professionals concerned about meeting the needs of the Latino community. This new initiative has received […]
A hope to feed nine billion by 2050
Paul Hazen recalls attending a members meeting of the local electric distribution co-operative back in the late 1970s. Up for debate was the shutting down of its nuclear power plant. The floor was divided and loudly so. The resolution was voted down and consequently the members moved on to the next agenda item – […]
Working Together to Kill Zombies
Die2Nite is a computer game about zombies. But it is also, according to one review, an interactive piece of social commentary, in which you join 39 other players in a town repeatedly beset upon by the living dead. Its your choice whether or not to help the community or live (and die) alone. With its […]
Motion Twin
Motion Twin is a worker-run cooperative developing browser-based computer games. Every member has an equal share in the company as well as the right to vote on all decisions regardless of their seniority or qualifications. We like to work in an environment that respects and provides equal rights for all. At Motion-Twin, there is no […]