Co-op News February 2023
The February edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue we look at how co-ops are responding to crises in the world – including a look at how UK retail co-ops are supporting their colleagues, members and communities through tough economic times. There's also a report from the annual conference of the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society which looked at options for farmers, who are under pressure to cut their climate emissions while maintaining production; and a look at how co-ops and community businesses on tight margins are raising funds to stay afloat. Plus a look at recent events at the Mondragon Corporation in the Basque Country, Spain, where two co-ops have voted to leave the federation; ideas for a kinder, co-operative future for Twitter; a co-op option for carbon offsetting; and efforts by SEWA to make sure the needs of women's co-ops are met in India's new national policy for the co-op sector.
The February edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue we look at how co-ops are responding to crises in the world – including a look at how UK retail co-ops are supporting their colleagues, members and communities through tough economic times. There's also a report from the annual conference of the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society which looked at options for farmers, who are under pressure to cut their climate emissions while maintaining production; and a look at how co-ops and community businesses on tight margins are raising funds to stay afloat. Plus a look at recent events at the Mondragon Corporation in the Basque Country, Spain, where two co-ops have voted to leave the federation; ideas for a kinder, co-operative future for Twitter; a co-op option for carbon offsetting; and efforts by SEWA to make sure the needs of women's co-ops are met in India's new national policy for the co-op sector.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong><br />
COMBATING CRISES<br />
How co-<strong>op</strong>s are supporting<br />
members - and being<br />
supported themselves<br />
Plus … <strong>News</strong> Zealand’s<br />
Roz Henry on what the<br />
country’s leadership change<br />
means for co-<strong>op</strong>s ... New<br />
trouble at Mondragon as two<br />
organisations vote to leave ...<br />
Anti-social media: can co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
fix Twitter?<br />
ISSN 0009-9821<br />
770009 982010<br />
01<br />
£4.20<br />
www.thenews.co<strong>op</strong>
Malawi<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mpostable<br />
Nespresso® <strong>Co</strong>mpatible<br />
®<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mpostable<br />
Nespresso® <strong>Co</strong>mpatible Capsules<br />
Available in roast & ground and coffee bags<br />
Find in: Central England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative and Midcounties <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative stores<br />
coffee@revolver.co<strong>op</strong> www.revolverworld.com 01902 345 345
<strong>Co</strong>mbating the permacrisis<br />
CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND<br />
CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP<br />
MOVEMENT SINCE 1871<br />
Holyoake House, Hanover Street,<br />
Manchester M60 0AS<br />
(00) 44 161 214 0870<br />
www.thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
editorial@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
EXECUTIVE EDITOR<br />
Rebecca Harvey | rebecca@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR<br />
Anca Voinea | anca@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
DIGITAL EDITOR<br />
Miles Hadfield | miles@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT<br />
Alice Toomer-McAlpine<br />
alice@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
DESIGN<br />
Andy Bellis | andy@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
DIRECTORS<br />
Elaine Dean (chair); David Paterson<br />
(vice-chair); Sofygil Crew; Tim Hartley;<br />
Phil Hartwell; Gillian Lonergan; Nick<br />
Milton; Beverley Perkins; Shaz<br />
Rahman; Lesley Reznicek<br />
Secretary: Richard Bickle<br />
Established in 1871, <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>News</strong> is published by <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Press Ltd, a registered society under<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative and <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Benefit Society Act 2014. It is printed<br />
every month by Buxton Press, Palace<br />
Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE.<br />
Membership of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Press is<br />
<strong>op</strong>en to individual readers as well as<br />
to other co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, corporate bodies<br />
and unincorporated organisations.<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> mission<br />
statement is to connect, champion<br />
and challenge the global co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement, through fair and objective<br />
journalism and <strong>op</strong>en and honest<br />
comment and debate. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
is, on occasion, supported by co-<strong>op</strong>s,<br />
but final editorial control remains with<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> unless specifically<br />
labelled ‘advertorial’. The information<br />
and views set out in <strong>op</strong>inion articles<br />
and letters do not necessarily reflect<br />
the <strong>op</strong>inion of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong>.<br />
@co<strong>op</strong>news<br />
co<strong>op</strong>erativenews<br />
CBP013875<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives are there for their members in times of trouble. But what<br />
happens when it’s the co-<strong>op</strong> itself that is struggling? This question isn’t<br />
new, but is becoming worryingly common as organisations of all sizes, in<br />
every sector, struggle to keep their collective heads above water and swim<br />
against waves of crisis after crisis.<br />
The environmental crisis weighed heavy on the minds of those attending<br />
the recent Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS) conference<br />
in Dunblane (p26-27), who agreed that while warmer temperatures bring<br />
some benefits like a longer growing season, the risks – such as increased<br />
storm, drought, flood, pests and cr<strong>op</strong> disease – massively outweigh them.<br />
Delegates heard how technology will play a part in mitigating this, but that<br />
farmers need to be part of the conversation.<br />
Farmers have a rough deal, and have a higher rate of suicide than the general<br />
p<strong>op</strong>ulation in a number of countries. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s know this, and organisations<br />
in the agriculture sector – and others – are looking at how to support the<br />
mental health and wellbeing of their members, colleagues and customers.<br />
(p39-41). Food and retail co-<strong>op</strong>s are also looking at how to support<br />
individuals through the cost of living crisis (p30-33), through education on<br />
energy and affordable m eals, a s w ell a s f undraising f or l ocal f oodbanks,<br />
advice on finances a nd t he p ractical p rovision o f p hysical spaces – such<br />
as community pantries and warm spaces – to provide support and comfort.<br />
But who supports the co-<strong>op</strong>s that are increasingly feeling close to the edge?<br />
Over the past year, there have been a number of examples of co-<strong>op</strong>s turning<br />
to crowdfunding to plug gaps in their finances caused by the economic crisis<br />
– with mixed results (p36-38). And it’s not just the small co-<strong>op</strong>s struggling<br />
right now. In the Basque <strong>Co</strong>untry, Spain, two of Mondragon’s co-<strong>op</strong>s have<br />
voted to leave (p34-35), while in December, Midcounties’ board chose to<br />
end its Healthcare provision (p8).<br />
But it’s not all doom and gloom, I promise! In New Zealand, upcoming<br />
elections may pose <strong>op</strong>portunities for the sector (p25) and in India, a SEWA<br />
delegation to Delhi made clear the demands of women’s co-<strong>op</strong>s as the<br />
country prepares a national co-<strong>op</strong> policy (p46-47). We also hear how co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
have the potential to revive platforms such as Twitter (p44-45), about the<br />
work of a new climate offset co-<strong>op</strong>erative (p42-43) and celebrate the work of<br />
pioneers working in community energy (p28-29).<br />
REBECCA HARVEY - EXECUTIVE EDITOR<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong> is printed using vegetable oil-based inks<br />
on 80% recycled paper (with 60% from post-consumer waste)<br />
with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC certified<br />
sources. It is made in a totally chlorine free process.<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 3
ISSN 0009-9821<br />
9 770009 982010<br />
01<br />
THIS ISSUE<br />
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:<br />
David Hynam, new CEO of LV=, has<br />
pledged support for mutualism (p13); ICA<br />
secretary general, Bruno Roelants,<br />
announces retirement (p14); SEWA Delhi<br />
declaration (p46-47); Trouble at<br />
Mondragon? (p34-35); Meet the winners of<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Awards (p28-29)<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong><br />
COMBATING CRISES<br />
How co-<strong>op</strong>s are supporting<br />
members - and being<br />
supported themselves<br />
Plus … <strong>News</strong> Zealand’s<br />
Roz Henry on what the<br />
country’s leadership change<br />
means for co-<strong>op</strong>s ... New<br />
trouble at Mondragon as two<br />
organisations vote to leave ...<br />
Anti-social media: can co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
fix Twitter?<br />
www.thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
£4.20<br />
COVER: <strong>Co</strong>mbating crises<br />
With the pandemic, war, economic<br />
problems and ecological crises piling<br />
up, how are co-<strong>op</strong>s supporting their<br />
members and communities? And how,<br />
in turn, are co-<strong>op</strong>s being supported?<br />
Read more: p31-41<br />
22-23 MEET: LOUISE GITTINS<br />
Chair of the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>uncils’<br />
Innovation Network<br />
25 OPINION: ROZ HENRY<br />
CEO of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Business New<br />
Zealand on the country’s leadership<br />
change – and what it means for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
26-27 SAOS CONFERENCE<br />
Scottish farm co-<strong>op</strong>s face up to the<br />
climate crunch<br />
28-29 COMMUNITY ENERGY AWARDS The<br />
awards recognised the resilience of<br />
community energy in challenging times<br />
30-33 CRISIS RESPONSE FROM RETAILERS<br />
How are food and retail co-<strong>op</strong>s supporting<br />
members, customers, colleagues and<br />
communities in the face of high inflation?<br />
34-35 TROUBLE AT MONDRAGON<br />
New trouble for the federation as two<br />
industrial co-<strong>op</strong>s leave the fold<br />
36-38 ‘CLOSE TO THE EDGE’<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong>s turning to crowdfunding to<br />
plug gaps in their finances<br />
39-41 THE HUMAN COST OF CRISIS<br />
How are co-<strong>op</strong>s supporting the mental<br />
health of their pe<strong>op</strong>le?<br />
42-43 THE CARBON OFFSETTING CO-OP A<br />
new co-<strong>op</strong> offers climate action to help<br />
the world’s poorest communities<br />
44-45 THE TWITTER CONUNDRUM<br />
Can the co-<strong>op</strong> model fix our anti-social<br />
media?<br />
46-47 SEWA DELHI DECLARATION<br />
Sewa sets out women’s co-<strong>op</strong>’s priorities<br />
ahead of a national co-<strong>op</strong>erative policy<br />
REGULARS<br />
5-13 UK news<br />
14-21 Global news<br />
24 Letters<br />
Events<br />
50<br />
4 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
Introduction<br />
Page 1<br />
NEWS<br />
RETAIL<br />
New Year Honours<br />
List <strong>2023</strong> recognises<br />
contributions from<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> sector<br />
The New Years Honours list includes<br />
a number of figures from the co-<strong>op</strong><br />
movement, including a former <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong><br />
Group executive and a key figure in the<br />
community energy movement.<br />
Helen Webb, who served as the Group’s<br />
chief pe<strong>op</strong>le and services officer from<br />
April 2017 to July last year, was made OBE<br />
for her services to equality, inclusion and<br />
wellbeing.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmenting on Webb’s OBE, a<br />
spokesperson for the Group said: “We<br />
are delighted to hear that our former<br />
colleague Helen has been recognised in<br />
the new year honours, for her ongoing<br />
work in championing equality, inclusion<br />
and wellbeing within the workplace and<br />
throughout local communities in the UK.”<br />
One of the Group’s member pioneers was<br />
also honoured. Sandra Roscoe, who has<br />
been with the Group’s scheme for over five<br />
years, received the British Empire Medal<br />
for her voluntary work with the community<br />
in Rainhill and St Helens, Merseyside,<br />
during the <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 pandemic. She helped<br />
out with the Rainhill <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Support<br />
Group, which provided valuable help to<br />
local residents, set up a WhatsApp group<br />
for mutual support, and contacted primary<br />
schools to get pupils to write letters of<br />
support to the elderly in the community.<br />
“For me it is always about partnership<br />
work and teamwork,” she told the St Helens<br />
Star. “I don’t feel this award is for me, I feel<br />
it is for the wider team in Rainhill, but I’m<br />
honoured to accept it on their behalf.”<br />
From the community energy sector, Mike<br />
Smyth from Energy4All was awarded an<br />
MBE for services to the environment. Chair<br />
of Friends of the Earth until 2012, Smyth<br />
joined Energy4All in 2008 and has served<br />
in a number of voluntary roles.<br />
A statement from Energy4All said: “It is<br />
fantastic that Mike has been recognised for<br />
his dedication and commitment in his roles<br />
in the energy and environmental sector,<br />
not only as part of the Energy4All team<br />
but also as part of the eight co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
where he serves as a board director.’<br />
p Mike Smyth of Energy4All, former <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group executive Helen Webb and Group member<br />
pioneer Sandra Roscoe<br />
Smyth said: “I was thrilled to receive the<br />
MBE. What a lovely but totally unexpected<br />
surprise. I would like to thank the person or<br />
persons who nominated me.<br />
“During my time working in the<br />
community energy sector we have faced<br />
many hurdles, but with the involvement of<br />
local communities and the wider renewable<br />
energy community, we have been able to<br />
create ground-breaking projects.<br />
“Energy4All gives the power back to the<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le. Allowing them to own a stake in<br />
locally generated renewable energy. This, I<br />
believe, is the way forward for our energy<br />
market. As a director of Energy4All it is a<br />
privilege to work alongside these groups<br />
and help them to devel<strong>op</strong> and educate the<br />
next generation about the importance of<br />
renewable energy.”<br />
The honours list also included founder<br />
and CEO of Birmingham Tech CIC, Yiannis<br />
Celebrating a decade<br />
of the <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Shares Unit<br />
Authors: Isla McCulloch and John Dawson<br />
Published by <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK, <strong>2023</strong><br />
A new report from <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK reveals<br />
that, to date, £210 million has been invested<br />
to create or save vital assets or services<br />
across the UK using ‘community shares‘. At<br />
the same time, £2.2 million is being injected<br />
to further boost communities wanting<br />
Photo: Nudge <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Builders - Plymouth<br />
Kyriacos Moas, who will receive an MBE<br />
for services to the technology sector.<br />
Birmingham Tech CIC is a not-for-profit<br />
community business which aims to raise<br />
the profile of the Birmingham and West<br />
Midlands tech scene.<br />
Also receiving MBEs are the founders<br />
of Freehold CIC, David Mann and Saleem<br />
Fazal, for services to inclusion in the<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>erty industry. Freehold is a support<br />
and networking forum for LGBTQ+<br />
professionals working within the real<br />
estate sector.<br />
Mann described their inclusion on the<br />
list as “a validation of all the hard work<br />
done by Freehold team members since<br />
its founding in 2011,” adding: “A lot of<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le have put in a lot of long hours to<br />
ensure that LGBTQ+ professionals feel<br />
more welcome and represented in the<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>erty sector.”<br />
to raise funds using this unique form of<br />
finance. The report, written by Isla McCulloch<br />
and John Dawson to celebrate a decade of<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Shares Unit, also highlights<br />
that to date, 130,000 pe<strong>op</strong>le have raised<br />
£210m investing in 539 community<br />
businesses and organisations through a<br />
total of 709 share offers.<br />
“This innovative form of finance is<br />
uniquely available to co-<strong>op</strong>erative and<br />
community benefit societies. It provides<br />
them with much needed money to start,<br />
grow and be sustainable,” says the report.<br />
Read more: from p36<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 5
CREDIT UNIONS<br />
Welsh ministers visit credit unions after £422k funding boost for the sector<br />
Welsh government ministers have visited<br />
credit unions across Wales as they<br />
announced continued funding of just over<br />
£422,000 a year for the sector.<br />
A release from the devolved<br />
administration said credit unions are<br />
“actively involved in communities<br />
throughout Wales [and] contribute to the<br />
economy and the financial wellbeing of<br />
members, who can save safely and borrow<br />
at an affordable rate of interest”.<br />
Cabinet ministers made coordinated<br />
visits across the country to voice<br />
their support for the sector, and to<br />
raise awareness of the services it<br />
provides, which include ethical and<br />
affordable lending.<br />
Among those taking part were first<br />
minister Mark Drakeford and social<br />
justice minister Jane Hutt, who called in<br />
on Cardiff and Vale Credit Union.<br />
Drakeford said: “This time of year can<br />
be particularly difficult as pe<strong>op</strong>le are left<br />
to deal with the cost of Christmas. We<br />
know this winter especially, during an<br />
unprecedented cost of living crisis, many<br />
are finding it very tough and, sadly, high<br />
interest doorstep lenders or loan sharks<br />
will prey on those suffering financially.<br />
“I would urge those struggling to turn<br />
to their local credit union, which can<br />
p Mark Drakeford and Jane Hutt visit Cardiff and Vale Credit Union<br />
provide access to fair and affordable<br />
credit – in support of our journey to<br />
promote social justice and tackle poverty<br />
across Wales.”<br />
Credit unions can help those who<br />
might traditionally find it difficult to save<br />
through offering schemes such as payroll<br />
deductions. They also offer Christmas<br />
savings schemes that only allow<br />
withdrawals in the lead up to the festive<br />
season.<br />
“While many of us may not even want<br />
to think about next Christmas,” added<br />
Drakeford,” now could be the perfect time<br />
to consider starting to save. Credit unions<br />
can make that process easier.<br />
The Welsh government provides credit<br />
unions with revenue funding – which<br />
it says ensures that they can “devel<strong>op</strong> a<br />
host of projects in communities aimed at<br />
boosting membership”.<br />
Hutt added: “I would urge those who<br />
might be struggling and tempted to use<br />
high-cost credit to use their local credit<br />
union as a responsible alternative to other<br />
forms of lending.<br />
“It is clear Welsh credit unions work<br />
incredibly hard, and I’d like to thank<br />
them for their commitment to providing<br />
ethical savings and affordable loans.<br />
They truly are a lifeline to pe<strong>op</strong>le all<br />
across Wales.”<br />
Welsh credit union pioneer wins award for her service to the movement<br />
A pioneer of the credit union movement<br />
has received a Lifetime Achievement<br />
award from the Credit Unions of Wales.<br />
Leanne Herberg, CEO of Cardiff & Vale<br />
Credit Union, received the national title<br />
from BBC broadcaster Roy Noble at the<br />
ceremony. She has been a recognised<br />
advocate within the credit union<br />
movement in Wales for the past 11 years.<br />
Herberg, who was due to leave her post<br />
for a new role in Cardiff Metr<strong>op</strong>olitan<br />
University, said: “I’m very honoured to<br />
have won the award, and would like to<br />
thank my team, board of directors and<br />
volunteers for their brilliant support. Our<br />
achievements have all been a team effort,<br />
and I’m very grateful to them. I’d also like<br />
to thank all of my Credit Unions of Wales<br />
colleagues for their wonderful support<br />
p Leanne Herberg receiving her award from<br />
Roy Noble<br />
and friendship. There is a fantastic<br />
network of mutual support in the sector<br />
here in Wales, and I’ve loved being a part<br />
of it.”<br />
Under her leadership Cardiff & Vale<br />
Credit Union has grown from a small credit<br />
union sited in the basement of Cardiff’s<br />
<strong>Co</strong>unty Hall, to a financial co-<strong>op</strong> that has<br />
more than doubled in membership, with<br />
two prominent branches one in a prime<br />
