Co-op News Jan 23

Changemakers: A co-operative
future for all
CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND
CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP
MOVEMENT SINCE 1871
Holyoake House, Hanover Street,
Manchester M60 OAS
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EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Rebecca Harvey I rebecca@thenews.coop
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR
Anca Voinea I anca@thenews.coop
DIGITAL EDITOR
Miles Hadfield I miles@thenews.coop
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Alice Toomer-McAlpine
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DIRECTORS
Elaine Dean (chair); David Paterson
(vice-chair); Sofygil Crew; Tim Hartley;
Phil Hartwell; Gillian Lonergan; Nick
Milton; Beverley Perkins; Shaz
Rahman; Lesley Reznicek
Secretary: Richard Bickle
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"The co-op way of thinking and doing things is going to be a big part of the
future," says Ursula Lidbetter, "because there are so many issues that are
about people needing to come together and support and help each other -
and that's what co-operation is."
Ursula is one of the changemakers we hear from this issue, as she gets ready
to retire after 37 years at Lincolnshire Co-operative Society - the last 18 as
its chief executive. She speaks to us about her time in the movement, what
she has learned, and her own hopes for the future of co-operation (p48-49).
We wish her well.
We also hear from Mirai Chatterjee, as SEWA looks back on 40 years of
empowering and improving the lives of the India's poorest female workers
(p30-33), and we get updates from some of the international strategies
under way to encourage global co-operation and a fairer future for all,
including the Social Economy Action Plan (p38-39) and the ICA's work on
global co-operative identity (p40-41).
But changemakers aren't just found at the top, or in the most obvious
places. Trebor Scholz, associate professor at the New School in New York,
describes how student and teacher activism is paving the way for a new
model for education, one that looks to remind his institution of its founding
principles of community self-governance and social justice (p28-29).
Issues around tenant empowerment have also come to the fore in the
aftermath of the scandal at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (p44-45) -
and before Christmas, future changemakers gathered in Cardiff to hear the
concerns, ideas and priorities of young people, at an event convened by
Cooperatives Europe (p36-37).
Finally, we also remember a quiet, giant change maker - Roger Sawtell - who
died in December, aged 95, after a lifetime of service to co-ops (p25). In
2019, Co-operatives UK awarded him its inaugural Lifetime Achievement
Award.
"Let us look ahead, let us build co-operative bridges not walls," Roger said
in his acceptance speech. "Let us trust each other in making decisions, let
us commit ourselves to co-operatives as a better way to work. This will give
us much-needed hope for the future."
Wishing you all such hope for the new year,
REBECCA HARVEY - EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Co-operative News is printed using vegetable oil-based inks
on 80% recycled paper (with 60% from post-consumer waste)
with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC certified
sources. It is made in a totally chlorine free process.
JANUARY 2023 I 3

THIS ISSUE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
London Mayor Sadiq Khan backs new
ownership project from Co-operatives UK
and the EOA (p5); Ursula Lid better retires
from Lincolnshire Co-op (p48-49); Young
people and the future of co-operation in
Europe (p36-37); 40 years of the SEWA
Co-op Federation (p30-33); Rob Wesseling,
new ICMIF chair (p22-23)
22-23 MEET: ROB WESSELING President
and CEO of Co-operators and chair of
ICMIF
26 OPINION: ALEX BIRD
'There's a place for co-ops in the
energy system'
27-29 THE NEW SCHOOL'S QUEST FOR
COMMUNITY SELF-GOVERNANCE
How a strike over pay and conditions
could lead to a new model for education
30-33 SEWA'S JOURNEY TO EMPOWERING
INFORMAL WOMEN WORKERS
Interview with Mirai Chatterjee as the
Indian federation celebrates 40 years
34-35 SINGAPORE ANNUAL CO-OP
LEADERS' CONFERENCE
Cybersecurity and crisis communications
to future-proof co-ops
36-37 YOUNG PEOPLE & THE FUTURE OF
COVER: Lincolnshire Science Park CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE
Ursula Lid better is retiring after 37 years Cardiff event explores the priorities and
at Lincolnshire Co-op, the last 18 as ideas of future leaders of the movement
its CEO. She looks back at some of the
society's achievements, including its 38-39 SOCIAL ECONOMY ACTION PLAN
involvement in regenerating the city What has the plan achieved in its first
Read more: p48-49 year?
