How does one address the perennial pecuniary insecurity of workers, which often places them at the mercy (and greed) of loan sharks? What options do workers have other than pleading for loans and advances from their employers whenever they are faced with financial problems? What can be done to provide some kind of social protection […]
Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions
The confederation of Ethiopia trade union (CETU), with a total member ship of 320,000 (134,251 female and 185,749 male), is an umbrella organization of about 520 grassroots trade unions affiliated to nine national industrial federations. Almost all member unions have saving and credit cooperatives and some have more advanced workers cooperatives engaged in different investment […]
Celebration and promotion for Kenya’s co-operative movement
CAK together with the other stakeholders launched the 2012 International Year of Co-operatives on the 29th November, 2011 where His Excellency, Hon. Mwai Kibaki, E.G.H., M. P, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya was the Chief Guest of Honor. The event was marked with exhibitions, entertainment and key speeches […]
Co-operative Alliance of Kenya (CAK)
The Co-operative Alliance of Kenya (CAK) is the National Apex Organization for Kenyas Co-operative Movement. Its membership is drawn from over 14,000 registered Co-operatives that include the National Co-operative Organizations (NACOs), Co-operative Unions and Primary Co-operative Societies. The individual members to these Co-operatives are over 10 million with mobilized savings of over Kshs. 250 billion […]
Organization for Rural Development (ORUDE)
ORUDE trains and mobilizes womens groups to form their own Sub-County Savings and Lending Cooperatives (SUSALECOs), based on cooperative principles. ORUDE provides institutional support and services to the womens groups, with the aim of empowering the women to own and manage the SUSALECOs.
Controlling the future without arms
To survive, at least temporarily, in the Congo between 1996 and 2003, both adults and children took up arms. Many who did not do so voluntarily were forced to participate. War became their means of subsistence. Those who did not fight suffered starvation and displacement. When war ended in 2003, the job of re-establishing basic […]
Cornish Company Shortlisted for Co-operative of the Year
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 […]
Kooperativet Lärkan
Lärkan is a social cooperative located in west Sweden, in the small town of Grästorp. The cooperative has 40 members and employs 17 full-time staff and a varying number of trainees. The activities of the cooperative cover several areas.The cooperative has a service branch that specialises in yard work and light transport. A second-hand shop […]
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 […]