position in the city centre of Cardiff, and<br />
the second in the heart of Barry.<br />
Her tenure saw the credit union<br />
strengthen its approach to ethical finance,<br />
becoming a Real Living Wage employer,<br />
achieving Chwarae Teg Fair Play<br />
accreditation for gender diversity, being<br />
named Social Enterprise of the Year at the<br />
Cardiff Business Awards and becoming<br />
the first financial services provider in<br />
Wales to receive a five-star accreditation<br />
by the Fairbanking Foundation for its<br />
personal loans.<br />
6 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
ENVIRONMENT<br />
Worker co-<strong>op</strong> launches fruit tree nursery and heritage orchard in Sheffield<br />
Worker co-<strong>op</strong> Sheffield Fruit Trees is<br />
fundraising to expand its work of filling<br />
the South Yorkshire city with fruit trees.<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong> runs a fruit tree nursery<br />
which supplies allotments, councils and<br />
commercial gardens with trees, as well as<br />
donating trees to community groups and<br />
organisations.<br />
It says it wants “Sheffield of the future to<br />
have fruit trees in every park and on every<br />
street corner”, and is now embarking on a<br />
project to further that vision.<br />
Sheffield Fruit Trees has taken on 0.5<br />
acres of former hay meadow in Moss<br />
Valley and successfully crowdfunded over<br />
£18,500 by 12 January to help set up a tree<br />
nursery and orchard on the site.<br />
The Forestry <strong>Co</strong>mmission has agreed<br />
to match fund any money raised, which<br />
will go towards a borehole, pump and<br />
irrigation system, an orchard training<br />
building/nursery office/tool store, a set<br />
of tools to maintain the site, fencing<br />
and gates to protect the nursery trees,<br />
volunteer expenses for orchard-planting<br />
workdays, and compost, woodchip and<br />
other organic soil improvers.<br />
Sheffield Fruit Trees said: “We know<br />
that the future of food-growing needs to<br />
be based on techniques that build soil and<br />
bring in biodiversity, so a key part of our<br />
project will be to regenerate this patch<br />
of land so that it can not only support a<br />
tree nursery but also provide habitat for<br />
pollinating insects and other creatures.”<br />
Sheffield Fruit Trees was established<br />
in 2018 as an offshoot of the Abundance<br />
project, which maps Sheffield’s forgotten<br />
fruit trees and distributes fruit that would<br />
otherwise go to waste.<br />
Inspired by this project, a group of its<br />
participants decided to start growing more<br />
fruit trees in Sheffield through a process<br />
called grafting, where living wood is taken<br />
from a mature fruit tree and joined onto a<br />
rootstock (the lower part of the tree). This<br />
allows growers to select the varieties they<br />
wish to grow.<br />
Since then, Sheffield Fruit Trees has<br />
been able to grow 400 fruit trees per year,<br />
including 40 varieties of apple.<br />
At the new larger site, the co-<strong>op</strong> expects<br />
to be able to grow up to 1,000 trees a year,<br />
as well as setting up a heritage orchard<br />
of rare local fruit tree varieties. This will<br />
provide Sheffield Fruit Trees with the<br />
cuttings to graft new trees as well as<br />
helping to preserve the varieties.<br />
Sheffield Fruit Trees added: “We<br />
wouldn’t be where we are now without the<br />
support of everyone who’s ever bought a<br />
tree from us, come to one of our worksh<strong>op</strong>s<br />
or helped out at one of our volunteer days.<br />
Knowing that pe<strong>op</strong>le believe in what we’re<br />
doing is what keeps us going. So we’re<br />
really grateful for the support and help to<br />
make this happen.”<br />
EDUCATION<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>llege presents its Malawi work at Holyrood<br />
Representatives from the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>Co</strong>llege were invited to speak about their<br />
work in Malawi at the Scottish Parliament<br />
in Edinburgh on 17 January.<br />
The hybrid event was hosted by the<br />
MSPs on the Malawi Cross Party Group<br />
(CPG) and was attended by over 80<br />
CPG members as well as Professor Iain<br />
Gillespie, principal and vice chancellor<br />
of the University of Dundee, and the<br />
vice chancellors of each of the public<br />
universities in Malawi.<br />
The CPG is part of the Scotland<br />
Malawi Partnership which exists to help<br />
coordinate, support, and represent<br />
Scotland’s links with Malawi. The group<br />
comprises organisations and individuals<br />
from the UK and Malawi.<br />
Representing the <strong>Co</strong>llege was director<br />
of learning and teaching Ali Longden,<br />
director of <strong>op</strong>erations and business<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment Jacqui Thomasen, and<br />
<strong>Co</strong>llege trustee Chris Jardine.<br />
Longden presented information on the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>llege and discussed its connection with<br />
Malawi, including its work with Central<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> and the Malawi Federation of <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
(Mafeco) on the ‘Our Malawi<br />
Partnership‘. This project, launched in<br />
July, aims to improve the livelihoods of<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative smallholder farmers through<br />
increased access to inclusive economic<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunities, sustainable agricultural<br />
practices, international co-<strong>op</strong> markets<br />
and networks.<br />
The partnership involves Central<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> selling a range of products linked<br />
to Malawi, with a percentage of the sales<br />
p Ali Longden, Chris Jardine and Jacqui<br />
Thomasen<br />
going to the initiative. The <strong>Co</strong>llege is<br />
helping Mafeco administer the funds on<br />
the ground through a co-design process.<br />
The event also provided an <strong>op</strong>portunity<br />
for the <strong>Co</strong>llege to share information about<br />
a potential higher education partnership<br />
with the University of Dundee, which<br />
would see the organisations co-produce a<br />
range of learning <strong>op</strong>tions.<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 7
RETAIL<br />
East of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> announces Doug Field OBE as new CEO<br />
East of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has appointed<br />
Doug Field OBE as its new CEO, replacing<br />
its joint leadership structure with a single<br />
chief executive leadership model.<br />
“I am honoured to have been chosen<br />
as our co-<strong>op</strong>’s new CEO,” said Field. “I’m<br />
excited about what the future holds for our<br />
family of businesses, and I am committed<br />
to continuing the great work we have done<br />
in the past while also looking forward to<br />
new <strong>op</strong>portunities and growth.”<br />
The society previously used a collegiate<br />
leadership team model, with four joint chief<br />
executives – of which Field was one – having<br />
responsibility for individual specialisms. The<br />
decision to appoint a single CEO was made<br />
in December, after a comprehensive review<br />
by the board. Former joint chief executive<br />
Roger Grosvenor retired last March, with<br />
the remaining joint CEOs Niall O’Keeffe and<br />
Nick Denny deciding to move on to pursue<br />
other interests.<br />
“The East of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> would like to<br />
acknowledge the significant contribution<br />
made to the business by Niall and Nick, and<br />
wish them well in their future endeavours,”<br />
the society said in a statement.<br />
p Doug Field OBE<br />
“With 14 years of experience at our co<strong>op</strong>,<br />
most recently serving as joint chief<br />
executive responsible for finance, HR<br />
and technology, Doug has a proven track<br />
record of utilising data and insight to drive<br />
positive change,” said East of England <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong><br />
president, Frank Moxon. “These will<br />
be fundamental building blocks as we<br />
look to change how we make decisions<br />
and focus our energies and resources.<br />
Doug’s leadership and expertise will be<br />
instrumental in guiding our co-<strong>op</strong> into<br />
the future.”<br />
Field also chairs the New Anglia Local<br />
Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and was<br />
one of several co-<strong>op</strong>erators named in<br />
the 2021 New Year’s Honours List, being<br />
awarded an OBE for his work supporting<br />
businesses across Suffolk and Norfolk. He<br />
has been with the society for 14 years.<br />
“To me, co-<strong>op</strong>eration is the way you<br />
do business, with suppliers, colleagues,<br />
consumers and the community,” he<br />
said in a <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong> interview last year.<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eration is about working in<br />
partnership and for a greater good, and<br />
doing the right thing – even when nobody’s<br />
looking [...] Our key focus is about making<br />
sure we make positive local impacts, and<br />
we do the right thing for our communities.<br />
We want to improve the daily lives of our<br />
members, colleagues, customers and<br />
communities – that’s at the heart of what<br />
we do.”<br />
East of England traces its roots back<br />
to 1846 and today <strong>op</strong>erates 120 food<br />
branches in Norfolk, Suffolk and North<br />
Essex, as well as funeral, travel and<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>erty services, post offices and the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Secure Response service.<br />
Midcounties closes Healthcare division<br />
Following several years of challenging<br />
trading conditions for the sector, the board<br />
of the Midcounties <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative approved<br />
the closure of the Healthcare business,<br />
which ceased to trade on 25 January.<br />
Over the last few years, <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Healthcare<br />
had transitioned to an online service, with<br />
the society’s final community pharmacy<br />
closing in 2021. During the pandemic<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Healthcare provided <strong>Co</strong>vid testing<br />
kits at some of the lowest prices in the<br />
market and delivered essential healthcare<br />
and cosmetic products to customers across<br />
the country.<br />
However, according to the society,<br />
“increasing competition, increased costs<br />
and the continued dominance of the major<br />
online retailers” limited <strong>op</strong>portunities for<br />
growth and the ability for the business to<br />
offer a service that provides a co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
difference.<br />
“As a result, it is no longer in the best<br />
interests of Midcounties’ members and the<br />
communities we support for the society to<br />
remain in this market,” said a statement.<br />
“Our focus will now be on supporting<br />
our healthcare colleagues, and where<br />
possible we will seek to find alternative<br />
roles for them within the Society’s other<br />
trading groups. We are also ensuring<br />
that members, customers, and partners<br />
are supported with finding alternative<br />
providers where required.”<br />
8 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
RETAIL<br />
400 jobs at risk as<br />
Central <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> shuts<br />
distribution centres<br />
Hundreds of jobs are at risk at Central<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> after the retail society announced<br />
plans to transfer distribution <strong>op</strong>erations<br />
to the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Group.<br />
Central will shut three distributions<br />
centres under the move, along with a<br />
garage site, as it moves to the Group’s Lidia<br />
network, which serves over 4,000 stores<br />
out of 13 distribution centres and is owned<br />
by Manchester-based <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group.<br />
Premises on the Braunstone Frith<br />
Industrial Estate, Scudamore Road in<br />
Leicester and a garage in Whetstone will be<br />
affected.<br />
A spokesperson for Central said the<br />
move was part of its “purpose of creating a<br />
sustainable society for all”.<br />
“Over the past year we have been<br />
working on our strategy, across all areas of<br />
our business, to build a clear growth plan<br />
to deliver on this mission,” they added.<br />
“To continue growing the society and<br />
where we support communities, we have<br />
given a lot of careful thought to the future<br />
needs of our distribution <strong>op</strong>erations –<br />
including the age of our current network<br />
and its capability to fulfil the future needs<br />
in our strategy to improve the offer to<br />
members and customers.<br />
“We looked at a number of <strong>op</strong>tions,<br />
including investing in a new purpose-built<br />
modern <strong>op</strong>eration. Approval has been<br />
reached for Central <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> to join the Lidia<br />
network from 2024.<br />
“This national collective distribution<br />
and logistics <strong>op</strong>eration, already serves over<br />
4,000 stores with 13 distribution centres.<br />
Lidia is owned and <strong>op</strong>erated by the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong><br />
Group on behalf of their own stores and<br />
other independent co-<strong>op</strong>eratives’ stores in<br />
the UK.<br />
“This is a difficult decision for some<br />
of our colleagues and we are sorry it will<br />
result in the pr<strong>op</strong>osed closure of our three<br />
distribution <strong>op</strong>erations in Leicester and<br />
our Whetstone garage, with the transition<br />
period expected to take a year.<br />
“We will now enter a consultation<br />
period with Usdaw (the Union of Sh<strong>op</strong>,<br />
Distributive and Allied Workers).”<br />
John Gorle, national officer at Usdaw,<br />
said: “This is devastating news for staff<br />
affected by the company’s pr<strong>op</strong>osal, our<br />
members are deeply concerned about<br />
their future employment prospects. We<br />
will now enter into a period of meaningful<br />
consultation where Usdaw reps and officials<br />
will interrogate the company’s business case<br />
for the transfer of distribution <strong>op</strong>erations.<br />
“We welcome that Central <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has<br />
given an early commitment to offering<br />
alternative roles to all staff affected, both<br />
within Central <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> and the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group.<br />
Our priorities are to avoid redundancies<br />
and secure the best support package<br />
possible. In the meantime we are providing<br />
our members with the advice, support<br />
and representation they need during this<br />
period of uncertainty.”<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group appoints new chief membership and customer officer<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group has appointed<br />
marketing specialist Kenyatte Nelson to<br />
its <strong>op</strong>erating board, taking up the role of<br />
chief membership and customer officer.<br />
Nelson, described by the Group as “a<br />
seasoned leader“, will take responsibility<br />
for the Group’s membership, marketing<br />
and brand strategies. This will include<br />
supporting the retailer’s presence at<br />
UK music festivals and the naming<br />
rights partnership with <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Live, the<br />
new arena being constructed in east<br />
Manchester.<br />
Having worked in marketing for<br />
more than 20 years, 13 of which were<br />
managing national and international<br />
marketing for major brands at Procter<br />
and Gamble, Nelson joins after leading<br />
roles at retail group Sh<strong>op</strong> Direct (now<br />
known as the Very Group) and fashion<br />
retailers Missguided and N Brown<br />
Group.<br />
As of September 2020, he is also a nonexecutive<br />
director for the British Retail<br />
<strong>Co</strong>nsortium.<br />
p The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group’s Angel Square HQ<br />
He said: “I could not be more excited<br />
about joining the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group. It is a<br />
values driven organisation that touches<br />
and improves the lives of millions of<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le, and I look forward to working<br />
with Shirine [Khoury-Haq, CEO], the<br />
<strong>op</strong>erating board and the rest of the team,<br />
to build on the great work that is already<br />
happening across the group.”<br />
All senior marketing leads will report<br />
into Nelson, who in turn reports directly<br />
into Khoury-Haq.<br />
Khoury-Haq said: “Kenyatte brings<br />
with him a huge amount of marketing,<br />
digital, customer and brand experience<br />
– he will be a huge asset to our <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong><br />
Group, as he leads our membership,<br />
marketing and customer activity and<br />
we are delighted to have him join our<br />
<strong>op</strong>erating board.”<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 9
TECHNOLOGY<br />
Bristol Cable granted £40k from Power to Change to expand community tech<br />
Media co-<strong>op</strong> Bristol Cable has won funding<br />
to expand its community tech work with a<br />
two-year grant of £40,000 from Power to<br />
Change.<br />
The city news service, which has won<br />
awards and plaudits for its campaigning<br />
journalism and investigative reporting,<br />
will use the funds to continue the<br />
maintenance and devel<strong>op</strong>ment of its<br />
in-house membership and community<br />
engagement platform.<br />
It plans to make this more accessible<br />
for other community organisations to<br />
use. “The code is already <strong>op</strong>en source,”<br />
said the co-<strong>op</strong>, “but this will mean we can<br />
‘<strong>op</strong>en source’ the processes around the<br />
software too.”<br />
Announcing the news, it said it offered<br />
one of many smaller community platforms<br />
and companies in the UK which offer “a<br />
viable alternative to Big Tech”.<br />
“As the social power wielded by the tech<br />
industry has exploded over the last two<br />
decades,” it added, “plenty of examples<br />
of grassroots tech projects have grown<br />
healthily alongside … The Bristol Cable is<br />
one of them.“<br />
The grant from Power to Change –<br />
an independent trust that supports<br />
community business – will also allow<br />
the Cable to make improvements to<br />
other online services, such as our<br />
communications and mailouts aimed at<br />
community engagement.<br />
In recent years its tech lead Will<br />
Franklin has built and devel<strong>op</strong>ed Beabee,<br />
a membership management platform<br />
which allows the co-<strong>op</strong> to store member<br />
data securely without the risk of it being<br />
sold to advertisers, and also powers<br />
its callouts to engage our members in<br />
editorial and <strong>op</strong>erational questions.<br />
He said: “Our membership and<br />
engagement platform, built in-house,<br />
is a core component of the democratic<br />
engagement we have with our members. It<br />
allows us to engage with them directly, and<br />
simultaneously reach wider communities<br />
in the city, for example, through callouts<br />
allowing pe<strong>op</strong>le to respond to questions<br />
such as ‘How is Bristol’s bus chaos<br />
affecting you?’ or ‘Should we do more<br />
culture, or news?’<br />
“The grant will allow us to continue<br />
this work, and build on our innovative,<br />
grassroots community tech work not only<br />
for Bristol, but for other community based<br />
organisations around the UK too.”<br />
Beabee is already used by a number<br />
of other small newsrooms around<br />
Eur<strong>op</strong>e already, “making it a community<br />
technology not only benefiting Bristol, but<br />
many other devel<strong>op</strong>ers and communities”,<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong> added.<br />
Power to Change’s <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Tech<br />
grant is aimed not only at benefiting<br />
the organisations that win funding and<br />
those that reap the results directly, but<br />
also the wider technology ecosystem by<br />
driving forward innovative, beneficial<br />
and sustainable solutions for social<br />
technology.<br />
It launched the grant with the aim of<br />
“ensuring communities have access and<br />
ownership of technology that meets their<br />
specific needs, respects their autonomy<br />
and ensures more value is realised within<br />
a place”.<br />
Praising the Bristol Cable’s efforts, it<br />
said: “Off-the-shelf back-office software<br />
was too expensive, and also not suited to<br />
their needs. So they have been building<br />
their systems for membership management<br />
and democratic participation. In doing<br />
this, they will actively preserve members’<br />
privacy by keeping all their data in-house,<br />
rather than on third-party platforms.<br />
“This bespoke customer-relationship<br />
management (CRM) system is sustainable,<br />
community-driven, and fully accountable<br />
to its members.”<br />
RETAIL<br />
Scotmid CEO celebrates 30 years at the society<br />
John Brodie MBE trained and qualified as<br />
a Chartered Accountant, working eight<br />
years in practice before joining Scotmid<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> in 1993 as Financial <strong>Co</strong>ntroller. He<br />
took over as CEO 18 years ago.<br />
Brodie has been a Scottish Retail<br />
<strong>Co</strong>nsortium (SRC) Board member since<br />
2015 and also represents Scotmid on a<br />
number of boards. He is a member of the<br />
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity<br />
(formally SKFF) and has served as SRC<br />
chair since 1 January 2018. In 2018, he was<br />
