In post-civil war Spain’s Basque country, a group of young, working class graduates with few job prospects founded a small co-operative to build paraffin stoves. They then began to set up other co-operative business ventures. When they needed capital for expansion, they started their own co-operative bank. These young people had been taught the ways […]
Mondragon Corporation
MONDRAGON Corporation is the embodiment of the co-operative movement that began in 1956; its business philosophy is contained in its Corporate Values: Co-operation, participation, Social Responsibility, Innovation. Mondragon’s Mission combines the core goals of a business organisation competing on international markets with the use of democratic methods in its business organisation, the creation of jobs, […]
Peruvian cooperative brings small producers together
Cocla is a Peruvian second-tier co-operative made up by 22 first-tier co-operatives that has been working for 44 years to support Peruvian agriculture in line with its social and service-oriented mission. Cocla began its first activities before 1967, when seven Coffee Growers Co-operatives based in the Peruvian province of La Convención and in the district […]
Central de Cooperativas Agrarias de la Convención y Lares Ltda. N° 281. – COCLA
COCLA is a second level cooperative comprised of 22 cooperatives. For 44 years COCLA has worked to support Peruvian agriculture with a clear social and service aim, offering not only services for coffee production, but also insurance, marketing, and education. Today COLCA also works with producers of tea, honey, soy, beans, cocoa and animal feed.
Small producers’ cooperative building success in Honduras
16 years ago, 22 producers gathered under a fig tree to set up a new agricultural coffee growers co-operative, which is today known as Cooperativa Agrícola Cafetalera San Antonio Limitada (COAGRICSAL). After years of hard work and professional experience in selling coffee through other second-tier organizations, COAGRICSAL has significantly grown until today, becoming the biggest […]
Cooperativa Agrícola Cafetalera San Antonio Limitada – COAGRICSAL
COAGRICSAL is the largest first level fair trade organization in Honduras. It is mainly a coffee producing cooperative, but has recently added fine cocoa. The cooperative benefits over 1500 families through direct and indirect initiatives including the development of community centers, schools, water management, reforestation projects and more. It specifically supports youth through education and […]
From squatting to a home
The Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince still lies in ruins after a devastating earthquake which destroyed it in January 2010. Haiti has the largest population of any of the Caribbean nations but equally its people are some of the poorest. It is the poorest nation in the Americas. More than $US2 billion in aid has been […]
Mutual Aid Housing Cooperative LasCahobas
Mutual Aid Housing Cooperative in LasCahobas’ goal is to address the situation of 25 families displaced as a consequence of the 2010 earthquake so that they improve their habitat, strengthen their organizational skills and achieve a positive integration to the receiving community environment. While there are many challenges in Haiti when it comes to providing […]
A Utopian Vision of University Housing
Two blocks from the UCLA campus, the University Cooperative Housing Association offers the universitys students, visiting scholars and faculty affordable accommodation, at an average cost of $500 a month including meals. Founded in 1938, UCHA, or the Co-op, as it is known to residents, also offers much more, as is clear from its mission statement: […]
UCHA – University Cooperative Housing Association
The University Cooperative Housing Association (UCHA) provides reasonable-cost housing to qualified students, visiting scholars and faculty of UCLA and other nearby educational institutions. As it is a Co-op, members living here are owners and operators of the organization.We are located just two blocks from campus and have been serving the UCHA community for around seventy […]