40-41 ICA SURVEY ON THE COOPERATIVE
IDENTITY
Is the Statement on the Cooperative
Identity still fit for purpose? Key findings
and next steps for the movement
42-43 WORLD COOPERATIVE MONITOR
2022 Monitor reveals joint turnover of top
300 co-operatives
44-45 WHAT NEXT FOR HOUSING AFTER
THE RBH TRAGEDY?
Questions for the rental housing sector,
including co-ops providing social housing
46-47 REGULATION INSPIRATION
Interview: Ian Adderley, technical
specialist at the Financial Conduct
Authority
48-49 LEAVING LINCOLNSHIRE CO-OP
Interview: Ursula Lid better, who is
retiring after 37 years at Lincolnshire
REGULARS
5-13 UK news
14-21 Global news
24 Letters
25 Obituaries
50 Events
4 I JANUARY 2023

ENERGY
Leading co-ops join call on government to back renewable energy
The Co-op Group, Midcounties and
Central retail co-ops, along with sector
body Community Energy England, are
among the signatories of a letter urging
ministers to 'green the energy grid' by
powering investment in renewable energy.
The letter - also signed by Tesco,
Morrisons and M&S - calls for the
following measures to help develop
renewables:
• fiscal and financial action to encourage
and incentivise investment in renewable
energy and energy efficiency;
• reforms to planning regimes so
renewable energy schemes can rapidly
move from concept to operation;
• support for community energy
organisations to develop projects which
involve the wider public in the Net Zero
transition; and
• changes to the way the energy market
operates to ensure a fair price for green
energy for households and industry.
"We are writing today as leaders of
businesses representing over SOo/o of the
UK's food retail sector and more than 300
community energy businesses all over
the UK on the need for the government
to work with us," reads the letter, "so
that unlocking additional renewable
energy generation capacity becomes a
more central priority in addressing the
challenges we currently face.
"It is clear to us all when we look
at energy security, opportunities for
economic prosperity and moving towards
the government's 2050 Net Zero target
that growing the UK's renewable energy
capacity must be a very significant part of
the answer for our country."
Warning ministers to avoid a "missed
economic, security and environmental
opportunity," the letter says government
plays a "pivotal role" when it comes to
unlocking investment.
"With renewable energy now cheaper
than the alternative, quicker to source and
better for the environment, there's every
reason to prioritise greater support for
greening the grid. We would very much
welcome the opportunity to meet with you
to discuss how together we can seize the
opportunities ahead of us."
The letter cites independent research
by Cornwall Insight, commissioned by
the Co-op Group, which has revealed
that only 18.So/o of planned renewable
generation is assessed as highly likely to
develop as planned. It also finds that grid
decarbonisation is moving too slowly,
warning that less than 60o/o of the UK's
energy will be from renewables by 2030.
At present, around 40o/o of the UK's
generation is from renewable sources.
The government has committed to
decarbonising electricity generation by
2035. The Climate Change Committee has
suggested that renewables will need to
make up over 70o/o of generation.
The letter states the need for government
to work with business to unlock additional
renewable capacity, including directly
funding wind or solar energy farms
which co-ops have committed to.
"Midcounties has been a long-standing
advocate of greening the grid and
has worked with, and alongside, our
members over many years to encourage
and facilitate locally owned communityowned
energy," said Midcounties CEO,
Phil Ponsonby. Midcounties has also been
supporting community energy, notably
through the Co-op Community Power
tariff, a joint venture with Octopus Energy.