awarded an MBE for services to business<br />
and the voluntary sector in Scotland.<br />
Scotmid is the largest independent co-<strong>op</strong><br />
in Scotland with around 280 retail outlets<br />
employing approximately 4,000 pe<strong>op</strong>le in<br />
Scotland, Northern Ireland and England.<br />
10 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
AGRICULTURE<br />
Welsh dairy co-<strong>op</strong> wins<br />
business award after<br />
notching up record sales<br />
South Caernarfon Creameries (SCC),<br />
a farmer-owned dairy co-<strong>op</strong> based in<br />
Gwynedd, was named Large Business of<br />
the Year in North Wales at the Daily Post<br />
Business Awards.<br />
It is the latest in a row of awards for<br />
Wales’s oldest dairy co-<strong>op</strong>, which picked<br />
up 70 cheese and butter making awards<br />
last year, including three gold global<br />
prizes at the International Cheese and<br />
Dairy Awards. A year of growth helped its<br />
business awards win, with a 17% increase<br />
in turnover and a 20% rise in profits<br />
to £4.1m.<br />
Farmer director Gareth Jenkins said: “It<br />
has not been easy over <strong>Co</strong>vid but has been<br />
a team effort with all the farmer owners –<br />
154 of us.<br />
“We supply the quality milk to the<br />
factory and we have excellent staff and<br />
management there. <strong>Co</strong>ngratulations to all<br />
the team.”<br />
Managing director Alan Wyn Jones<br />
said: “Our strategic objective over the<br />
next few years is to achieve a five per<br />
cent <strong>op</strong>erating profit, which is above<br />
average in the sector. We pride ourselves<br />
on producing Welsh cheese of exceptional<br />
quality and we have all of the required<br />
national accreditations in place to exceed<br />
standards and provide peace of mind for<br />
our customers, thanks to an AA rating<br />
from the British Retail <strong>Co</strong>nsortium and<br />
Red Tractor Farm Assurance.<br />
“Once the milk is collected all the cheese<br />
is produced and packed on site, giving us<br />
complete control over the process.<br />
“We’re proud of our Welsh roots, so<br />
much so that we have a policy to only<br />
process Welsh milk and use the Welsh<br />
language on our packaging.<br />
“The creamery’s flagship Dragon brand<br />
now makes up 10% of the business and<br />
we have plans to increase this over the<br />
coming years.”<br />
East of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> gives trees to the community<br />
East of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> members in<br />
Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are being<br />
invited to apply for one of 250 trees that<br />
the retailer is giving away as part of the<br />
Queen’s Green Can<strong>op</strong>y.<br />
The can<strong>op</strong>y is a nationwide initiative to<br />
create a living legacy in memory of Queen<br />
Elizabeth II, with over a million trees<br />
planted in her name.<br />
Regulator to investigate sale of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group petrol stations<br />
Image: <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>mpetition and Markets Authority<br />
is to conduct a merger inquiry into the<br />
£600m sale of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group petrol stations<br />
to Asda.<br />
The deal, agreed last August, involves<br />
129 convenience stores of between 1,500<br />
and 3,000 sq ft, with attached petrol<br />
stations, and three devel<strong>op</strong>ment sites<br />
spread across the UK.<br />
Heart of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> reports festive sales boost<br />
Heart of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has reported an<br />
increase in sales during the run-up to<br />
Christmas, compared with the festive<br />
trading period in 2021.<br />
The member-owned retailer saw a total<br />
sales rise of 6.83% from December 19-24,<br />
bringing in more than £2m for the week.<br />
Central <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> awards £27,750 in <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Dividend Fund<br />
Central <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has awarded £27,750 to 32<br />
charities and good causes in the latest<br />
round from its <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Dividend Fund,<br />
handed out in October and November.<br />
The retail society invests a percentage<br />
of its trading profit into local communities<br />
through the fund, and between January<br />
and November 2022, £167,734 was shared<br />
out between 153 causes.<br />
Lincolnshire <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> raises £150k for mental health services<br />
Lincolnshire <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> has raised £153,153<br />
through its <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Champions<br />
scheme for causes providing mental health<br />
services aiming to prevent suicide.<br />
Members, customers, and colleagues<br />
all contributed to this fundraising total<br />
by sh<strong>op</strong>ping with their dividend cards<br />
which amounted to £47,500, and dr<strong>op</strong>ping<br />
change in collection boxes totalling more<br />
than £10,000.<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 11
RETAIL<br />
Edinburgh Bicycle <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative partners with Giant to <strong>op</strong>en new store<br />
The UK’s longest-running bike co-<strong>op</strong> has<br />
partnered with cycle brand Giant to <strong>op</strong>en<br />
a new store in Edinburgh.<br />
Giant Store Edinburgh <strong>op</strong>ened in<br />
December on Hamilton Place, Stockbridge,<br />
in partnership with Edinburgh Bicycle<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative. The new store, the co-<strong>op</strong>’s<br />
sixth in the UK, exclusively stocks Giant<br />
road, commuter and kids’ bikes, as well as<br />
e-bikes. Customers can also sh<strong>op</strong> for bikes<br />
designed specifically for women through<br />
Giant’s Liv brand.<br />
Worker-owned Edinburgh Bicycle<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative has been running since 1977,<br />
when it <strong>op</strong>ened its first store in Bruntsfield,<br />
Edinburgh. In addition to the Bruntsfield<br />
store, Edinburgh Bicycle <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative now<br />
has a store in Canonmills, Edinburgh, as<br />
well as in Aberdeen, Newcastle and Leeds,<br />
all of which are <strong>op</strong>en seven days a week.<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong>erative’s managing director,<br />
Alan Nestor, told BikeBiz: “Edinburgh<br />
Bicycle <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> has over 45 years of<br />
experience serving cyclists in the capital<br />
city and has worked with Giant for many<br />
years; we share many values and are both<br />
totally focused on delivering the very best<br />
for all riders.”<br />
THE ARTS<br />
Sister Midnight confirms Lewisham site for community-owned music venue<br />
Sister Midnight, the arts co-<strong>op</strong> looking to<br />
create a community-owned music venue<br />
in Lewisham, has secured an in-principle<br />
meanwhile use with Lewisham <strong>Co</strong>uncil<br />
for the Brookdale Club. A former working<br />
men’s club in Catford, the space will be<br />
turned into a 250-capacity live music<br />
venue supporting local musicians.<br />
In 2021, the group launched a community<br />
share offer to bring a Lewisham pub into<br />
community ownership. The campaign<br />
raised over £260,000 from 865 investors,<br />
but an agreement wasn’t reached.<br />
The new venue is owned by a subsidiary<br />
of the local council, who “have been a<br />
huge support,” said Lenny Watson, cofounding<br />
director of Sister Midnight.<br />
“They’ve offered us a lease with a<br />
minimum term of seven years, and the<br />
entire lease is subject to a peppercorn rent<br />
– so effectively we won’t pay any rent for<br />
the whole time we’re there.”<br />
The organisation wants to be “a hub<br />
of creativity and community solidarity,<br />
where we champion the wealth of local<br />
talent that Lewisham is home to, whilst<br />
working to effect positive social change<br />
in our wider community by working in a<br />
number of ways to support wellbeing”.<br />
They also h<strong>op</strong>e the venue “will set a<br />
precedent for community-led regeneration<br />
of local areas, and give everyone in our<br />
community a voice in what we’re doing”.<br />
Watson added: “We h<strong>op</strong>e this<br />
demonstrates that co-<strong>op</strong> models are a<br />
powerful tool that represent a viable future<br />
p Sister Midnight co-founders Lenny Watson, Lottie Pendlebury and S<strong>op</strong>hie Farrell with Mayor<br />
of Lewisham, Damien Egan<br />
for cultural spaces, which have long been<br />
strangled by profit-driven models that<br />
don’t centre the pe<strong>op</strong>le who make these<br />
spaces so special. We also h<strong>op</strong>e Sister<br />
Midnight, in being run by three women<br />
under 30, inspires other young pe<strong>op</strong>le to<br />
get involved in co-<strong>op</strong>s, especially women,<br />
non-binary, and other minoritised gender<br />
groups who are underrepresented in the<br />
movement.”<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong> is re<strong>op</strong>ening its community<br />
share offer for a second round of<br />
investment to help raise the remaining<br />
funds needed to renovate the site. “There’s<br />
a lot of work to be done (including a new<br />
roof!) so we’re a way off <strong>op</strong>ening yet,” said<br />
Watson, “but we are so excited to throw<br />
the doors <strong>op</strong>en and celebrate with the<br />
amazing community that have worked<br />
alongside us to make this happen.”<br />
The news of the new venue was shared<br />
at a community meeting on 25 January,<br />
following a meeting with Lewisham<br />
Mayor, Damien Egan to discuss the site. An<br />
impromptu vote agreed to name the venue<br />
Sister Midnight, “in acknowledgement<br />
of the name having become synonymous<br />
with local co-<strong>op</strong>eration, community<br />
solidarity, and leading the way on a new<br />
model for supporting culture”.<br />
Watson added: “We were overwhelmed<br />
by the turnout to the meeting, it made<br />
us immensely proud to be part of the<br />
wonderful South London community.<br />
We’ve still got challenges ahead, but we feel<br />
more confident than ever that we can pull<br />
this off – it’s amazing what can be achieved<br />
by local pe<strong>op</strong>le working together.”<br />
Cllr James Walsh, Lewisham cabinet<br />
member for culture added: “I’m delighted<br />
that Lewisham <strong>Co</strong>uncil continue to<br />
show commitment to enabling quality<br />
grassroots arts and culture as legacy to<br />
our year as London Borough of Culture.”<br />
12 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
MUTUALS<br />
New chief of LV= pledges support for principles of mutualism<br />
The new CEO of insurance mutual LV=,<br />
David Hynam, promised a “new era” for<br />
the organisation in an interview with the<br />
Mail on Sunday in January.<br />
Hynam took the reigns of the 180-yearold<br />
insurer – an icon of the UK mutual<br />
movement – in September, following<br />
the failed bid by his predecessor Mark<br />
Hartigan to sell the business to US private<br />
equity firm Bain Capital.<br />
He told the newspaper that he and new<br />
LV= chair Simon Moore “’are absolutely<br />
committed to being part of the mutual<br />
sector, adding that he will throw his<br />
weight behind the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives, Mutuals<br />
and Friendly Societies Bill tabled in<br />
Parliament by Labour MP Mark Hendrick.<br />
Elements of Sir Mark’s bill have received<br />
the backing of the Treasury, and would<br />
give co-<strong>op</strong>eratives the <strong>op</strong>tion of legally<br />
guaranteeing that some or all of their<br />
assets are held in common and nondistributable<br />
among members.<br />
It is h<strong>op</strong>ed the bill will reduce the risk of<br />
demutualisation for the sector and protect<br />
assets in the long term for members.<br />
This follows a storm of protest over<br />
the bid to sell LV=, which saw a fierce<br />
campaign from the press, including<br />
the Mail, and MPs on the All Party<br />
Parliamentary Group on Mutuals, led by<br />
Labour/<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> MP Gareth Thomas.<br />
“We are a big supporter of the bill,”<br />
Hynam told the Mail.<br />
Asked about claims by former executives<br />
trying to sell the business that it was not<br />
sustainable as a mutual, he said: “All I<br />
p David Hynam, new CEO of LV= (Image: LV=)<br />
can talk about is how I see it now, and I do<br />
think it is sustainable. We see ourselves in<br />
the mutual sector and have no intention of<br />
being anywhere else.”<br />
After members rejected the Bain deal,<br />
LV= held unsuccessful merger talks with<br />
another mutual, Royal London. Hynam<br />
said there were no plans to merge LV=<br />
with any other organisation.<br />
Looking ahead, he said: “It is more<br />
important for mutuals to have good<br />
financial discipline than it is for listed<br />
companies. It is members’ money, and you<br />
should look after it as if it were your own.”<br />
He added that he was happy with LV=’s<br />
capital position and is more concerned<br />
about a previous lack of investment than<br />
debt; as such, the business is planning a<br />
strategic spend over the next five years,<br />
focusing on data, service and IT.<br />
“It has been a difficult time at LV over the<br />
past year or two, but we are now on a nice<br />
stable footing … I want the organisation<br />
to move forward. There is a risk that a<br />
transaction that never happened is stuck<br />
on a permanent cycle, and that is not good<br />
for members or the organisation.”<br />
As for the mutual model, he said it has<br />
the advantage of allowing a long-term<br />
view “because we don’t have shareholders<br />
breathing down our neck”.<br />
Mutuals are also “very focused”, he<br />
argued. “We don’t try to do everything<br />
for everyone, and we don’t have a lot of<br />
products out there. We are not trying to<br />
stretch the envel<strong>op</strong>e all over the place.<br />
“Our members told us clearly in a vote<br />
they wanted to be a mutual. That is the<br />
mandate they have given me. I think there<br />
is an <strong>op</strong>portunity to revitalise. We want a<br />
modern mutual sector.’<br />
Responding to the comments, Gareth<br />
Thomas MP said: “I welcome the change<br />
in direction from Mr Hyman and Mr<br />
Moore. It’s good to see LV in safer hands<br />
now and backing the modernisation of the<br />
rules and regulations governing. What we<br />
need now is ministers determined to help<br />
make it easier for mutuals like LV to raise<br />
the capital they need to offer new services<br />
and expand.”<br />
p The LV= office in Bournemouth (Image: LV=)<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 13
GLOBAL UPDATES<br />
GLOBAL<br />
ICA hunts for a<br />
new director general as<br />
Bruno Roelants retires<br />
The International <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Alliance<br />
(ICA) has begun the recruitment process<br />
for a new director general, replacing<br />
Bruno Roelants who is due to retire.<br />
The ICA says it wants “an<br />
inspirational, forward-thinking leader<br />
who is passionate about the ability of the<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative and mutual sectors of<br />
the global economy to create positive<br />
change for pe<strong>op</strong>le in the quality of their<br />
daily lives”.<br />
Roelants, who is retiring after five years<br />
in the role, also previously spent 16 years<br />
at Cic<strong>op</strong>a, the International Organisation<br />
of Industrial and Service <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives.<br />
In its job specification, the ICA says<br />
candidates must have strategic vision to<br />
help the organisation seek <strong>op</strong>portunities<br />
for membership growth and new sources<br />
of funding, while maintaining focus on<br />
economic and cultural trends to ensure its<br />
continuing relevance.<br />
The ICA is also looking for relationshipbuilding<br />
and facilitation skills focused<br />
on forming long-term partnerships with<br />
international institutions such as United<br />
Nations agencies, the G20, and global<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment organisations. And it requires<br />
“sensitivity to the cultural differences<br />
among ICA members that are central to<br />
reaching common ground on policy and<br />
related issues and a personal commitment<br />
to cultural inclusion”.<br />
The closing date for applicants is<br />
3 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2023</strong>.<br />
Icmif highlights sustainability link for multi-billion assets<br />
A report by the International <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
and Mutual Insurance Federation<br />
(Icmif) shows its members are managing<br />
US$759bn (£613bn) worth of assets linked<br />
to sustainable investment frameworks.<br />
This is a 32% rise from the $576bn<br />
(£465bn) invested by members in 2021,<br />
says the Icmif Members Sustainable<br />
Investment Report 2022, released last<br />
month.<br />
The report is based on the federation’s<br />
Sustainable Investment Framework survey,<br />
which drew responses from 20% of its<br />
membership. Respondents represented<br />
74% of Icmif‘s members’ assets under<br />
management for 2021, equating to $1.5tn<br />
(£1.21tn).<br />
It reveals how Icmif’s members are<br />
collectively involved in sustainable<br />
investment frameworks, including green<br />
bonds, social bonds and resilience bonds<br />
– many of which target climate change.<br />
Icmif members use multiple investment<br />
frameworks, the report finds, with<br />
the United Nations Environment<br />
Programme Finance Initiative Principles<br />
for Responsible Investment (UNEP FI<br />
PRI) and the Principles for Sustainable<br />
Insurance (PSI) among the t<strong>op</strong> choices.<br />
Some 55% of respondents invest<br />
ICMIF Members<br />
Sustainable Investment Report 2022<br />
in impact investing, up from 46% in<br />
2020 to 15.6bn. Around 85% said their<br />
organisation invested in sustainable<br />
bonds including green bonds and<br />
resilience bonds, amounting to $16.9bn<br />
(£13.65bn) – up 40% on $12.1bn (£9.78bn)<br />
in 2021. Furthermore, 37% of respondents<br />
have made net-zero commitments, up<br />
from 18% last year.<br />
Icmif CEO Shaun Tarbuck said: “The<br />
results are testament to how our members<br />
have gone from strength to strength since<br />
the inception of this survey in 2019. Our<br />
latest findings show continued, solid<br />
forward-momentum from the mutual and<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative insurance sector towards a<br />
greener future.<br />
“It is well documented that sustainable<br />
initiatives improve a company’s financial<br />
performance; improve efficiency; re duce<br />
costs; and drive change. This allows<br />
the business to gain a competitive edge<br />
as well as significantly enhance the<br />
business’s image to employees, potential<br />
employees and other stakeholders such<br />
as member policyholders and investors.<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong> and mutual insurance sector<br />
is ideally placed to take a lead in the<br />
field of sustainability and sustainable<br />
investments to form a coalition of the<br />
willing.”<br />
Mutuals and co-<strong>op</strong>s account for 30% of<br />
the world’s insurance market with $10tn<br />
in assets.<br />
Full report: bit.ly/3WjG3o6<br />
14 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
BELGIUM<br />
Members of co-<strong>op</strong> bank NewB approve partnership with vdk<br />
Members of Brussels-based NewB bank<br />
voted in favour of a partnership with vdk<br />
bank at an extraordinary general meeting<br />
on 14 January.<br />
The move comes after NewB ran into<br />
trouble with the regulators over its<br />
failure to meet a €40m (£35.20m) capital<br />
requirement.<br />
Under the agreement, NewB will become<br />
a banking and investment agent for vdk.<br />
This means that NewB will no longer<br />
have a banking licence. The meeting also<br />
approved changes to NewB’s statues to<br />
enable the agreement. While the articles<br />
of association already authorised NewB to<br />
act also as an intermediary in insurance<br />
and investment services, they did not<br />
authorise it to act as an intermediary in<br />
banking services.<br />
Following the loss of the banking<br />
license and in view of the collaboration<br />
with vdk bank, it was also necessary to<br />
modify NewB’s ‘social purpose’ and add<br />
intermediary in banking services to the<br />
list of activities that may be carried out. As<br />
a co-<strong>op</strong>erative society, rather than a bank,<br />
NewB will have to meet lower capital<br />
requirements.<br />
NewB’s banking clients will be<br />
transferred to vdk, subject to the<br />
regulator’s approval. NewB will be<br />
compensated for this clientele via an<br />
indemnity pr<strong>op</strong>ortional to the amounts<br />
held by in the current accounts,<br />
savings and investment fund accounts<br />
transferred.<br />
At the same time, NewB will continue<br />
to act as an insurance agent for mutual<br />
Monceau. The agreement will also allow<br />
NewB to become the intermediary for<br />
VDK bank’s French-speaking customers<br />
in banking and investment services –<br />
for which it will receive a compensation<br />
from vdk pr<strong>op</strong>ortional to the volumes<br />
of products and services used by its<br />
customers.<br />
According to vdk bank, NewB customers<br />
will have access to the new vdk bank<br />
products and services as of April this<br />
year. Meanwhile, NewB’s Dutch speaking<br />
customers will be served by one of vdk’s<br />
60 or so branches, unless they specifically<br />
request to continue to be served by NewB,<br />
in which case the latter will provide<br />
remote digital services for them.<br />
p NewB held an extraordinary general meeting on 14 January (Image: ©NewB)<br />
