Co-op News October 2019: Sustainable Development

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ICA-EU PARTNERSHIP The co-operative movement’s engagement with the European Commission started in 2012 when the EU co-financed a project called Cooperatives in Development. Led by Cooperatives Europe, the project aimed to support the activities of the Cooperatives Europe Development Platform (CEDP), which had been running since 2009. The success of the CEDP, which enabled exchanges within the global co-operative network, prompted the Commission to start a new partnership with the ICA. Within the framework of the partnership, the ICA launched the Global Co-operative Development Platform (GCDP), which enables co-operative development actors to exchange knowledge, create synergies and reinforce the role co-operatives play in international development. “The objective of the European Commission is to strengthen civil society organisations, and we take great pride in seeing the co-operative movement stand as an important actor amongst them,” says Mr Noël. Those involved in the global platform will be meeting in Kigali before the main ICA Global Conference. Other highlights of the partnership include the preparation of an online world map, to provide country-by-country data on co-operatives. The ICA offices are also working with legal experts in different countries, to examine how legislation is impacting co-operative development and suggest improvements. The first results of these activities will be presented at the conference in Kigali. Another important area of work for the partnership is capacity building. The ICA network is conducting workshops for member organisations to help them strengthen advocacy skills and engage further with institutional partners, to benefit from policy dialogue and funding opportunities. Similarly, the ICA and its offices are leading a number of initiatives aimed at young people interested in co-op models. Earlier this year, it set up a mentorship scheme for young people interested in starting a co-op. The Global Cooperative Entrepreneurs scheme will help people aged 18-35 from across the ICA’s four regions to devise co-operative solutions to the needs of their local communities. “It’s about bringing youth entrepreneurship high on the international cooperative development agenda with and through the co-op model,” says Mr Noël. In February, the ICA is organising a Global Youth Forum, which will be held in Malaysia. This will be an opportunity for young people involved in co-ops to take part in trainings and peer-to-peer learning processes, and find out more about marketing, financing and other business aspects they may need support with. With only weeks to go until the Global Conference in Kigali, Mr Noël says delegates have plenty to look forward to. “The main message would be to take the opportunity to network and exchange ideas with experts in the development sector. There are many organisations within and outside the co-operative movement with whom building partnerships is going to create really valuable synergies, that can help us to foster an inclusive and people-centred growth, in line with our values and principles.” • Marc Noël is international development director at the ICA 40 | OCTOBER 2019
RURAL ECONOMY You are speaking at the ICA's Global Conference in Rwanda, looking at how co-ops can help to achieve a more solidarity -based and participatory society. Do you see a role for co-ops in helping to meet Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of the selfsufficient rural economy? Gandhi understood and practised non violence – Ahimsa – at a very deep level. We are social beings, we are members of the Earth community. Co-operation is the principle on which nature and community are organised. In a Gandhian perspective, co-operation is the lived commitment to non violence at the collective level. Competition as an imposed ideology and construct is violent because it disrupts relationships and undermines our capacity to co-operate on the principles of solidarity, mutuality and participation. How does Navdanya promote organic farming and fair trade? Are any of the farmers you work with members of co-operatives? Co-operation is the very basis of the Navdanya movement. Our foundation is the creation of community seed banks to reclaim seeds and biodiversity as a commons, and resist the privatisation and monopolisation of seed by corporations through intellectual property rights. The big chemical companies have been trying to control and own the seed, and trying to make the saving and sharing of seed among farmers illegal. We believe that farmers have a fundamental duty and right to save seeds, and through seed sovereignty build food sovereignty. We practise and promote participatory and evolutionary breeding based on the recognition of farmers as breeders. And farmers create collectives as producers of organic food, joining hands to practise economic and market sovereignty. Biodiversity-based organic farming as practised by Navdanya members can feed two times India’s population. And Navdanya members practising seed sovereignty, food sovereignty, knowledge sovereignty and economic sovereignty and solidarity earn 10 times more than farmers growing chemically intensive commodities with costs of inputs and costs of produce determined by big corporations. In the corporate model, farmers spend more than they earn, and are getting trapped in debt. More than 300,000 debt trapped farmers in India have committed suicide since 1995. Navdanya works for a hunger-free, suicide-free India. Do co-ops need to adopt a more radical approach when it comes to climate change and the destruction of nature? We are members of the Earth family. Co-operation with nature, her laws, her limits has to become the next step of the co-operative movement to address challenges of climate chaos, water emergency, and the threat of extinction. Co-operation now has to become our common commitment to thrive as one humanity on one planet. You have fought against the monopoly of seeds in the hands the global corporations. Could the co-operative model be an alternative – such as in the case of IFFCO, India's largest fertiliser manufacturer? Community seed banks are an important aspect of the alternative to the corporate monopoly on seed. Some co-operatives have been successful in keeping seeds free of corporate control. This movement needs to grow bigger and spread worldwide. • Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and anti-globalisation author. She founded Navdanya (an NGO working to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources) in 1991 and is one of the keynote speakers at the ICA's Global Conference OCTOBER 2019 | 41
Page 1 and 2: OCTOBER 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMEN
Page 3 and 4: Sustainable development to build a
Page 5 and 6: NEWS ENERGY Octopus and Co-op Energ
Page 7 and 8: Food chief calls for action to tack
Page 9 and 10: ENVIRONMENT Co-op Group signs UN’
Page 11 and 12: RETAIL Retail societies grateful fo
Page 14 and 15: GLOBAL UPDATES GLOBAL Co-ops and cr
Page 16 and 17: GLOBAL Agropur joins G7 business co
Page 18 and 19: IRELAND Lakeland Dairies co-op anno
Page 20 and 21: IRELAND Row continues over milk pri
Page 22 and 23: MEET... Meet … Michael Gidney, CE
Page 24 and 25: YOUR VIEWS FAIRTRADE FESTIVITIES? I
Page 26 and 27: Co-operative College centenary conf
Page 28 and 29: CO-OP PARTY GETS READY FOR ITS AGM
Page 30 and 31: DELIVERING DEVELOPMENT What has the
Page 32 and 33: SERVING UP CO-OP IDEAS ON A BRIGHTO
Page 34 and 35: SOCIAL BUSINESS: Safeguarding the f
Page 36 and 37: THE COLLAPSE OF THOMAS COOK Retail
Page 38 and 39: CO-OPS & THE SDGs “The 2030 Agend
Page 42 and 43: SDG 10 How are the ICA Asia-Pacific
Page 44 and 45: SDG 08 At Kigali, you will take par
Page 46 and 47: TECH & THE SDGs The UN Sustainable
Page 48 and 49: REVIEWS What does the future hold f
Page 50: DIARY CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: Roch

Co-op News October 2019: Sustainable Development

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