"We already have agreements in
place with over 200 community energy
providers," added Ponsonby, "supplying
enough energy for 60,000 homes through
our Co-op Community Power tariff, and
join this campaign on behalf of our
members to call for changes to further
support renewable energy in the UK."
From Central Co-op, CEO Debbie
Robinson said: "Our purpose is to create a
sustainable society for all. We've reduced
our carbon emissions by 80o/o since 2011,
been zero to landfill since 2012 and been
awarded the Carbon Trust Triple standard
four times in a row.
"We are committed to generating green
energy across our family of businesses
installing photo voltaic in 50 of our stores.
It's our long-term vision to generate
energy to be self-sufficient and potentially
deliver a surplus for our communities."
Shirine Khoury-Haq, CEO of the Group,
highlighted how the energy market is
at a crisis point and "we need urgent
government action to deliver energy
security, drive economic growth and move
us closer to net zero".
She added: "The Co-op is directly
sourcing energy from a solar farm and
will have even more of its energy coming
from such sources in the future as part
of a multi-million pound programme to
increase the proportion of directly funded
renewable energy we use."
From sector apex Community Energy
England, acting co-CEO Duncan Law
said: "The community energy sector
harnesses local passion, expertise
and money to realise decarbonisation
opportunities at scale and engage the
public in driving the energy transition.
"The sector doubled in size every
year between 2014 and 2017 when there
was government support. Recently
local climate action, indispensable to
achieving net zero, has been thwarted,
not supported, by government policy.
This must change if we are to succeed
in tackling climate change and building
energy security for all."
More energy stories pB-9
JANUARY 2023 I 7

RETAIL
Chelmsford Star boosts
its online offer with link
to department store
HOME
DELIVERY
Chelmsford Star Co-op has launched a
number of upgrades to its online services,
including home delivery through Snappy
Shopper and online ranges from its
Quadrant department store, meaning
people across the country can access a
co-op department store once again.
Holidays can be purchased online,
after the society partnered with Jet2 for
a commercially viable solution, and its
funerals site has a commitment-free,
tailor-made quote-builder. The society
has also launched a new member portal,
giving access to different services,
including additional discounts.
While Chelmsford Star had previously
considered the opportunities of online
trading, "we were mindful that the
development required could be prohibitive
in terms of making it commercially
viable," said Barry Wood, chief executive.
"But when the pandemic hit, the society
was immediately at a disadvantage
compared to other retailers."
This prompted a review by the society
of its online options across its businesses.
For food, Chelmsford Star partnered
with Snappy Shopper - chosen for its
link-ups with retail co-ops like Southern,
Central and Tamworth; its compatible,
capital-light platform and the online
prices matched those in store.
Chelmsford Star's Quadrant department
store is one of the few remaining on the
UK mainland. "The loss of the ability to
trade the stores during the pandemic and
the rise in online shopping acted as the
catalyst to build the functionality to trade
the department stores online," said Wood.
Initially, just the Housewares
department is being traded online but
this will be extended to further home
departments in the new year.
Quadrant online: bit.ly/3FixblD
Co-ops step up community crisis support for Christmas
The Co-op Group has become the first
retailer to launch £1m of funding for
community organisations across the UK
which are providing warm spaces over
the coldest months. Up to £3,000 per
group is available by applying at coop.uk/
warmspaces by 28 February.
Heart of England Co-op has provided
140,000 charity meals this year through
FareShare Midlands. Efforts continue,
with support going to 550 frontline
charities, such as school breakfast clubs,
community centres and charities. Other
retail co-ops including Midcounties,
Lincolnshire and Scotmid are also
supporting foodbanks.
Tamworth Co-op is sharing a £35,000
festive pot among 70 community
organisations to mark the Queen's 70-
year reign. The 70 for 70 Community
Donation is the largest single amount
ever handed out by the society. Recipients
include charities working young people,
single mums, victims of domestic abuse,
homeless people and disabled people.