Although NewB will not have a seat on<br />
official governance bodies of vdk bank,<br />
in the event of reaching a certain level of<br />
business, NewB could be able to pr<strong>op</strong>ose a<br />
member to the board of vdk bank. In such<br />
an event, the pr<strong>op</strong>osal will be examined<br />
by both parties, within the existing<br />
regulatory framework for banks.<br />
The amendment to the articles of<br />
association was approved with 95%<br />
of votes among the individual co<strong>op</strong>erators<br />
and civil society organisations.<br />
Meanwhile, the institutional actors<br />
voted unanimously in favour of the<br />
amendments. As such, the required 80%<br />
threshold was met.<br />
Bernard Bayot, chair of the board of<br />
NewB, said: “Our co-<strong>op</strong>erators have sent a<br />
particularly strong signal today. They feel<br />
there is a big need for a Belgian bank in<br />
the service of our planet and society. And<br />
they have truly voted for the alliance of<br />
their co-<strong>op</strong>erative with vdk bank, which<br />
will allow them to achieve this ambition<br />
more quickly and more completely. We<br />
are impatient to begin this collaboration,<br />
which will allow the emergence of a solid<br />
and sustainable bank for all pe<strong>op</strong>le in<br />
Belgium.”<br />
Leen Van den Neste, chair of the<br />
management board of vdk, said: “We are<br />
extremely satisfied with the result of the<br />
vote. The fact that such a large majority<br />
of co-<strong>op</strong>erators say ‘Yes’ to our common<br />
project gives us wings. We look forward to<br />
welcoming NewB customers and making<br />
sustainable banking a reality for the<br />
whole of Belgium with NewB.”<br />
She added: “Our ambition is clear: we<br />
are in the process of building a solid and<br />
sustainable bank for all of Belgium. All<br />
the lights are now green for it. We are<br />
delighted.”<br />
Launched in 2019, NewB obtained<br />
its banking licence in January 2020. Its<br />
products included accounts, payment<br />
cards, insurance, investment products<br />
and green credits, with a total of 20,000<br />
clients with €180m in deposits. In 2022 the<br />
bank was placed under the supervision<br />
of a court-appointed administrator last<br />
year after failing to meet a €40m capital<br />
requirement set by the National Bank of<br />
Belgium.<br />
In response, NewB launched a<br />
petition on 22 September 2022 calling for<br />
an ethical and sustainable bank which<br />
attracted signatures from 37,060 citizens<br />
and 110 organisations. The bank also<br />
launched two online forums, in French<br />
and Dutch, which brought together over<br />
700 pe<strong>op</strong>le to discuss its activities and<br />
plans.<br />
A Flemmish co-<strong>op</strong>erative bank rooted<br />
in the Christian labour movement, vdk<br />
has similar policies to NewB – it excludes<br />
fossil fuels from its investment portfolio<br />
and is a member of the Global Alliance for<br />
Banking on Values.<br />
The two co-<strong>op</strong>eratives have not<br />
disclosed how much vdk will be paying<br />
for NewB’s customer portfolio.<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 15
IRELAND<br />
ICOS co-<strong>op</strong> apex launches survey of farmers on sustainability<br />
The Irish <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Organisation<br />
Society (ICOS) has launched a survey of<br />
farmers to offer them a voice in “future<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative processes” as it looks to drive<br />
sustainable agricultural practices.<br />
The research is funded by the Golden<br />
Jubilee Trust, a philanthr<strong>op</strong>ic organisation<br />
whose objective is to improve and devel<strong>op</strong><br />
Irish agricultural and rural life.<br />
ICOS represents around 130 co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
including farms, dairy processors and<br />
livestock marts and has over 150,000<br />
individual members; its co-<strong>op</strong>s have a<br />
combined turnover of €14bn and employ<br />
more than 12,000 pe<strong>op</strong>le.<br />
It wants farmers from all sectors<br />
and all farm sizes to take part in the<br />
survey, which follows a recent gathering<br />
of co-<strong>op</strong>erative industry leaders and<br />
environmental experts at a national<br />
bioeconomy worksh<strong>op</strong> organised by ICOS.<br />
This discussed progress already being<br />
achieved by the industry and the potential<br />
to accelerate this.<br />
From that meeting, ICOS says it is<br />
establishing a ‘co-<strong>op</strong>erative framework’<br />
for Irish co-<strong>op</strong>eratives to share information<br />
and best practice on sustainability and the<br />
bioeconomy. The results of the survey will<br />
be combined with the recommendations of<br />
the national bioeconomy worksh<strong>op</strong> and the<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative framework. ICOS says this will<br />
drive strategy, with a series of measures to<br />
be delivered from this year onwards.<br />
“It’s essential for us to hear directly<br />
from farmers in every community across<br />
Ireland so that their views can be included<br />
in our future co-<strong>op</strong>erative processes<br />
aimed at ensuring the sustainability of<br />
Irish agriculture now and for the future,”<br />
said ICOS bioeconomy executive John<br />
Brosnan.<br />
“This forms part of our larger research<br />
programme into farmer attitudes and<br />
intentions on sustainability measures and<br />
the bioeconomy generally which has been<br />
supported by the Golden Jubilee Trust.<br />
“Implementing projects centred<br />
around bioeconomy principles will allow<br />
for greater value to be unlocked from<br />
the food, feed, fibres, chemicals, fuels<br />
and energy that we can derive from our<br />
land, cr<strong>op</strong>s and natural resources. What<br />
was once considered a ‘waste’ is now a<br />
valuable by-product or co-product.<br />
“By moving towards new business<br />
models, the ‘win-win’ of helping climate,<br />
biodiversity and water quality can be<br />
coupled with greater economic return and<br />
sustainability for farmers and agriculture<br />
in general.”<br />
ICOS says the online survey is entirely<br />
confidential and takes about 10 minutes<br />
to complete. Farmers can find it on the<br />
news section of the ICOS website.<br />
SERBIA<br />
Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir<br />
starts work on country’s<br />
first co-<strong>op</strong> solar sites<br />
Serbia’s first two co-<strong>op</strong> energy sites are<br />
due to be installed this spring, following<br />
the successful fundraising efforts of<br />
energy co-<strong>op</strong> Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir.<br />
The Solarna Stara project will install<br />
two solar power systems on the Stara<br />
planina mountain, in south-east Serbia.<br />
The solar panels will be on the roofs of<br />
a local council building in the village of<br />
Temska and on the cultural centre in the<br />
village of Dojkinci.<br />
Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir co-founder Ana Džokić<br />
told Balkan Green Energy <strong>News</strong> that the<br />
project is a partnership between the local<br />
authorities who own the buildings, the<br />
local community associations who use<br />
them, and Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir. A contract has<br />
been drawn up between the three parties,<br />
which when signed will lay out the terms<br />
for future co-<strong>op</strong>eration.<br />
The revenues from the energy will be<br />
distributed across local initiatives and<br />
projects, says Džokić.<br />
Last June, Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir launched<br />
a crowdfunder to support the Solarna<br />
Stara project. In one month, 229 donors<br />
donated a total of RSD 972,452.00 (GBP<br />
£7,311), 116% of the target amount. The<br />
extra funds have allowed the project to<br />
add two more solar panels, raising its<br />
power from an expected 5.25 kWp to 6<br />
kWp.<br />
Founded in 2019, Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir is one<br />
of just two energy co-<strong>op</strong>s in Serbia. The<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative has members from cities and<br />
towns across the country and is not tied<br />
to a specific region. Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir was<br />
founded with the aim of democratising<br />
energy and works to enable citizens to be<br />
actors in the energy transition.<br />
With the Solarna Stara project,<br />
Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir says that it wants to “show<br />
that all citizens can be initiators of change<br />
towards sustainable energy and that this<br />
is not a position reserved exclusively for<br />
large investors”.<br />
Elektr<strong>op</strong>ionir states that “energy must<br />
be clean and can be jointly owned”,<br />
adding: “The co-<strong>op</strong>erative tradition exists<br />
in Serbia, and now we apply it to the<br />
production of energy from sustainable<br />
sources.<br />
“Our first co-<strong>op</strong>erative rooft<strong>op</strong> solar<br />
power plants on Stara planina will be a<br />
demonstrative example that, through the<br />
association of citizens and solidarity, we<br />
are ready to turn from destructive and<br />
unsustainable technologies to greener<br />
and nobler solutions.”<br />
16 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
AUSTRALIA<br />
Grain co-<strong>op</strong><br />
CBH boosts investment<br />
to help process<br />
increased harvests<br />
Grower-owned grain co-<strong>op</strong> CBH Group,<br />
based in Western Australia, says it will<br />
continue its increased investment in its<br />
network,following record exports in 2022.<br />
CEO Ben Macnamara said other<br />
unprecedented factors included the<br />
ongoing fallout from <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 and<br />
domestic labour shortages, and the<br />
record harvest put the co-<strong>op</strong>’s network<br />
under pressure.<br />
“For the first time in our co-<strong>op</strong>’s history,<br />
the record 2021/22 receivals of 21.3 million<br />
tonnes exceeded the logistical capacity of<br />
the network, with the size of the cr<strong>op</strong> 50%<br />
bigger than the five-year average.<br />
“Unsurprisingly, the record harvest<br />
placed pressure on the supply chain, but<br />
our pe<strong>op</strong>le worked together to overcome<br />
all the challenges thrown at them to<br />
receive, store and outturn the cr<strong>op</strong>,<br />
while also delivering the largest network<br />
investment programme on record, and<br />
navigating through significant global<br />
market volatility.<br />
“I’m especially pleased to say that<br />
the team were able to achieve all this<br />
safely, with the team reporting the safest<br />
12-month period on record.<br />
“The record 18.1 million tonnes that the<br />
team delivered to our international and<br />
domestic customers is testament to the<br />
resilience of the network and should put<br />
to bed any commentary that the supply<br />
chain is broken.”<br />
He added: “While we were able to<br />
mitigate some of the significant pressure<br />
throughout the year, it highlights the need<br />
to continue our increased investment<br />
in the network so we can improve our<br />
logistical capacity, particularly with<br />
moving grain from upcountry to port.”<br />
Macnamara said the co-<strong>op</strong>’s strong<br />
financial result – with a record net profit<br />
after tax of AU$497.7m (£286m) “positions<br />
us well to continue the investment in<br />
the network over the coming years and<br />
execute the vision of our ‘Path to 2033’<br />
Strategy.”<br />
The key driver for the co-<strong>op</strong>’s<br />
performance was the Marketing and<br />
Trading division, which reported a<br />
surplus of $437.9m (£251m). The division<br />
accumulated 50% of the record Western<br />
Australia cr<strong>op</strong> and paid a record $5bn to<br />
growers during the year.<br />
The division will retain 62% of its<br />
surplus to bolster its equity position,<br />
allowing it to purchase the current and<br />
forecast larger cr<strong>op</strong>s, manage market risk<br />
and offer higher prices for growers.<br />
The remaining 38% or $168m (£96.54m)<br />
will be reinvested in the network in<br />
line with the CBH Strategy, which was<br />
refreshed during the year.<br />
Operations recorded a surplus of $57.9m<br />
(£33.27m) driven by record receipt of 21.3<br />
million tonnes combined with strong<br />
shipping demand.<br />
While the team safely received the<br />
record harvest, the size of the cr<strong>op</strong><br />
challenged the outloading programme,<br />
which was compounded by disruptions<br />
from <strong>Co</strong>vid-related absenteeism and<br />
labour shortages, including truck and<br />
train driver availability.<br />
“Despite these challenges, the team<br />
came together along with existing<br />
and new contractors and growers, to<br />
collectively export 16.7 million tonnes<br />
and deliver 1.4 million tonnes to domestic<br />
customers,” said Macnamara.<br />
CBH’s fertiliser business reported an<br />
11% increase in tonnes sold, with a new<br />
purpose-built facility in Kwinana due to<br />
start supply early this year.<br />
In 2022, the co-<strong>op</strong> invested a record<br />
$348m to improve its network, including<br />
three site expansion projects, more than<br />
230 sustaining capital projects, a large<br />
maintenance programme and preparation<br />
for another massive 2022/23 harvest.<br />
“We currently have a once-in-a-lifetime<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity to strengthen and reinvest<br />
in the co-<strong>op</strong>erative,” said Macnamara.<br />
“It is that type of forward-looking vision<br />
that allowed the co-<strong>op</strong>erative to deliver<br />
major projects such as the Kwinana Grain<br />
Terminal in the 1970s, which are still<br />
delivering value growers today.<br />
“While we have invested significantly<br />
in the network over the past five years, we<br />
are committed to investing a further $4bn<br />
(£2.30bn) over the next decade, which<br />
is crucial to increase the capacity of the<br />
network and deliver sustainable, long-term<br />
value for Western Australian growers.”<br />
Meanwhile, CBH’s Marketing & Trading<br />
division hitting the $2bn (£1.15bn) mark in<br />
total payments to growers during the first<br />
week of <strong>2023</strong>.<br />
Chief marketing and trading officer<br />
Jason Craig, said: “WA growers have<br />
shown enduring commitment and<br />
patience as we have worked through<br />
significant challenges this year. These<br />
financial milestones represent the long,<br />
hard work put in by WA growers and their<br />
families and underscore our unwavering<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative commitment to delivering<br />
value for them.”<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 17
USA<br />
Fellowship call from the Institute for the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Digital Economy<br />
The Institute for the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Digital<br />
Economy (ICDE), based at the New School<br />
in New York City, is seeking applications<br />
for its <strong>2023</strong>/2024 cohort of fellows that will<br />
focus on the nexus of the climate crisis,<br />
the digital economy, and co-<strong>op</strong>s.<br />
The non-residential programme, now in<br />
its third cohort, is accessible to activists<br />
and academics (often Ph.D. students)<br />
from a wide range of disciplines and<br />
backgrounds, including economics,<br />
sociology, political science, anthr<strong>op</strong>ology,<br />
business and labour studies.<br />
The Institute is also seeking two artists<br />
to join the fellowship cohort and use their<br />
creative practices to investigate the nexus<br />
of art, environmental justice, and co-<strong>op</strong>s.<br />
The programme runs for one year,<br />
beginning on March 15, <strong>2023</strong>, and will<br />
provide fellows with a stipend to attend<br />
the <strong>2023</strong> conference, which will probably<br />
be held in India.<br />
Founded in 2019, the ICDE is the<br />
research division of the Platform<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erativism <strong>Co</strong>nsortium (PCC),<br />
and investigates business models and<br />
strategies that encourage co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
ownership and democratic governance in<br />
the digital economy.<br />
It says its work “is particularly urgent<br />
given the rapid changes occurring in the<br />
digital economy. Advances in artificial<br />
intelligence, automation, and data<br />
processing are shifting responsibilities<br />
from workers to machines. It is essential to<br />
understand and address these disruptions<br />
in order to navigate the challenges<br />
they present and create a fair future of<br />
work. To navigate these disruptions, we<br />
need research that imagines, builds,<br />
and explores new visions of fair work.<br />
One potential solution is the ad<strong>op</strong>tion<br />
of co-<strong>op</strong>erative principles in the digital<br />
economy.”<br />
It adds: “The Institute is committed to<br />
filling these research gaps by providing<br />
platform co-<strong>op</strong>eratives with applied<br />
and theoretical knowledge, education,<br />
and policy analysis. We are dedicated<br />
to building a fair future of work based<br />
on relevant research and imaginative<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>osals. Our goal is to create a body<br />
of knowledge that advances platform<br />
ownership and democratic governance for<br />
both workers and all internet users.”<br />
It adds that fellows will “become part<br />
of our community, which provides access<br />
to affiliated faculty and centres at the<br />
New School, former fellows, PCC <strong>Co</strong>uncil<br />
of Advisor members, hundreds of former<br />
PCC conference speakers, and platform<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> pioneers from around the world.<br />
The fellowship includes monthly online<br />
gatherings, contribution to the annual<br />
PCC conference, and other <strong>op</strong>portunities<br />
to connect with the ICDE’s global network<br />
of researchers and co-<strong>op</strong>erators.<br />
The PCC is also running the Platform<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> School – a series of 22 online<br />
learning sessions as part of its efforts<br />
to encourage the devel<strong>op</strong>ment of<br />
democratic, co-<strong>op</strong>erative platforms in the<br />
digital economy. Running until 15 July, it<br />
has been devel<strong>op</strong>ed by the Platform <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>Co</strong>nsortium alongside more<br />
than 45 organisations from 24 countries,<br />
“to research, learn about, and build<br />
fair, co-<strong>op</strong>erative digital platforms that<br />
promote accountable and fair work”.<br />
Full details fellowships: bit.ly/3WAixTO<br />
Details of the Platform <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> School at<br />
platform.co<strong>op</strong>/school/<br />
INDIA<br />
Data-gathering under way for national co-<strong>op</strong> mapping project<br />
A project is under way to create a national<br />
database of India’s co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, led by<br />
the country’s Ministry of <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration.<br />
The Ministry says the National<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Database will provide a<br />
single point of information on co-<strong>op</strong>s in<br />
all sectors across the country, to increase<br />
understanding of the movement and<br />
strengthen it in India.<br />
In a presentation last year, the Ministry<br />
said the database “is envisaged to facilitate<br />
in policy making, improve governance and<br />
improve transparency”, as well as helping<br />
the sector better position itself in the<br />
business environment.<br />
Entries to the database are voluntary for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s, and those wishing to be included<br />
will be asked for static information and<br />
financial figures that will need annual<br />
updates.<br />
The database could potentially be linked<br />
with India’s Government E Market(GEM),<br />
which would enable co-<strong>op</strong>s to sell via this<br />
platform, adds the Ministry.<br />
In 2022, the Ministry held a series<br />
of consultations with stakeholders to<br />
identify sector-specific parameters for<br />
data collection, and produced a set of data<br />
collection templates.<br />
The first phase of devel<strong>op</strong>ment, due for<br />
completion at the end of last year, collected<br />
basic data from co-<strong>op</strong>erative fisheries,<br />
dairy co-<strong>op</strong>s and primary agriculture credit<br />
societies (PACS).<br />
The second phase of data collection<br />
starts in <strong>February</strong>, taking data related to co<strong>op</strong>s’<br />
<strong>op</strong>erations, use of ICT, employment,<br />
economic activities, revenue, expenses,<br />
assets and liabilities.<br />
18 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
GLOBAL<br />
First keynote<br />
speakers announced<br />
for <strong>2023</strong> World Credit<br />
Union <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
The World <strong>Co</strong>uncil of Credit Unions<br />
(Woccu) has announced the first keynote<br />
speakers for its conference, organised for<br />
23–26 July, in Vancouver, Canada.<br />
It is expected to draw credit union board<br />
members, practitioners and executives<br />
from 60 countries, with speakers including<br />
corporate advisors Alison Burns and James<br />
Taylor, writer and researcher Kim Lear,<br />
and broadcaster and author Riaz Meghji.<br />
Burns and Taylor are keynote speakers<br />
on sustainability and future trends who<br />
run the Ethical Futurists platform. Burns<br />
is an award-winning performer, keynote<br />
speaker and expert in business ethics,<br />
sustainability and ethical leadership.<br />
Taylor started his career managing highprofile<br />