East of England Co-op has donated its
£100,000 Christmas marketing budget
to local warm hubs and foodbanks.
Working with Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex
Community Foundations, £70,000 will be
split among warm hubs. The remaining
£30,000 goes to 25 local foodbanks.
Central Co-op is continuing its Goodwill
to All campaign with a buy-one, give-one
initiative which has already provided
68,000 hot meals to those in need through
FareShare Midlands. Elsewhere in stores,
customers can continue to donate food
items in designated collection points.
Southern Co-op Funeralcare branches
have given donations including 2,000
crackers to schools, and 1,000 mince pies
to Farlington Church's festive bags appeal.
A further £570 goes to Gosport Voluntary
Action for hampers for 100 local people.
Channel Islands Co-op initiatives include
the return of Christmas Wish trees to its
Grand Marche stores. Customers can take
a tag, and wrap and return the requested
gifts for people in the community
JANUARY 2023 I 11

SOUTH AFRICA
- Researchers
gather from across
Africa to look at the
solidarity economy
The Conference on Cooperatives and the
Solidarity Economy (CCSE 2022) brought
together researchers from across Africa
in Johannesburg to look at issues such as
housing, agriculture, inclusion and rural
development.
Running from 2-4 November, the event
was organised by the Africa Cooperatives
Institute of South Africa (ACI-SA) in
partnership with the Gauteng Enterprise
Propeller (GEP) and the Global Social
Economy Forum (GSEF) and endorsed by
the International Cooperative Alliance
(ICA), the Small Enterprise Development
Agency and the Uhuru Institute for Social
Development.
Submissions came from scholars in
South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania,
Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Zimbabwe.
GEP CEO Saki Zamxaka told delegates
such research is vital in advancing the
work of agencies involved in co-operative
development. His organisation has a Cooperatives
Assistance Programme, he
added, which was designed intentionally
to provide financial and non-financial
assistance for qualifying co-operatives in
the Gauteng Province.
Co-ops had the chance to exhibit their
work at the conference, and on the final
day, co-op representatives presented
GLOBAL
lcmif develops
tools to measure
sector's sustainable
development impact
The International Cooperative and
Mutual Insurance Federation (Icmif) has
launched an Insurance SDG Calculator at
its centenary conference in Rome.
Developed by Swiss Re Institute
under the UN Principles for Sustainable
Insurance (UN PSI) iSDG initiative, the
calculator is the first tool to measure
insurance sustainability impact against
their work models to get feedback from
participants. The discussions were
followed later in the month by a project
mapping workshop.
ACI-SA aims to keep future editions of
the conference inclusive by ensuring that
co-ops are part of the research discussions.
Meanwhile, GSEF enabled ten
researchers who could not attend in
person to present their papers online.
The studies presented covered topics
including housing, agriculture, savings,
rural development, entrepreneurship,
inclusion, and co-op identity, with
community-based case studies from South
Africa, Mondragon, Zimbabwe, Uganda
and Tanzania.
Keynote speakers included Ruth
Bhengu, director of the Institute of
Cooperatives and Community Economic
Development, and South African
parliamentarian who dedicated her life
for the development of co-ops; Leonard
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the Insurance Sustainable Development
Goals (iSDGs). Icmif worked with Swiss Re
Institute to come up with a "commitment
framework", which determines the
indicators, their scoring ranges, and the
weighting scheme for all indicators and
SDGs.
Icmif's co-operative and mutual
members will be able to use the
Okello, CEO of Uhuru Institute for Social
Development in Uganda; Aude Saldana,
the general secretary of the Global Social
Economy Forum; and Saki Zamxaka, CEO
of the GEP.
The panellists were Kwathi Koka,
SEDA, Sebonkile Thaba and Prof Tanusha
Raniga, University of Johannesburg. The
panel focused on Cooperatives in the post­
Covid era and was moderated by Katleho
Ralehoko, chair of the Africa Cooperatives
Institute of SA.
The 2023 conference will convene again
in the Gauteng Province in November
2023, and will look for practical solutions
dealing with group dynamics in cooperative
settings and to come up with
tools to manage group risks in member
based solidarity enterprises.
Details for the 2023 conference will be
published on 5 December 2022 on myccse.
com; the conference book of abstracts is
available at myccse.com
framework to assess their own iSDG
impact against a set of indicators that
reflect mutual values and strategic
focal areas, such as risk prevention and
inclusive insurance.
Shaun Tarbuck, chief executive, Icmif
said: "Thanks to our partnership with
the Swiss Re Institute, lcmif is pioneering
iSDG impact measurement. Co-created
to scale globally, we hope the Icmifcalibrated
Insurance SDG Calculator will
help usher a new era of underwriting."
Icmif members will also be able to
use the apex's network to share best
practices and further develop their own
SDG strategies while working towards a
sustainable future.
16 I JANUARY 2023

In the Top 300 by turnover over GDP per
capita the agriculture sector is predominant with
101 organisations. The insurance sector has 85
enterprises in the top 300 while the wholesale
and retail trade has 57. The financial service
sector is more prominent in this ranking with 41
enterprises compared to 26 enterprises in the Top
300 by turnover.
Leading the sector rankings based on turnover
are: the Japanese Zen-Noh (agriculture and food);
The survey found all co-operatives have
activated online modes of participation in their
general meetings. The chapter notes that although
digital tools have ample potential in engaging
members unable to attend the meetings in person,
they have also shown limitations in engaging
certain categories of members unfamiliar with the
use of technologies. Over half of the co-operatives
surveyed also see the potential of digital tools to
involve members in the co-creation of services
"IT IS, THEREFORE, INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT THAT
THE SOCIAL ECONOM Y AND ITS ACTORS, INCLUDING
CO-OPERATIVES, BE RECOGNISED FOR THE SCALE OF
THEIR IMPACT"
Spain's Corporaci6n Mondragon (industry and
utilities); Germany's REWE Group (wholesale and
retail trade); Japan's Nippon Life (Insurance);
France's Groupe Credit Agricole (financial
services); Brazil's Sistema Unimed (education,
health and social work); Italy's worker co-op
Manutencoop (other services).
Special focus on digitisation
The monitor also explores the impact of
digitisation, particularly in the aftermath of the
Covid-19 crisis. The findings are based on a survey
of co-ops in 27 countries, carried out by the ICA's
International Cooperative Entrepreneurship
Think Tank.
Respondents to the survey said they are aware
of the importance of digital tools that cut across
different functions of corporate life and recognise
that "something fundamental has changed in the
way co-operatives are managed". About one in
ten co-ops considers itself to be poorly digitalised.
Eight out of ten co-operatives interviewed said
it was important or essential to use digital tools
to sell goods and services online and manage
relationships with customers and suppliers. A
quarter of the respondents consider these only
"quite important".
The key areas for co-operatives regarding the
use of digital tools are IT system security (70o/o),
management software (48o/o), e-commerce (41o/o),
cloud computing and remote management
of services and infrastructure (41o/o), and
communication and web and social media
content creation (37o/o).
and goods and to promote interaction among
members.
The chapter concludes that while digitisation
does not seem able to "radically reshape the way
co-operatives relate to their members", digital
tools can facilitate the involvement of co-op
members in some situations, especially when
they are placed side by side with traditional
methods. Furthermore, it adds, large co-ops are
aware of the impact of digitisation on the world of
work and focus on "ensuring sustainable growth
and decent work for all".
ICA director general Bruno Roelants said:
"Thanks to the co-operative business model,
which is based on democratic participation and
control, we can see how to take advantage of the
positive effects of digitisation and mitigate the
negative ones."
Gianluca Salvatori, secretary general of
Euricse, said: "We are experiencing an exciting
new season of visibility for the social economy.
All over the world, initiatives that give visibility
to this approach to economic activities are
multiplying: from the European Social Economy
Action Plan to the OECD Recommendation and
the ILO Resolution.