rock stars, but for the past 20 years<br />
has been advising CEOs, entrepreneurs,<br />
educators, governments, leaders, writers<br />
and rock stars on how to build innovative<br />
organisations, unlock creative potential<br />
and increase productivity.<br />
Lear is the founder and content director<br />
of Inlay Insights, a generational research<br />
and public speaking firm. She uses a mix of<br />
data, storytelling, humour and actionable<br />
takeaways to discuss the trends that most<br />
impact the bottom line of organisations.<br />
Previously, she was content director at<br />
a research firm dedicated to generational<br />
and millennial trends, drawing on<br />
statistics, stories and case studies.<br />
Meghji is the author of the bestselling<br />
book Every <strong>Co</strong>nversation <strong>Co</strong>unts: The 5<br />
Habits of Human <strong>Co</strong>nnection That Build<br />
Extraordinary Relationships. He has 17<br />
years of television experience which he is<br />
now using to deliver keynote speeches on<br />
the key habits of human connection that<br />
build relationships and move businesses<br />
forward.<br />
The full conference agenda at<br />
wcuc.org. Early-bird registration rates<br />
will be available until 14 April.<br />
Nominations <strong>op</strong>en for two credit union awards<br />
Nominations are now <strong>op</strong>en for two awards<br />
that recognise achievements in the credit<br />
union sector.<br />
The World <strong>Co</strong>uncil of Credit Unions<br />
(Woccu) is inviting nominations for both its<br />
Digital Growth Award and Distinguished<br />
Service Award.<br />
The <strong>2023</strong> Digital Growth Award<br />
will recognise one or more of Woccu’s<br />
member credit unions or associations for<br />
successfully working toward its Challenge<br />
2025 goal of digitising the global credit<br />
union system by 2025.<br />
An independent panel of expert judges<br />
will evaluate the nominees, who will need<br />
to show that they have implemented an<br />
inclusive, innovative and scalable digital<br />
solution.<br />
Last year’s winners were Brazilian credit<br />
union system Sicredi, for CPR Facil – a<br />
digital agribusiness product that allows<br />
members to take out loans using a mobile<br />
phone, and Northpark <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Credit<br />
Union for its Virtual Branching initiative.<br />
“With the Digital Growth Award now<br />
in its third year, we h<strong>op</strong>e to see more<br />
nominations than ever before,” said<br />
Woccu president and CEO Elissa McCarter<br />
LaBorde.<br />
“We are excited to showcase how<br />
credit unions are using innovative digital<br />
solutions to reach underserved p<strong>op</strong>ulations<br />
and to build resilient communities across<br />
the globe.”<br />
The deadline for World <strong>Co</strong>uncil members<br />
to make a nomination for the <strong>2023</strong> Digital<br />
Growth Award is 5:00 pm US Central<br />
Standard Time on 3 March.<br />
Also <strong>op</strong>en for nominations is Woccu’s<br />
<strong>2023</strong> Distinguished Service Award (DSA),<br />
which honours individuals and institutions’<br />
contributions to credit union devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
outside of their home country.<br />
The DSA was first presented in 1986, and<br />
is not an annual award but is presented<br />
based on the merits of individual<br />
nominations. Last year, president and<br />
CEO of Peach State Federal Credit Union,<br />
Marshall Boutwell, was presented with the<br />
award for his work with Polish and British<br />
credit unions.<br />
“Individuals or institutions that have<br />
worked to further World <strong>Co</strong>uncil’s vision<br />
of expanding financial inclusion through<br />
credit unions beyond their national<br />
borders are eligible for the Distinguished<br />
Service Award,” said Thomas Belekevich,<br />
World <strong>Co</strong>uncil director of member services.<br />
“We strongly encourage our member<br />
organisations to nominate any and all<br />
credit union leaders or institutions that<br />
exemplify the international spirit of co<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
and service.”<br />
This year’s nomination process is fully<br />
digital, and can be completed online by<br />
World <strong>Co</strong>uncil members before 10 March.<br />
Both the Digital Growth Award and<br />
Distinguished Service recipients will<br />
receive one free registration (per person<br />
or organisation) to the <strong>2023</strong> World Credit<br />
Union <strong>Co</strong>nference in Vancouver, Canada,<br />
July 23-26, where the awards will be<br />
presented.<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 19
EUROPE<br />
Cec<strong>op</strong> welcomes<br />
EU progress towards<br />
the regulation of<br />
platform work<br />
On 12 December the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean Parliament’s<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmittee on Employment and Social<br />
Affairs (EMPL) ad<strong>op</strong>ted a report on the<br />
Eur<strong>op</strong>ean <strong>Co</strong>mmission’s pr<strong>op</strong>osal for a<br />
directive improving working conditions in<br />
platform work. The text, which will serve<br />
as a draft-negotiating mandate on new<br />
rules to improve the working conditions in<br />
platform work, includes new measures to<br />
combat false self-employment in platform<br />
work, a human oversight on all decisions<br />
affecting working conditions and making<br />
platforms share more information with<br />
national authorities.<br />
The text was welcomed by the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean<br />
confederation of industrial and service<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives (Cec<strong>op</strong>), whose members<br />
include co-<strong>op</strong>s of freelancers, truck<br />
drivers, taxi drivers, journalists, masons,<br />
graphic designers, consultants, doctors<br />
and lawyers, among others.<br />
Under the draft text ad<strong>op</strong>ted by EMPL,<br />
workers for digital labour platforms<br />
are presumed to be in an employment<br />
relationship with the platforms, as<br />
<strong>op</strong>posed to being self-employed. In the<br />
event of a dispute between the platform<br />
and a worker, the platform – rather than<br />
the worker- would have the responsibility<br />
to prove that they do not employ the<br />
worker.<br />
Non-mandatory criteria would also<br />
be introduced to determine a worker’s<br />
employment status, including a set salary,<br />
defined time schedule and working time,<br />
rating systems, tracking or supervision<br />
of a worker, rules regarding appearance<br />
or conduct, restricted <strong>op</strong>tions to work for<br />
any third party or restricted freedom to<br />
choose accident insurance or a pension<br />
scheme.<br />
The text also introduces provisions<br />
to boost the exchange of information<br />
between competent labour, social<br />
protection and tax authorities in crossborder<br />
cases and dissuasive penalties.<br />
Cec<strong>op</strong> welcomed the employment<br />
presumption noting that “while the text<br />
of the report does not <strong>op</strong>enly mention co<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
as entities ensuring democratic<br />
p 28 million pe<strong>op</strong>le work in the platform economy in the EU (Image: iStock)<br />
worker representation, it nonetheless<br />
defines workers’ representatives and<br />
representatives of persons performing<br />
platform work in a way that is inclusive of<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative business forms.”<br />
The text also recognises “the significant<br />
economic and social role of social economy<br />
entities as an example of participatorygoverned<br />
businesses which use digital<br />
platforms to facilitate citizen engagement<br />
and the selling of locally produced goods<br />
and services, aiming to achieve better<br />
working conditions for their members.” It<br />
adds that co-<strong>op</strong>eratives could constitute<br />
“an important instrument for the bottomup<br />
organisation of platform work and<br />
could encourage competition between<br />
platforms” and calls on member states<br />
to “protect and promote co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
undertakings and small businesses by<br />
means that aim to safeguard employment<br />
and ensure their capacity for sustainable<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment and growth.”<br />
The report warns that “the use of<br />
subcontracting chains has been used as<br />
a way of circumventing the application<br />
of labour law to platform workers”, and<br />
sets up measures to prevent situations in<br />
which platforms manage to avoid their<br />
employers’ responsibilities through the<br />
use of subcontractors.<br />
Cec<strong>op</strong> also acknowledged the report’s<br />
provisions on transparency, fairness,<br />
human oversight, safety and accountability<br />
in algorithmic management, including for<br />
self-employed workers.<br />
It added: “The Eur<strong>op</strong>ean Parliament’s<br />
report represents a significant, progressive<br />
step in regulation of platform work.<br />
According to the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean <strong>Co</strong>mmission’s<br />
estimates, 28 million pe<strong>op</strong>le in the EU<br />
worked through digital labour platforms,<br />
and this number will reach 43 million by<br />
2025. Currently, millions of workers are<br />
misclassified a s s elf-employed, w hich<br />
deprives them of social protection and<br />
labour rights, and undermines honest<br />
businesses, which do comply with the<br />
relevant labour legislation. For co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
businesses in particular, a<br />
stricter Eur<strong>op</strong>ean regulation on digital<br />
labour platforms is important as a way<br />
to ensure level playing field a nd t heir<br />
competitiveness in the single market.<br />
We call on the members of the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean<br />
Parliament to support EMPL committee’s<br />
report in the plenary vote.”<br />
The text was ad<strong>op</strong>ted with 41 votes to 12<br />
and will act as a negotiating mandate for<br />
the upcoming talks with EU governments.<br />
Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, IT), the lead<br />
rapporteur, said: “Too many platform<br />
workers today are bogusly self-employed,<br />
stuck in limbo with no labour rights and<br />
social protection. With this report, we<br />
are making sure that they are recognised<br />
as either employees or self-employed,<br />
depending on their actual conditions of<br />
work. Moreover, this is a first crucial step<br />
towards protecting all workers against the<br />
abuse of algorithms. Automated decisionmaking<br />
systems cannot be black boxes;<br />
social partners will be able to negotiate<br />
how algorithms take decisions regarding<br />
working conditions.”<br />
The Eur<strong>op</strong>ean <strong>Co</strong>mmission estimates<br />
there are 516 platforms <strong>op</strong>erating across<br />
the Eur<strong>op</strong>ean Union, with 28 million<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le working for these platforms.<br />
CECOP’s full position on the platform<br />
work directive is available at: bit.<br />
ly/3GMgExu.<br />
20 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
GLOBAL<br />
Informal women<br />
workers’ network Wiego<br />
receives award at Davos<br />
Women in Informal Employment:<br />
Globalizing and Organizing (Wiego), a<br />
global network supporting women in the<br />
informal economy, has been recognised<br />
at the <strong>2023</strong> Schwab Foundation Social<br />
Innovation Awards, held at the World<br />
Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.<br />
One of 16 winners, Wiego received the<br />
award for <strong>Co</strong>llective Social Innovation, a<br />
new accolade introduced to recognise the<br />
growing importance of collaboration in<br />
nurturing grassroots action.<br />
A sister organisation to the WEF,<br />
the Schwab Foundation for Social<br />
Entrepreneurship was set up by Hilde<br />
Schwab and her husband Klaus, executive<br />
chair of the WEF – which met in Davos<br />
from 16 to 20 January under the theme<br />
“<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration in a fragmented world”.<br />
Wiego was represented at the ceremony<br />
by its international coordinator Dr Sally<br />
Roever, Janhavi Dave – international<br />
coordinator of HomeNet International<br />
– and Lorraine Sibanda – president,<br />
StreetNet International. It now joins<br />
Schwab’s global community of 435 social<br />
innovators <strong>op</strong>erating in more than 190<br />
countries, and will be integrated into WEF<br />
meetings and initiatives for three years.<br />
Dr Roever said: “At Wiego, we advocate<br />
for fairer incomes and better working<br />
conditions for workers in the informal<br />
economy: the pe<strong>op</strong>le who feed our cities,<br />
stitch our garments, keep waste out of our<br />
oceans and care for our young and old.”<br />
Wiego sees co-<strong>op</strong>s as an important form<br />
of democratic organisation and solidarity<br />
for informal workers, bringing access to<br />
services and markets and engaging in<br />
collective negotiations. It works with co<strong>op</strong>s<br />
in many regions, including waste<br />
picker co-<strong>op</strong>s in Brazil and women’s<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s in India.<br />
Electric co-<strong>op</strong>s in the Philippines take action to help peers<br />
Electric co-<strong>op</strong>s in the Philippines are<br />
putting principle 6 – co-<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
among co-<strong>op</strong>s – into action by donating<br />
thousand of electric meters to some of the<br />
movement’s struggling businesses.<br />
Around 47,000 electric meters are<br />
being donated to two energy co-<strong>op</strong>s in<br />
the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in<br />
Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).<br />
Romania’s first non-bank financier for social enterprises<br />
gets nod from regulator<br />
Romanian social enterprises, including<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, will be able to secure loans<br />
from the country’s first non-bank financial<br />
institution dedicated exclusively to social<br />
entrepreneurs.<br />
Set up in May 2022, the Alternative<br />
FINancing Institution (AFIN IFN S.A) this<br />
month received an authorisation from the<br />
National Bank of Romania (BNR).<br />
Woccu gives global update on key regulatory issues<br />
Image: iStock<br />
In its latest annual Global Regulatory<br />
update, the World <strong>Co</strong>uncil of Credit Unions<br />
(Woccu) says the key issues for the sector<br />
this year will include pr<strong>op</strong>ortionality in<br />
regulation, sustainability and financial<br />
inclusion.<br />
And the apex has repeated its call on<br />
regulators around the world to recognise<br />
the ability of credit unions to weather<br />
financial shocks.<br />
US farmers launch egg co-<strong>op</strong> to strengthen supply chain<br />
Image: GettyImages<br />
Eight businesses have joined forces<br />
to form a new egg farmer co-<strong>op</strong> in the<br />
western United States.<br />
ProEgg says that its members are<br />
pooling their eggs together with the aim of<br />
creating a more stable and consistent egg<br />
supply chain across the 13 states it serves.<br />
Multi-state seed co-<strong>op</strong> launched in India to drive productivity<br />
Image: GettyImages<br />
The Indian government has approved the<br />
incorporation of a new multi-state seed<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> called Bharatiya Sahakari Beej<br />
Samit (BSBS).<br />
Five co-<strong>op</strong>erative societies including<br />
the Indian Farmers Fertiliser <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Limited (IFFCO) and the National Diary<br />
Devel<strong>op</strong>ment Board (NDDB) will be the<br />
promoters of the co-<strong>op</strong>.<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 21
MEET<br />
<strong>Co</strong>uncillor Louise Gittins<br />
Chair of the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>uncils’<br />
Innovation Network<br />
Louise became the leader of Cheshire West and Chester <strong>Co</strong>uncil<br />
in 2019, and says that from the start, she has embedded co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
values and principles into her work. One of her first<br />
objectives was for the <strong>Co</strong>uncil to become a <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>uncil<br />
and join the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>uncils’ Innovation Network, of<br />
which she was recently elected chair.<br />
HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INVOLVED IN LOCAL<br />
GOVERNMENT?<br />
I have been an active member of the Labour Party<br />
since 1999 and always helped out in local and<br />
national elections. In 2011 I was the candidate in<br />
a ward where I live, for the newly formed Cheshire<br />
West and Chester <strong>Co</strong>uncil. I wasn’t expected to win,<br />
but I did and made it my pledge to work hard for<br />
and with my local community.<br />
The Labour group was in <strong>op</strong>position until the<br />
2015 all out elections. When we took control of<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>uncil, I was deputy leader until the 2019<br />
elections and became leader when Samantha<br />
Dixon stood down as leader after the elections (Sam<br />
is now the new MP for Chester City <strong>Co</strong>nstituency).<br />
As well as chairing the CCIN, I am chair of the<br />
Local Government Association (LGA) Children and<br />
Young Pe<strong>op</strong>le’s board, Cheshire and Merseyside<br />
Health Care partnership and vice chair of transport<br />
for the North. I am passionate about improving<br />
health inequalities and the subsequent role of local<br />
As chair of the CCIN I will bring<br />
passion and enthusiasm and a<br />
drive to spread the co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
word and increase our network<br />
across the country.<br />
government, whilst recognising that co-<strong>op</strong>eration,<br />
collaboration, and partnership working is how we<br />
get things done!<br />
HOW DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT CO-OPS?<br />
I was always aware of the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative party and<br />
the model of co-<strong>op</strong>eratives but then learnt about<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>uncils during an inspirational<br />
presentation at an LGA conference in 2015. The<br />
presentation highlighted the benefits and gave<br />
examples of co-<strong>op</strong>erative working underpinned by<br />
values and principles.<br />
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CONNECTION IS<br />
BETWEEN THE TWO?<br />
In 2019 I became leader of Cheshire West and<br />
Chester <strong>Co</strong>uncil: one of my first objectives was for<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>uncil to join CCIN and become a <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>Co</strong>uncil. The values of CCIN closely aligned to both<br />
our values as a <strong>Co</strong>uncil and my own personal<br />
mission to build a stronger, fairer, greener, future,<br />
for and with our communities.<br />
At CCIN we acknowledge that <strong>Co</strong>uncils are not<br />
themselves registered co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, however<br />
we and our members have devel<strong>op</strong>ed principles<br />
that have grown from those of the International<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Alliance and are relevant to us in local<br />
government. The CCIN has devel<strong>op</strong>ed 10 icons to<br />
represent these principles and use them throughout<br />
our website and reports to show how <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
<strong>Co</strong>uncils are putting our co-<strong>op</strong>erative principles<br />
into practice, highlighting the co-<strong>op</strong> difference in<br />
the work we are doing.<br />
22 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
Embedding co-<strong>op</strong>erative values and principles<br />
into our work in Cheshire west has enabled us<br />
to make great strides towards empowering our<br />
communities, strengthening partnerships and<br />
growing our local economy. Through working with<br />
the network we realised the power of community<br />
action and engagement and the difference<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong>erative way makes to how we deliver<br />
services. Taking part in and leading on policy labs<br />
(Understanding the Digital Divide), sharing good<br />
practice case studies, and signing up to the Fair Tax<br />
Charter are some of the ways we have demonstrated<br />
our commitment.<br />
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF CCIN IN <strong>2023</strong>?<br />
In <strong>2023</strong> we want to continue to grow our network<br />
and welcome new members. We will be encouraging<br />
councils and other organisations to join the CCIN<br />
to be part of a growing and influential network<br />
committed to devel<strong>op</strong>ing a new relationship<br />
with citizens. There is increasing interest, across<br />
the political spectrum, in how to share power<br />
and responsibility with citizens, support the<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment of community and civic life and find<br />
more cost-effective ways to create successful and<br />
resilient communities. Membership is <strong>op</strong>en to<br />
all councils, <strong>op</strong>position groups, and businesses<br />
wishing to show their support and engage in the<br />
processes of devel<strong>op</strong>ing innovative co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
councils. Individuals and organisations can also<br />
join as supporters.<br />
This year we will update and refresh our Strategy<br />
and Action Plan 2021-<strong>2023</strong>, this has focused on four<br />
themes:<br />
• Theme 1: Better effectiveness in information<br />
sharing, accessible information, sharing best<br />
practice and encouraging more co-production.<br />
• Theme 2: Devel<strong>op</strong>ing a range of networks to<br />
increase engagement.<br />
• Theme 3: Training and support to better promote<br />
values and principles across organisations and<br />
networks.<br />
• Theme 4: National Influence and lobbying,<br />
growing the network and events.<br />
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE AS THE CHAIR?<br />
As chair of the CCIN I will bring passion and<br />
enthusiasm and a drive to spread the co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
word and increase our network across the country.<br />
I am committed to our role as a non party-political<br />
hub for co-<strong>op</strong>erative policy devel<strong>op</strong>ment and<br />
advocacy. As chair I will ensure that everyone’s<br />
voice is heard and that all members, associates,<br />
and affiliates from across the network, can<br />
participate in a meaningful co<strong>op</strong>erative way, share<br />
good practice, and devel<strong>op</strong> innovative ideas.<br />
WHAT ARE THE ORGANISATION’S BIGGEST<br />
CHALLENGES THIS YEAR?<br />
Today, in the face of the cost of living crisis, the<br />
climate emergency and the financial challenges<br />
facing the public sector, our collective work<br />
is crucial and together we need to continue<br />
reclaiming the traditions of community action,<br />
community engagement, and civic empowerment<br />
that can transform communities. I will ensure this<br />
work progresses and devel<strong>op</strong>s across our network<br />
and actions are delivered at pace.<br />
WHAT ARE THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITIES?<br />
To overcome the challenges society is facing we do<br />
have an <strong>op</strong>portunity to look at these from a different<br />
perspective and our collective policy lab reports<br />
will help shape how services can be delivered. In<br />
2022 we published a number of reports including<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Difference in Care, Understanding<br />
the Digital Divide and <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Approaches to<br />
Reaching Net Zero. In <strong>2023</strong> we will work together<br />
as a network and focus on three new policy labs of<br />
co<strong>op</strong>erative difference and will continue to share<br />
our case studies of good practice (to date 420 have<br />
been shared).<br />
For more information on CCIN, visit councils.co<strong>op</strong><br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 23
YOUR VIEWS<br />
Leaving Lincolnshire <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>: CEO<br />
Ursula Lidbetter retires<br />
Ursula is the last of the Institute<br />
of <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Directors executive<br />
graduates, specifically trained to run<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s. All co-<strong>op</strong> managers are now<br />
general management trainees (with all<br />
the inherent growth and profit priorities)<br />
and just ‘on the job’ co-<strong>op</strong> experience. No<br />
wonder some lose their way.<br />
Bob Cannell<br />
Have your say<br />
Add your comments to our stories<br />
online at thenews.co<strong>op</strong>, get in<br />
touch via social media, or send us<br />
a letter. If sending a letter, please<br />
include your address and contact<br />
number. Letters may be edited and<br />
no longer than 350 words.<br />
Memories of Bill May<br />
My father, Bill May, dedicated much<br />
of his working life to the co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement. He was an education officer<br />
for the RACS for 14 years and at the time of<br />
his retirement in 1991 he was secretary for<br />
the Northern and Scottish sections of the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Union.<br />
Dad passed away in 2021, but a book<br />
about his life is now in print. It’s called<br />
Bill May - Memories of a Life Worth Living.<br />
The book is in two parts. The first part<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong>, Holyoake<br />
House, Hanover Street,<br />
Manchester M60 0AS<br />
letters@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
@co<strong>op</strong>news<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>News</strong><br />
is dad’s reflective memoir but there’s<br />
also a section devoted to other pe<strong>op</strong>le’s<br />
recollections of him. I’d be interested in<br />
making contact with anyone within the<br />
movement who remembers Bill May and<br />
who might like a c<strong>op</strong>y of the book. It’s free.<br />
In addition though, as I’m contemplating<br />
another print run, I’d certainly include<br />
further memories of dad in a second<br />
edition of the book. This means I’d<br />
welcome any recollections of Bill May from<br />
members and former colleagues (if they’re<br />
still alive) to accompany those already in<br />
the book from family and friends.<br />
I can be contacted at canwellmay@<br />
gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from<br />
anyone from dad’s past.<br />
Martin May<br />
<strong>Co</strong>rrection: In the article ‘Regulation<br />
inspiration’ (<strong>News</strong>, January <strong>2023</strong>), it was<br />
implied that the 10,000 mutuals registered<br />
with the FCA were included within the<br />
figure of 50,000 firms it regulates. They<br />
are in addition.<br />
Space to<br />
work<br />
Space to<br />
grow<br />
Space for<br />
change<br />
Leading the movement in workspaces for those who lead the change,<br />
with spaces currently available to rent<br />
Visit www.ethicalpr<strong>op</strong>erty.co.uk Email sales@ethicalpr<strong>op</strong>erty.co.uk or call 01865 207 810 to find out more<br />
24 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
OPINION<br />
New Zealand’s leadership change –<br />
and what it means for co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
As its prime minister, Jacinda Ardern,<br />
resigns and New Zealand faces into an<br />
election year, Roz Henry (CEO of co-<strong>op</strong><br />
apex <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Business NZ) looks at<br />
what the leadership change means for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
New Zealand is recognised internationally<br />
as one of the most co-<strong>op</strong>erative nations<br />
globally with 18% of our GDP by revenue<br />
(as noted in the World <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Monitor)<br />
being generated by co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and<br />
mutuals.<br />
Given this, you would assume that<br />
our government would be well-heeled in<br />
understanding the sector, especially when<br />
you take into account their 1.5 million<br />
members in a p<strong>op</strong>ulation of only 5 million.<br />
Not to mention, the overall supply chain<br />
that wraps around these businesses has a<br />
major impact on the country economically<br />
and socially across all regions.<br />
Unfortunately, this is not the case.<br />
A lot of this stems from a lack of<br />
education on the business model at<br />
secondary and tertiary levels. This isn’t<br />
helped if those who do have a voice,<br />
spread the word about the model being<br />
out of date or counter to a free economy.<br />
But this doesn’t add up…<br />
As distinct from many other<br />
countries, the model in New Zealand<br />
is mainly applied against commercial<br />
<strong>op</strong>erations. Many of them are some of<br />
our most successful, enduring businesses<br />
alongside being major exporters. They<br />
are significant employers and support<br />
a substantial number of SMEs to thrive.<br />
On a smaller scale, there are communitybased<br />
schemes throughout the country<br />
that enable social outcomes.<br />
The recent announcement of the<br />
resignation of our Prime Minister, Jacinda<br />
Ardern, head of the Labour Party, has<br />
come to many as a shock given her<br />
prominence. However, it also <strong>op</strong>ens doors.<br />
What we need is a brave government and<br />
leadership to come in and be prepared to<br />
support doing things differently, at speed.<br />
Remove the barriers to support these<br />
p Former prime minister Of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, visits The EU <strong>Co</strong>mmission<br />
(Image: Thierry Monasse / GettyImages)<br />
businesses’ establishment, recognise the<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunities they present, and get in<br />
behind them.<br />
The world we live in today is not the<br />
world of five or ten years ago. There is a<br />
global shift from profit-driven businesses<br />
to refocusing on taking care of pe<strong>op</strong>le and<br />
planet as a priority. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives play a<br />
part in the solution.<br />
There is often an expectation that they<br />
will be more socialistic in their thinking<br />
when compared to their right-leaning<br />
counterparts. However, in New Zealand,<br />
there is little distinction.<br />
With our upcoming election in October,<br />
the incoming government needs to be<br />
prepared to look outside the box to<br />
consider how we might make a major step<br />
change.<br />
We have a significant gap between the<br />
haves and have-nots. All signs point to<br />
this only increasing. The co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
model has the potential to change the dial<br />
and enable individuals and families sitting<br />
within lower socio-economic communities<br />
to change their circumstances. Whether<br />
it be through the establishment of co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
collective businesses such<br />
as trades, agriculture, horticulture,<br />
aquaculture, technology; housing, or<br />
infrastructure, the <strong>op</strong>portunities are<br />
broad.<br />
We are seeing a significant increase<br />
in businesses recognising the need for<br />
change to achieve Carbon Zero and aiming<br />
to get B <strong>Co</strong>rp certified. We know that<br />
<strong>op</strong>erating under the ICA’s co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
principles takes these businesses a<br />
significant step closer as it is built into<br />
their fundamental psyche.<br />
As the election year begins, <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Business NZ is advocating for increased<br />
engagement with government officials<br />
to showcase why there needs to be a<br />
greater understanding of this business<br />
community and the role they can play<br />
to support responding to the changed<br />
environment. Whether it be through<br />
education, policy and legislation<br />
(enabling the ILO, 193 recommendations)<br />
or supporting the establishment of these<br />
businesses, the incoming government will<br />
need to play a key role in ensuring the<br />
social and economic <strong>op</strong>portunities these<br />
businesses present can be realised.<br />
We h<strong>op</strong>e that they are able to put in place<br />
the foundations for the next generation<br />
of co-<strong>op</strong>erative to continue to thrive by<br />
recognising this business community and<br />
the benefits they have to offer.<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 25
SAOS<br />
<strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
SCOTTISH FARM CO-OPS FACE UP TO THE CLIMATE CRUNCH<br />
By Miles Hadfield<br />
Farmers are on the frontline when it comes to<br />
climate crisis: it threatens huge disruption to<br />
their <strong>op</strong>erations – and puts them under pressure<br />
to cut emissions while increasing production.<br />
This year’s conference of the Scottish Agricultural<br />
Organisation Society (SAOS), held in Dunblane<br />
last week, looked at how co-<strong>op</strong>erative working<br />
can find answers to this problem.<br />
First up to speak was Mike Robinson, head of<br />
the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, who<br />
chaired the Scottish government’s 1.5° Inquiry to<br />
find out how the agriculture could play its part<br />
in keeping the temperature rise to 1.5°C. During<br />
consultation, one farmer told him: “There’s<br />
no such thing as climate change so we’re<br />
wasting our time”. But this no longer matters,<br />
said Robinson, because the threat of climate<br />
change is accepted by scientists, businesses,<br />
governments from local to global level, farmers’<br />
unions and, crucially, consumers demanding<br />
sustainable food. “This is an inevitable direction<br />
of travel,” he added.<br />
It also makes sense for farmers: while warmer<br />
temperatures bring some benefits, like a longer<br />
growing season, the increased risk of storms,<br />
drought, flood, pests and cr<strong>op</strong> disease hugely<br />
outweigh them.<br />
Policymakers are demanding action: farming<br />
makes up 11% of UK climate emissions – 18% for<br />
Scotland – impressive reductions in the sector<br />
have slowed over the last decade. “Scotland will<br />
not hit its climate targets without agriculture<br />
delivering,” warned Robinson, adding that<br />
farmers are a solution, not a problem.<br />
There are also commercial incentives to climate<br />
action. Andrew Niven, from Scotland Food<br />
and Drink, noted that urbanisation around the<br />
world has triggered feelings of alienation from<br />
nature which consumers are trying to remedy by<br />
focusing on heritage foods, ordering veg boxes<br />
and demanding food chain transparency.<br />
These trends offer market <strong>op</strong>enings to farmers –<br />
but while <strong>op</strong>portunity knocks, meeting climate<br />
targets is not so simple. During the day a number<br />
of <strong>op</strong>tions were suggested, such as agroforestry,<br />
which grows timber on grazing land to absorb<br />
carbon. This has added benefits to animal<br />
welfare, with trees offering a more sheltered<br />
environment than a bare field.<br />
Alison Hester from the James Hutton Institute,<br />
a farm science research centre, discussed<br />
small scale electrolysers, which can use solar<br />
and wind energy generated on farms to create<br />
hydrogen fuel – allowing farms to decarbonise<br />
their heating, machinery and vehicles.<br />
The Institute has been running a trial,<br />
HydroGlen, on its prototype farm. It found that a<br />
unit taking up 30sq m can generate 100% of the<br />
farm’s energy needs. The drawback is the £6m<br />
build cost for a unit, including a wind turbine –<br />
but co-<strong>op</strong>eration can help, said Hester, building<br />
economies of scale and a shared data set that<br />
26 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
will convince government to provide finance.<br />
The good news, she added, is that “everything<br />
we are using is commercially available now –<br />
it can be build-ready … it’s replicable, and has<br />
modular and scalable components”. There<br />
is also potential to create employment with<br />
apprenticeships to devel<strong>op</strong> green job skills.<br />
“We need to work in partnership to devel<strong>op</strong><br />
this – SAOS is an important partner,” added<br />
Hester. “SAOS and the National Farmers Union<br />
Scotland are conducting outreach action<br />
to realise hydrogen’s potential through co<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
and collective procurement.”<br />
If it works, the benefits could be considerable:<br />
the Hutton Institute wants to make Scotland “a<br />
leading hydrogen nation” using local production<br />
hubs and a mix of public and private sector<br />
support. The tech potentially offers farms total<br />
energy independence, rural decarbonisation<br />
and – by creating hydrogen fuel – also solves the<br />
problem of intermittent energy supply.<br />
More research is being carried out by Scottish<br />
Agronomy, a co-<strong>op</strong> formed in 1985 to help<br />
farmers increase cr<strong>op</strong> production. Managing<br />
director Adam Christie repeated the message<br />
that climate innovations present an <strong>op</strong>portunity<br />
for farmers, but added a warning. “We are under<br />
pressure to move on this and there is a danger we<br />
will be forced to move at a rate the science can’t<br />
keep up with.”<br />
Innovations should always be tested on<br />
farms, he said, giving the example of Encera, a<br />
fertiliser hailed as a replacement for nitrogen:<br />
but although it worked perfectly in greenhouses,<br />
it was a failure in the field.<br />
But nitrogen use needs tackling, he said: half<br />
of arable farming’s climate emissions come from<br />
fertilisers. Efficient nitrogen use is the key here,<br />
delivering lower emissions while maintaining<br />
production. “There is a moral responsibility on<br />
arable farmers to make the maximum use of the<br />
land they have,” said Christie. “There’s eight<br />
billion mouths to feed on this planet.”<br />
There are processes that can help – tilling the<br />
land, moving from simple spraying to integrated<br />
pest management, and the use of cover cr<strong>op</strong>s<br />
like oil radish to maintain soil structure.<br />
“There is a limit to what we can do in an arable<br />
setting if we want to maintain production,” said<br />
Christie, “but there is massive pressure on the<br />
issue of climate.” Big industry customers like<br />
Pepsi<strong>Co</strong>, themselves urged to act by consumers,<br />
are demanding sustainability from all suppliers,<br />
which means farmers “have to change”.<br />
While there are subsidies for using<br />
unproductive land for biodiversity, they do not<br />
currently compensate for taking land out of<br />
production, said Christie. But if big businesses<br />
want to improve their profile by paying farmers<br />
to use low-yield land for biodiversiy “it would<br />
be foolish of us not to get involved in that … end<br />
users are much more involved than at any time<br />
I’ve ever known in engaging with growers”.<br />
For a benchmark in dealing with climate,<br />
Christie recommended dairy co-<strong>op</strong> Arla, which is<br />
trialling green hydrogen, gene editing of plants<br />
and alternative livestock feed to reduce methane<br />
emissions. But although Arla is “miles ahead<br />
of where we are,” Christie said its leaders have<br />
accepted they cannot face the climate challenge<br />
alone. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eration will be key, and will help to<br />
stimulate new ideas.<br />
The conference also heard from Richard<br />
Simmons of Carbon Capture Scotland, which<br />
extracts carbon dioxide emitted by whisky<br />
distilleries. Some of this is put to industrial use –<br />
in the manufacture of dry ice and even the Pfizer<br />
vaccine – but there is no use for the vast bulk<br />
of the carbon generated by industry and it will<br />
have to be buried. Simmons called for input from<br />
farmers to help drive this; in Scotland there are<br />
a million tons of CO2 that can be removed easily<br />
and in long term, the figure rises to 4.6 million.<br />
Farm data is a staple t<strong>op</strong>ic at the SAOS<br />
conference, and the apex’s data and connectivity<br />
manager George Noble gave an update on how it<br />
can drive climate action.<br />
Data on soil quality, weather, cr<strong>op</strong> yields,<br />
river levels and pollinator numbers is vital to<br />
drive climate action and demonstrate a farm’s<br />
sustainability credentials. But poor internet<br />
connectivity in rural Scotland is blocking<br />
progress. To remedy this, SAOS has launched<br />
collaborative businesses to build infrastructure.<br />
But if this is to work, it has to be tailored to<br />
the needs of farmers, and Noble said SAOS needs<br />
to hear from then to learn what they want. One<br />
thing farmers in the session made clear is that<br />
they want control and ownership of data from<br />
their farms.<br />
p The James Hutton<br />
Institute’s Glensaugh<br />
farm, where it tests<br />
ideas including the<br />
use of renewables to<br />
create green hydrogen<br />
There is<br />
a moral<br />
responsibility<br />
on arable<br />
farmers to<br />
make the<br />
maximum use<br />
of the land<br />
they have<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 27
Awards<br />
celebrate<br />
resilience<br />
OF COMMUNITY ENERGY SECTOR IN CHALLENGING TIMES<br />
By Miles Hadfield<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Award winners were<br />
announced in London in January, showcasing<br />
the efforts of the sector to devel<strong>op</strong> new energy<br />
solutions and tackle the climate crisis.<br />
Run by sector body <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy<br />
England (CEE), the ceremony is the first edition of<br />
the awards since 2019, and was supported by the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Party, Greater London Authority,<br />
Younity and Naturesave Insurance. Speakers at<br />
the event included Joe Fortune, general secretary<br />
of the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Party, and Nadia Smith, sustainable<br />
futures project manager at South East London<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy (SELCE) and winner of 2019’s<br />
Young Person Champion Award.<br />
CEE said: “Despite the community energy<br />
sector’s most challenging year ever following<br />
the curtailment of government policy support<br />
in numerous areas, the sector remains resilient,<br />
passionate and innovative. The awards<br />
showcase new areas of devel<strong>op</strong>ment, as well as<br />
the benefits that these projects bring to pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
living in the community.”<br />
The winners are:<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Champion (Individual):<br />
Kate Gilmartin, NW Net Zero Hub<br />
CEE says Gilmartin was chosen for her “proactive<br />
and creative approach to maximising the impact<br />
of the Rural <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Fund in the NW<br />
Net Zero hub region.”<br />
It added: “She has been instrumental in<br />
building a wide ranging portfolio of projects by<br />
proactively engaging with communities to bring<br />
them forward and supporting them through<br />
the feasibility and devel<strong>op</strong>ment process ... Not<br />
only has Kate got decades of community energy<br />
experience, she still has as much passion,<br />