"It is, therefore, increasingly important that
the social economy and its actors, including
co-operatives, be recognised for the scale of
their impact. This is a further confirmation and
challenge for the WCM - to help build a more
accurate understanding of the social economy
and, more specifically, the co-operative sector."
The full report is available at monitor.coop.
JANUARY 2023 I 43

Do you have a co-operative
event - taking place in person,
online, or as a hybrid - to be
featured?
Tell us at: events@thenews.coop
Conversations with Gamechangers -
Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee
14 January 2023 (online, 3-5pm GMT)
This webinar is the fifth of a series of
conversations with radical grass-roots
solidarity economy organisations across
the world who are breaking new ground
in their own contexts while building
power in their communities. The Zameen
Prapti Sangharsh Committee has
been building a movement of landless
farmers to reclaim access to land they
are rightfully entitled to in the Punjab
region of India and were influential in the
groundbreaking farmers' protests which
took place across India in 2020-2021.
C-::> bit.ly/3F0H2EB
Co-op Women's Voices: Anna Tibblin
25 January, 2pm GMT (online)
As part of the ongoing Co-op Women's
Voices series, Anna Tibblin, secretary
general of We Effect, talks about her cooperative
journey. We Effect is based in
Sweden and works to try to end poverty
worldwide by strengthening co-ops of
women and men living in poverty through
membership-based democracy, long-term
economic thinking, social responsibility
and transparency. Tibblin is also on the
boards of Svensk Kooperation, the ICMIF
Foundation and Amnesty International
Sweden. This event is co-hosted by Co-op
News and the Co-operative College.
c-::> bit.ly/3sHDKOg
Future Co-ops 2023: From Crisis to
Co-operation
10-11 February 2023 (Oxford)
What role can co-ops play in supporting
people through the cost of living crisis?
And what can existing co-ops do to
support other co-ops on the frontline?
C-::> futures.coop/from-crisis-to-coop/
Conversations with Gamechangers -
Guerrilla Translation
11 February 2023 (online, 3-5pm GMT)
Guerrilla Translation is an activist
commons-oriented co-operative created
to share ideas between communities
and spread the word about things
that matter. To help support activist
translators and freelancers to use
their skills for causes they care about
while also making a living, Guerrilla
Translation has developed a new kind
of livelihood vehicle which combines
two functions: a voluntary translation/
media collective working for activist
causes, and an income-generating
cooperative agency providing translation
and communication services. This is a
form of 'economic resistance'; a means of
ethically coherent, sustainable livelihood
for knowledge workers, and the creation
of a multilingual knowledge commons
that upholds the open-source, global
sharing of ideas.
c-::> bit.ly/3VjKuiM
UK Society for Co-operative Studies
Conference
24-25 February 2023 (Lincoln)
This conference will take the opportunity
to reflect on Consumer Co-operation,
particularly in the context of the business
and service delivery changes over the
past three years. The programme will
include panel discussions and academic
papers, exploring the position of
consumer co-operatives in the present,
looking at member engagement, the
use of technology to facilitate online
meetings and how data is shaping
retailer's relationships wit members. G-::>
ukscs.coop
Co-op Retail Conference
24-26 March (Cheshire)
The Co-operative Retail Conference is the
only annual event designed specifically
for co-operative retailers. It attracts
leaders, managers and directors of
consumer owned retail co-operatives
from across the UK.
c-::> uk.coop/crc
Co-op Congress
June (date and location TBC)
Co-op Congress brings together those
working to build a fairer economy to
share ideas, get inspiration and take
action.
Details TBC
Practitioners Forum
23 November (Manchester)
One of the leading training and
development event for people working
in co-operative businesses - big and
small - Practitioners Forum is an annual
sell-out. It hosts around 20 sessions
across five specialist forums covering
membership, governance, finance, HR
and communications.
Details TBC
50 I JANUARY 2023