commitment and up-to-date knowledge as ever.”<br />
Social and Environmental Impact Award,<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Photo of the Year Award: SELCE<br />
South East London <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy (SELCE)<br />
won the Environmental Impact Award for its<br />
delivery of fuel poverty and energy efficiency<br />
advice. CEE notes that it has increased its activity<br />
and now employs a professional delivery team.<br />
It delivers energy cafés, online or in person<br />
worksh<strong>op</strong>s for organisations, one-on-one<br />
consultations, and attends community events<br />
to give advice and do home visits. SELCE also<br />
collaborated with Repowering London on kickstarting<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Winter Support<br />
initiative involving many London CE groups.<br />
According to Bristol University research, its<br />
fuel poverty work has generated £9-10 social<br />
benefit (including ~£3 per year savings on bills<br />
to residents) per £1 spent. One project supported<br />
996 vulnerable households, saving residents<br />
£312,996 on bills and 173,225 kg CO2e.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Champion (Team):<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy London (CEL)<br />
Judges noted CEL’s “excellent relationship<br />
building with London councils, which has<br />
directly led to the creation of a London<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Fund (LCEF) … a key<br />
campaign goal for CEL, following the premature<br />
closure by the government of the Urban<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Fund (UCEF)”.<br />
28 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Organisation of the Year;<br />
Local Authority <strong>Co</strong>llaboration, and Scaling<br />
Up <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy (three categories):<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy South<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy South (CES) scored an<br />
impressive triple on the night, with judges<br />
noting its “continued commitment to devel<strong>op</strong><br />
and deliver the <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Pathways<br />
Programme to directly capacity build and<br />
support the growth of the community energy<br />
sector”.<br />
The Pathways programme works with local<br />
authorities and aligns with their Climate Change<br />
Strategies delivering a bespoke <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Energy Pathway that is ad<strong>op</strong>ted by the local<br />
authorities and supports their Net Zero<br />
approaches.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Engagement and Inclusion<br />
Award: Repowering London<br />
Repowering London won for its volunteer-led<br />
work in their local communities, taking in a<br />
range of projects to devel<strong>op</strong> and grow its co<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
(Lambeth <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Solar, North<br />
Kensington <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy, and Aldgate<br />
Solar Power). Activities include organising local<br />
climate events and worksh<strong>op</strong>s on energy advice<br />
and solar panel making.<br />
CEE says the co-<strong>op</strong>s are “continually<br />
contributing to building a local climate<br />
movement and their volunteers and champions<br />
are a driving force behind building these links<br />
with local groups and getting more pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
involved in climate justice and working for the<br />
benefits of communities”.<br />
Finance and Innovation Award: Ambition<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy (ACE), Thrive<br />
Renewables, Bristol & Bath Regional Capital<br />
(BBRC) and Bristol City <strong>Co</strong>uncil<br />
ACE, Thrive, BBRC and Bristol <strong>Co</strong>uncil won this<br />
category for working together to provide capital<br />
for impactful projects in the West of England.<br />
In late 2019 Bristol <strong>Co</strong>uncil and BBRC launched<br />
City Funds – a specific impact investment fund<br />
for the city and its immediate surroundings, and<br />
the first of its kind in the UK.<br />
Mandated to invest in impact themes across<br />
social and environmental priorities, ACE<br />
approached BBRC in late 2019 with a plan for a<br />
community-owned wind turbine.<br />
“City Funds took the decision to invest even<br />
before these critical risk points had been<br />
crossed,” says CEE. “As a place-based impact<br />
investor, BBRC was able to understand the local<br />
conditions intimately. <strong>Co</strong>mbining this loan with<br />
match-funding from Power to Change, it was this<br />
step that ACE tell us allowed the project to move<br />
ahead; without it, ACE may well have failed.”<br />
Fuel Poverty Action Award: Energise Sussex<br />
<strong>Co</strong>ast<br />
Energise Sussex <strong>Co</strong>ast (ESC) won for its<br />
“high quality energy advice and support to<br />
communities in East Sussex”. It offers broad<br />
ranging energy advice in person, at community<br />
locations, or via telephone appointments.<br />
In response to the energy crisis its focus has<br />
been to help pe<strong>op</strong>le bring their energy costs<br />
down and save carbon. It also holds regular<br />
information evenings and worksh<strong>op</strong>s <strong>op</strong>en to<br />
the public which address energy related issues.<br />
Youth Energy Award: Energy Heroes<br />
The Energy Heroes programme was chosen for<br />
its “innovative approach to engaging young<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le in the community energy sector”, which<br />
is based on the Department for Education’s<br />
expected learning outcomes from the maths<br />
national curriculum.<br />
The basis of the programme is that the learning<br />
and activities also provide the nudge for their<br />
families to engage with energy matters (bills,<br />
meters and energy efficiency). Its programme<br />
delivery consists of teacher training, lessons,<br />
teaching and learning materials and resources.<br />
Energy Heroes has now been delivered to just<br />
over 200 schools since its inception in 2016,<br />
Helen Seagrave, interim chair of CEE, said: “The<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity Energy Awards is one of our favourite<br />
events of the year as it highlights and reminds us<br />
what can be achieved when communities come<br />
together and invest in their future.<br />
“We are recognising the achievements of<br />
organisations from across the country, which go<br />
far beyond the generation of clean energy.<br />
p SELCE’s winning<br />
image shows the<br />
work of its energy<br />
champions in<br />
providing home<br />
energy advice, helping<br />
those at risk of fuel<br />
poverty cut carbon<br />
and costs<br />
Despite the<br />
community<br />
energy<br />
sector’s most<br />
challenging<br />
year ever,<br />
the sector<br />
remains<br />
resilient,<br />
passionate<br />
and<br />
innovative.”<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 29
How are<br />
food & retail co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
RESPONDING TO HIGH INFLATION<br />
IN THE UK?<br />
By Anca Voinea<br />
p <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration Town<br />
is a network of 21<br />
food co-<strong>op</strong>s – and it’s<br />
growing<br />
With food inflation at 16.8%, the festive season<br />
was a challenging time for UK households. After<br />
a 41-year high in October 2022 (11.1%), inflation<br />
in the UK began easing in December but remains<br />
high at 10.5%.<br />
In this context initiatives like <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration<br />
Town, a network of community food co-<strong>op</strong>s,<br />
organising on streets and estates across the UK,<br />
are becoming increasingly p<strong>op</strong>ular. Launched in<br />
2019, <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration Town has grown to include 21<br />
food co-<strong>op</strong>s.<br />
“Anyone could start a food co-<strong>op</strong> on their<br />
streets or their estates and they don’t need to<br />
have any particular background or knowledge or<br />
experience to be doing this,” says Shiri Shalmy,<br />
one of its founding members.<br />
All groups are self-organised, she adds, which<br />
means that there may be even more co-<strong>op</strong>s not<br />
formally affiliated to <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration Town.<br />
“Once a co-<strong>op</strong> is too big, there’s a waiting list<br />
and so the co-<strong>op</strong> splits and pe<strong>op</strong>le support each<br />
other to organise so they don’t need us to come<br />
and introduce the model – there are already<br />
community organisers and they can support<br />
their neighbours organise. So it’s a proliferation<br />
and a self-organising transmission built into it,”<br />
she adds.<br />
Meanwhile, the actual worker co-<strong>op</strong> behind<br />
the project employs five workers and one project<br />
worker who is not a member.<br />
“We have seen an increase in the number of<br />
food co-<strong>op</strong>s, more pe<strong>op</strong>le are asking to join<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s or starting co-<strong>op</strong>s,” says Shalmy, but<br />
adds that this could also be due to more pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
finding out about their work.<br />
The cost of living crisis has had an impact on<br />
the food co-<strong>op</strong>s that form part of the network,<br />
with purchasing power dr<strong>op</strong>ping. However,<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration Town food co-<strong>op</strong>s are still able to<br />
help members save up to 30% on food prices.<br />
“Because our model is based on purchasing in<br />
bulk, and supplementing that with surplus food,<br />
which is free in London, we are able to maintain<br />
that level of saving. So co-<strong>op</strong>s and their members<br />
30 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
q The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group<br />
partnered with Your<br />
Local Pantry<br />
still save a lot of money. Outside of London, it<br />
is a slightly different ratio because there is less<br />
free surplus food so co-<strong>op</strong>s have to pay the<br />
surplus food distributors. But they still make a<br />
big saving,” she says.<br />
The crisis has also led to small grants being<br />
made available to community groups looking<br />
to make a difference, such as <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration Town<br />
food co-<strong>op</strong>s. She adds that while this has helped,<br />
small grants by themselves cannot solve the cost<br />
of living crisis.<br />
One of the most recent initiatives led by<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration Town is the Gospel Oak Living<br />
Room, a warm hub where neighbours can spend<br />
time different times of the day. The hub is a<br />
partnership between them and tenant residents<br />
associations.<br />
Shalmy, who has a trades union background,<br />
says she wanted to explore organising outside of<br />
the workplace community organising but also<br />
thinking about social production – and came<br />
across the co-<strong>op</strong> model.<br />
“I had no co-<strong>op</strong> background, so I didn’t know I<br />
had to teach myself – I’m still learning,” she says,<br />
adding that having conversations with some of<br />
London’s most well-known worker co-<strong>op</strong>s, such<br />
as Calverts and Outlandish also helped.<br />
“Pe<strong>op</strong>le in the movement were very supportive<br />
and helped us, and we’re always chatting to<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le at Calverts or at Suma or other co-<strong>op</strong>s.<br />
You really get a sense that the principle of co<strong>op</strong>eration<br />
between co-<strong>op</strong>s is real and it proves<br />
itself to be super useful,” she adds.<br />
Did they expect the model to take off in the<br />
way it did? “When we started the project we<br />
didn’t know that it would be anything like that.<br />
We never imagined that we would be employing<br />
five pe<strong>op</strong>le or six pe<strong>op</strong>le and supporting so<br />
many pe<strong>op</strong>le to self-organise. It started as an<br />
experiment. So it’s very encouraging that it grew<br />
so spontaneously and so nicely and that we<br />
We have seen an increase<br />
in the number of food<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s. More pe<strong>op</strong>le are<br />
asking to join co-<strong>op</strong>s or<br />
starting co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
were able to respond to something like <strong>Co</strong>vid-19<br />
whereas it could have, completely killed this<br />
project. It actually gave us time to devel<strong>op</strong> and<br />
to experiment, but also meant that we could<br />
answer really crucial need at the time when it<br />
was happening,” she says.<br />
As to the future, <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eration Town plans<br />
to continue its work and has secured funding<br />
to keep going for the next two years. Shalmy<br />
expects the number of co-<strong>op</strong>s within the network<br />
to double by 2024.<br />
Other co-<strong>op</strong>s have also taken a series of<br />
measures to support their members, customers<br />
and employees with the rising cost of living. In<br />
November 2022 the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group teamed up with<br />
Your Local Pantry, a network coordinated by<br />
Church Action on Poverty, which helps pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
enjoy big meals on smaller budgets. The Local<br />
Pantry creates spaces for communities to come<br />
together around food. Each pantry within its<br />
network stocked with surplus food. With small<br />
weekly amount of around £3.50 (depending on<br />
location), those using the pantries can select at<br />
least ten items from a wide selection of groceries,<br />
meaning that they save on average £15 per sh<strong>op</strong>.<br />
The partnership with the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group is helping<br />
to triple the number of Pantries in the UK, from<br />
75 to 225 over the next three years.<br />
Rebecca Birkbeck, director of community<br />
and membership at the Group said at the<br />
time: “Things are tough for many of us at the<br />
moment and we are proud that pantries will<br />
be there to support pe<strong>op</strong>le and their local<br />
communities in dealing with the challenges that<br />
are thrown at them, it feels like a real step in<br />
the right direction to make the world that little<br />
bit fairer.”<br />
James Henderson, network devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
coordinator for Your Local Pantry, said:<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>mmunities have long wanted to improve<br />
food security while upholding dignity, choice<br />
and h<strong>op</strong>e, and Pantries are a proven win-win<br />
solution. We’re really excited to be teaming up<br />
with the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>, so another 150 neighbourhoods<br />
can <strong>op</strong>en pantries of their own.”<br />
u<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 31
q Channel Islands<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> teamed up with<br />
the Jersey Evening<br />
Post to profile t<strong>op</strong><br />
island chefs (including<br />
Callum Graham,<br />
head chef at Bohemia<br />
Restaurant, below)<br />
cooking meals using<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> ingredients<br />
costing no more than<br />
a fiver.<br />
To tackle food waste the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group also<br />
launched Caboodle, a new tech platform<br />
designed to st<strong>op</strong> food waste. Caboodle, which<br />
was devel<strong>op</strong>ed in partnership with Microsoft,<br />
connects retailers, cafés and restaurants to<br />
community groups and volunteers to redistribute<br />
surplus food to the households most in need.<br />
Meanwhile, the Channel Islands <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Society partnered with Jersey Evening Post to<br />
promote recipes created by local chefs with<br />
ingredients costing a total of less than £5 using<br />
their co-<strong>op</strong> honest value and co-<strong>op</strong> own brand<br />
ranges.<br />
A similar initiative is run by Waitrose, which<br />
forms part of employee owned John Lewis<br />
Partnership. In September 2022 the food retailer<br />
launched ‘Super Saver recipes‘ for under £2 per<br />
portion meal inspiration. The retailer also ran a<br />
Great Saving Event in January with offers across<br />
thousands of staple products.<br />
Leyla Page, <strong>Co</strong>mmercial Planner at Waitrose,<br />
said: “With the cost of living crisis, we know<br />
customers are keener than ever to find a good<br />
deal. That’s why we introduced ‘Waitrose Ways<br />
to Spend Less’, highlighting value-for-money<br />
deals that customers can take advantage of all<br />
year round.”<br />
Research commissioned by John Lewis and<br />
Waitrose among 2,000 UK adults who celebrated<br />
Christmas found that many households aimed<br />
to save money on bills when cooking their<br />
Christmas dinner, with nearly a fifth said they<br />
will use an air fryer and a similar number said<br />
they will use a microwave (18%) and cook more<br />
on the stove to reduce oven time (18%). The<br />
We have been<br />
overwhelmed by the<br />
responses regarding<br />
the anxiety, stress and<br />
increased mental health<br />
issues that the current cost<br />
of living crisis is causing<br />
research revealed that only 12% of respondents<br />
expected to have their heating on more than<br />
other days with a quarter (26%) planning to have<br />
it on less.<br />
An analysis by the Joseph Rowntree<br />
Foundation also found that a fifth of the 2.5<br />
million low-income households were going<br />
without food and heating in November. It<br />
revealed that over 3 million low-income families<br />
could not afford to heat their homes to protect<br />
themselves from the cold.<br />
In response to these concerns, in December<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group became first retailer to launch<br />
a match-funding platform with Crowdfunder<br />
to provide support to local community<br />
organisations across the UK, as they help<br />
communities c<strong>op</strong>e with rising energy costs<br />
during the cold winter months. Since launching<br />
the Warm Spaces match funding platform over<br />
£240,000 has been paid out by <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> to help 300<br />
groups provide warm spaces in communities<br />
across the UK. On 19 January the Group<br />
announced it would increase the flow of funds to<br />
community groups through its £1 million ‘Warm<br />
Spaces’ funding boost.<br />
Birkbeck commented: “Launching this<br />
funding boost will help groups keep their lights<br />
and heating on as they bring communities<br />
together to keep warm in the coldest months of<br />
the year– increasing overall wellbeing. It may<br />
also mean pe<strong>op</strong>le don’t have to choose between<br />
accessing food or heating this winter. Plus,<br />
having a warm space allows the community<br />
to take a break from their everyday worries,<br />
improving their mental wellbeing.<br />
Sue <strong>Co</strong>llins, Caxton House <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Centre,<br />
a multi-purpose <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Hub based in North<br />
London said: “We have lots of different activities<br />
on different days that include arts and crafts, as<br />
well as access to advice including money saving<br />
32 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
energy tips, budgeting and debt advice, mental<br />
health and well-being support. Residents can<br />
also charge electrical equipment and fill flasks,<br />
with some sessions allowing access to hot food,<br />
and pre-prepared meals that can be microwaved<br />
at home, saving having to put on an oven.”<br />
Similarly, the East of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
donated £100,000 from its Christmas marketing<br />
budget to help pe<strong>op</strong>le in its region keep warm<br />
and fed this winter. Of this, £70,000 was split<br />
among warm hubs with the remaining £30,000<br />
being allocated to 25 local foodbanks.<br />
Vicki Mann, manager of Chantry Library in<br />
Ipswich, one of the organisations benefiting from<br />
the East of England <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>’s warm hub donation,<br />
said: “We’re <strong>op</strong>en as a community hub, where<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le can just come and be themselves and<br />
meet new pe<strong>op</strong>le. It’s a warm space for pe<strong>op</strong>le to<br />
come, which is needed at the moment, especially<br />
with the cost of living.”<br />
The co-<strong>op</strong>’s members and customers helped<br />
to raise over £44,500. Kat Reading, <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Devel<strong>op</strong>ment manager at the East of England<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> said: “We’re blown away by the generosity<br />
of our customers this winter. We know that<br />
household budgets are extremely stretched, but<br />
our community has, yet again, pulled together to<br />
support each other.”<br />
Many co-<strong>op</strong>erative retailers have also taken<br />
steps to support employees c<strong>op</strong>e with inflation.<br />
For example, the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group increased pay<br />
for all store-based employees, with hourly rates<br />
going up between 4.2% and 5.3%.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> colleagues needing loans can also<br />
become members of the two credit unions<br />
associated with the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> – Keep Credit Union<br />
and the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Credit Union or access interestfree<br />
rent deposit loans for employees which<br />
allows them to receive up to a maximum of<br />
80% of earnings over a four-week period, with<br />
repayments taken direct from salary over the<br />
next 10 paydays after the loan is received. Other<br />
initiatives include partnering with StepChange<br />
to help receive help with debt.<br />
Helping members during these difficult times<br />
was also a priority for the Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>.<br />
“As a <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> that works for the benefit of our<br />
communities, we have considered what we can<br />
do to help with the external pressures being<br />
faced by many,” said chief executive Mark Smith.<br />
Recognising the rising energy costs, the<br />
society made a one-off payment to all colleagues<br />
of £300, sent a £50 gift card to every colleague<br />
to support with the cost of food, and invested in<br />
enhanced colleague discount events including a<br />
50% discount in September and December 2022.<br />
“We h<strong>op</strong>e these measures have gone some<br />
way in supporting our colleagues during these<br />
challenging times, and we’ll continue to review<br />
what other support we can offer during <strong>2023</strong>,”<br />
added Smith.<br />
In addition to its ongoing support for food<br />
banks, local pantries and community fridges,<br />
Southern <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> sent a £40,000 worth of gift<br />
cards to its local food bank partners, donated<br />
£25,000 to Neighbourly’s Warm <strong>Co</strong>mmunities<br />
Fund and raised over £50,000 for its local food<br />
bank partners. The retailer has donated 2p every<br />
time its members buy food, drink and groceries<br />
in its food stores and scan their membership<br />
card.<br />
With high inflation likely to continue, UK<br />
retail co-<strong>op</strong>s will have to continue to support<br />
customers and employees. <strong>Co</strong>mmenting on<br />
the impact of inflation on retailers and their<br />
customers, Helen Dickinson, chief executive of<br />
the British Retail <strong>Co</strong>nsortium, explained that<br />
“while there is some indication that inflation<br />
may have reached its peak, prices will remain<br />
high in the coming months.” She added that<br />
retailers are taking steps to support their<br />
customers throughout this cost-of-living crisis.<br />
“They are keeping the price of many essentials<br />
affordable, expanding their value ranges, raising<br />
pay for their own staff, and offering discounts for<br />
vulnerable groups,” she said.<br />
Insight provider IGD Retail thinks retailers will<br />
have to focus on “driving out costs, improving<br />
the efficiency of supply chains and delivering<br />
value to consumers in new ways over the next<br />
12 months.”<br />
Toby Pickard, Global Insight Leader at IGD,<br />
said: “While many of these initiatives from<br />
businesses have been reactionary, they are<br />
helping retailers to reset the cost base and<br />
devel<strong>op</strong> go-to market models for the future.<br />
“Alongside this, retailers will continue to<br />
progress their key initiatives centred on health<br />
and wellness, sustainability and digitisation.<br />
Progress in these areas is incremental but we<br />
predict it will drive significant long-term change<br />
in the shape of our industry.”<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 33
New<br />
trouble<br />
for<br />
Mondragon<br />
AS TWO INDUSTRIAL<br />
CO-OPS LEAVE THE FOLD<br />
By Miles Hadfield<br />
p ULMA<br />
Architectural<br />
Solutions<br />
One of the world’s leading co-<strong>op</strong> federations,<br />
Mondragon <strong>Co</strong>rporation, suffered a blow at the<br />
end of last year when two of its key member<br />
organisations voted to leave.<br />
Ulma Group and Orona <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative both<br />
hosted votes on 16 December which saw their<br />
partners <strong>op</strong>t for the exit door. The move follows a<br />
period of tension with both co-<strong>op</strong>s wanting more<br />
autonomy – and means the co-<strong>op</strong>s will cease<br />
contributions of 10% of their substantial profits<br />
to a common fund, <strong>op</strong>erated by Mondragon to<br />
sustain member co-<strong>op</strong>s which are going through<br />
lean times.<br />
Both organisations are looking for ways to<br />
continue collaboration with Mondragon, and<br />
will continue to insure their worker-owners<br />
through the federation’s Lagun Aro system. They<br />
will also maintain their collaborative work with<br />
Mondragon University and other co-<strong>op</strong>s in the<br />
federation.<br />
Their departure is a significant blow for the<br />
Federation – held up round the world as an<br />
example of what co-<strong>op</strong>eration can acheive,<br />
and a business which has allowed its corner of<br />
Spain’s Basque <strong>Co</strong>untry to buck national trends<br />
for unemployment and other economic woes.<br />
Ulma is a group of nine co-<strong>op</strong>s with a presence<br />
in 81 countries and a 60-year market presence in<br />
a wide range of sectors: Ulma Greenhouses, Ulma<br />
Architectural Solutions, Ulma Maintenance<br />
Services, Ulma <strong>Co</strong>nveyor <strong>Co</strong>mponents, Ulma<br />
Embedded Solutions, Ulma Handling Systems,<br />
Ulma <strong>Co</strong>nstruction, Ulma Packaging and Ulma<br />
Advanced Forged Solutions.<br />
Elevator manufacturer Orona is another global<br />
name; between them, the two organisations<br />
take away 11,000 of Mondragon’s 80,000-strong<br />
workforce – shrinking it by 13% – and 15% of the<br />
group’s sales go, adding add up to more than<br />
€1,700m in billing.<br />
34 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
Orona has 1,700 members and a turnover of<br />
more than €800m, while Ulma employs 5,426<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le with a turnover of E910m and a profit of<br />
€75m.<br />
The vote follows a failed bid by Orona and Ulma<br />
to introduce an alternative governance model to<br />
guide the relationship of member co-<strong>op</strong>s with<br />
Mondragon’s central services. The pr<strong>op</strong>osal was<br />
rejected in June and no discussion was permitted<br />
at the Federation’s annual congress in November<br />
because it had been submitted to late.<br />
Orona and Ulma complained of “pressure”<br />
and “interference” and have now <strong>op</strong>ted for “new<br />
relational framework” with Mondragón.<br />
It is not the first exit in Mondragon’s history<br />
– in 2008, worker-owners of the metal casting<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> Ampo and coach maker Irizar voted<br />
out. Nor is it the first crisis. Between 2002<br />
and 2007, member co-<strong>op</strong>s Fagor and Eroski<br />
issued bonds, which they advertised as safe<br />
deposits, but they were classed by courts as<br />
riskier debt instruments – and when their<br />
value was hit in the wake of the 2008 crash, the<br />
bond-holders sued.<br />
The financial crisis also brought a shock<br />
casualty for the federation: in 2013, white<br />
goods maker Fagor Electrodomésticos filed<br />
for bankruptcy to renegotiate €1.1bn of debt,<br />
followed by the bankruptcy of the whole Fagor<br />
Group. This led to the €42.5m sale of Fagor in<br />
July 2014, to Catalonian company Cata.<br />
Fagor’s collapse brought a bitter dispute,<br />
with workers occupying its Edesa plant, south<br />
of Bilbao,<br />
There has also been criticism in some<br />
parts of the co-<strong>op</strong> movement of Mondragon’s<br />
global supply chain, with its more than 100<br />
overseas <strong>op</strong>erations structured as conventional<br />
businesses. Mondragon stresses there are<br />
practical obstacles to setting up foreign<br />
subsidiaries as member co-<strong>op</strong>s – particularly<br />
with regard to its safety net that allows<br />
redundant workers to be redeployed from one<br />
co-<strong>op</strong> to another – a facility Ulma and Orona<br />
will retain.<br />
Mondragon has expressed ongoing interest<br />
in converting its overseas <strong>op</strong>erations to worker<br />
ownership, and in converting the 35,000 nonmember<br />
retail workers at Eroski (out of a total<br />
of 50,000) to membership status. These are on<br />
the backburner while the federation rides out<br />
the economic disruptions from <strong>Co</strong>vid-19 and the<br />
Ukraine conflict which have hit profits at Eroski<br />
and the Caja Laboral credit union.<br />
But while the latest furore is not unprecedented,<br />
it has prompted press speculation in Spain that<br />
more is to come. “From now on it will be seen<br />
if the sc<strong>op</strong>e of the crisis of the co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
giant goes beyond the figures,” wrote online<br />
paper elDiario, “if the very management model<br />
of the corporation based on solidarity between<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong>eratives is called into question, if the<br />
departure of Ulma and Orona is the beginning<br />
of more of the big leaks – or if, on the contrary,<br />
Mondragon reinvents itself … and emerges<br />
stronger and with more united companies.”<br />
The federation’s management said the news<br />
means that “Mondragon begins a new stage,”<br />
while the CEO of supermarket chain Eroski –<br />
one of its key members – defended the right of<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s to leave if they wished.<br />
Rosa Carabel told a Radio Euskadi interview<br />
that she wished the co-<strong>op</strong>s had stayed but<br />
added: “We have to respect the decisions that<br />
Orona and Ulma can make because they are<br />
sovereign decisions.”<br />
However, Eroski remains committed to the<br />
Federation, she added. “Eroski understands<br />
that the co-<strong>op</strong>eratives that are in the corporation<br />
share the same values of co<strong>op</strong>eration and joint<br />
learning. Between all of us we have the capacity<br />
to enrich each other and we want the voice of<br />
co<strong>op</strong>erativism to be loud and clear.<br />
“What we want from the corporation is that<br />
we are all there, but if they decide to leave it, the<br />
corporation will continue.”<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 35
Close<br />
dge<br />
to the<br />
By Alice Toomer-<br />
McAlpine<br />
THE CO-OPS TURNING<br />
TO CROWDFUNDING IN<br />
TIMES OF CRISIS<br />
One of the benefits of being a co-<strong>op</strong> is having<br />
a membership, and often a wider surrounding<br />
community, backing you.<br />
This is something co-<strong>op</strong>s often use to their<br />
advantage through crowdfunding, which can<br />
be used to support them during their start-up<br />
phases, launch new services or products, or<br />
expand capacity.<br />
Sadly, over the past year there have been a<br />
number of cases where co-<strong>op</strong>s had to turn to<br />
crowdfunding to plug gaps in their finances<br />
caused by the economic crisis. These efforts have<br />
brought mixed results.<br />
Vegan grocery Rice Up Wholefoods ran a<br />
crowdfunding campaign when its costs became<br />
unmanageable last year, but despite raising over<br />
£10,000 from 530 donors, it was only a little<br />
over half of what it needed to survive and it was<br />
forced to close.<br />
A similar story occurred with co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
community hub Bread + Roses, which managed<br />
to raise over £30,000 last summer from 233<br />
supporters and match funding from Power to<br />
Change and The National Emergencies Trust, but<br />
still had to close in November.<br />
The Solidarity Economy Association (SEA),<br />
is currently crowdfunding for £18,000 to cover<br />
staffing costs in <strong>2023</strong> – but despite having<br />
extended the length of the campaign it is still<br />
some way off its target.<br />
Worker-owned queer club and community<br />
space in Glasgow Bonjour announced an<br />
emergency fundraiser last year in response to<br />
rising energy bills and staffing costs, alongside a<br />
raft of other measures including cutting <strong>op</strong>ening<br />
hours and increasing prices.<br />
Organisations that support co-<strong>op</strong>eratives are<br />
reporting increased vulnerability in their client<br />
businesses.<br />
Chris <strong>Co</strong>wcher of the Plunkett Foundation,<br />
which supports rural community businesses,<br />
says the sector is facing its biggest crisis in recent<br />
times. Plunkett’s research shows that as many<br />
as one in five businesses are vulnerable as a<br />
result of the UK’s mounting financial pressures.<br />
“Groups are fighting on multiple fronts,” says<br />
<strong>Co</strong>wcher. “Fatigued volunteers, diminished<br />
reserves, dealing with the governance of running<br />
an organisation, responding to local residents<br />
and having to try and plan ahead to make sure<br />
the sh<strong>op</strong>’s still viable next winter.”<br />
Another apex, Social Enterprise UK (SEUK),<br />
warns of “significant closure rates” among<br />
social enterprises, particularly in the last three<br />
months, estimating that as many as 10,000<br />
social enterprises are at risk of closure.<br />
“We’ve definitely seen a dr<strong>op</strong> in cash flow<br />
and reserve positions,” says SEUK’s director<br />
of research Emily Darko, who helps track the<br />
sector’s finances through a quarterly survey.<br />
Darko points to recent responses to these<br />
surveys which show that social enterprises’<br />
“vulnerability is increasing and pe<strong>op</strong>le are<br />
draining their reserves in order to hang on”.<br />
“We’re seeing a mixture of things happening,”<br />
she explains, “and some of it is quite similar to<br />
what we saw during <strong>Co</strong>vid.<br />
“But the overall sense that we have is that this<br />
is quite a bit more acute. We’re aware anecdotally<br />
that a significant number of social enterprises<br />
have already gone to the wall, and several more<br />
are pretty close to the edge.”<br />
Tim <strong>Co</strong>omer, business devel<strong>op</strong>ment manager<br />
at <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative and <strong>Co</strong>mmunity Finance (CCF)<br />
says that when <strong>Co</strong>vid broke out, CCF went<br />
into “protect the portfolio” mode. “We were<br />
36 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
doing less lending but we wanted to be able<br />
to support our borrowers in the portfolio<br />
more, so we’ve certainly been doing a bit more<br />
intensive support.”<br />
During this time, co-<strong>op</strong>s and community<br />
businesses had to get creative with their finances<br />
to stay afloat, using a variety of survival tactics.<br />
While the kinds of emergency fundraisers<br />
mentioned earlier do cr<strong>op</strong> up from time to<br />
time, Darko says there has not been a surge in<br />
this activity among the social enterprises SEUK<br />
works with.<br />
“It definitely isn’t a primary solution for the<br />
challenges that pe<strong>op</strong>le are facing at the moment,<br />
from what I’ve seen,” she adds.<br />
A possible reason for this is that wouldbe<br />
donors are also feeling the effects of the<br />
economic crisis, so are less able to give, making<br />
crowdfunding a less viable form of fundraising.<br />
But if crowdfunding is less of an <strong>op</strong>tion in<br />
times of crisis, what are the alternatives?<br />
“In terms of what those who are close to<br />
the edge are doing, it’s a mixture of things.<br />
We’ve seen quite a lot of talk about reducing<br />
overheads,” says Darko.<br />
“We’ve seen social enterprises looking to<br />
absolutely pare back on what they need to spend<br />
on, getting rid of any non essential spends,<br />
looking at their supply chains and thinking<br />
about where they can cut costs.”<br />
<strong>Co</strong>wcher also speaks of community businesses<br />
“cutting their cloth”. Plunkett is supporting its<br />
members through this process when needed<br />
– offering services like its free online business<br />
appraisal tool, and in-person health checks from<br />
business advisors.<br />
“We’re seeing pe<strong>op</strong>le making very simple but<br />
quite effective changes,” says <strong>Co</strong>wcher, “like<br />
turning off chillers in sh<strong>op</strong>s – working out that<br />
it’s costing more to run a chiller than to actually<br />
stock it and sell the products that are in it. So<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le are becoming more acutely aware of the<br />
margins of their business <strong>op</strong>eration.”<br />
This kind of cost cutting might mean reducing<br />
services or <strong>op</strong>ening hours, says <strong>Co</strong>wcher. “That<br />
has its knock on effect because it reduces the<br />
social impact, because then less pe<strong>op</strong>le are able<br />
to access the services that are available.”<br />
Darko explains that while some are reducing<br />
staff, this isn’t often a primary go-to for social<br />
enterprises. “Mainstream traditional businesses<br />
are more likely to shed staff when they’re<br />
reaching financial difficulty, social enterprises<br />
don’t. They tend to try and retain staff. We’ve<br />
seen staff hours being cut and things like that,<br />
and ‘natural attrition’ – staff not being replaced<br />
when pe<strong>op</strong>le leave. We’ve also seen social<br />
enterprises increasing wages and providing nonfinancial<br />
support to struggling staff, including<br />
support with food.”<br />
Both Plunkett and SEUK highlighted pivoting<br />
as another key survival method for community<br />
businesses and social enterprises.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>wcher gave a number of examples of<br />
community businesses that have pivoted towards<br />
the needs of their communities in recent months.<br />
Broughton Village Store in South Lanarkshire,<br />
Scotland, has started a welfare scheme to enable<br />
those who are struggling to access a fund which<br />
has been donated to by the local community to<br />
help pay for weekly groceries and sh<strong>op</strong>s.<br />
“They’re retaining their customer base,” he<br />
says, “but they’re making sure the crisis is being<br />
shouldered by those with the broadest shoulders<br />
and that they are able to help those that are more<br />
vulnerable.”<br />
Meanwhile, the Blue Bell community pub<br />
in Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, is providing a warm<br />
place where pe<strong>op</strong>le can enjoy a hot meal and<br />
a bottomless pot of tea for £4, and Yr Heliwr<br />
pub in Nefyn, Wales, has been running ‘Family<br />
Kitchens’ providing pay-as-you-feel meals, with<br />
proceeds going to local food banks.<br />
Mainstream<br />
traditional<br />
businesses<br />
are more<br />
likely to<br />
shed staff<br />
when they’re<br />
reaching<br />
financial<br />
difficulty,<br />
social<br />
enterprises<br />
don’t”<br />
u<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 37
Pe<strong>op</strong>le in<br />
communities<br />
can become<br />
investors in<br />
a community<br />
business by<br />
buying shares,<br />
which makes<br />
them coowners<br />
and<br />
gives them a<br />
say in how the<br />
business is<br />
run<br />
“Those are just three very small examples<br />
of community businesses that are – because<br />
of being rooted in their community, knowing<br />
their customer base, and knowing who their<br />
vulnerable pe<strong>op</strong>le are in their locality – making<br />
sure that they are responding to this moment,”<br />
says <strong>Co</strong>wcher.<br />
Another <strong>op</strong>tion for raising funds is community<br />
shares, a form of equity that is only available to<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative and community benefit societies.<br />
Pe<strong>op</strong>le in communities can become investors<br />
in a community business by buying shares,<br />
which makes them co-owners and gives them a<br />
say in how the business is run.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>wcher describes community shares as an<br />
“absolutely integral” part of the community<br />
ownership model that Plunkett promotes.<br />
“At the early stages, we use community shares<br />
as a way of building a mass membership, that<br />
kind of wide and inclusive model of bringing<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le in from across the community,” he says.<br />
“But also, there’s a significant and longstanding<br />
track record of community groups raising<br />
significant capital towards community projects.”<br />
He adds: “If you’ve got a changing<br />
demographic in a community – there’s a new<br />
housing devel<strong>op</strong>ment or new residents have<br />
moved in – there’s a new <strong>op</strong>portunity to bring in<br />
some money but also bring in new members to<br />
support the society’s activities.<br />
“So community shares still remains a very,<br />
very powerful resource, and over a long period<br />
of time has proven very successful.”<br />
According to a recent report from <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
UK, to date, 130,000 pe<strong>op</strong>le have<br />
invested £210m in 539 community businesses<br />
and organisations through 709 share offers.<br />
Rose Marley, CEO of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK,<br />
describes community shares as “enabling<br />
communities in innovative and life-changing<br />
ways while ensuring that ownership and control<br />
of these community businesses stays with the<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le they matter to the most.<br />
“It’s like crowdfunding but you get to become<br />
an owner too.”<br />
John Dawson, head of market devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
at <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK, echoed this point, saying<br />
that with community shares, “you’re becoming<br />
a member of the society and you’re building in<br />
that user base. Whereas through crowdfunding,<br />
it’s a bit more of a transactional relationship that<br />
doesn’t necessarily continue onwards.”<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity share offers also tend to be more<br />
planned out than emergency crowdfunders,<br />
often coming with a business plan, detailed<br />
projection, share offer document and set<br />
pr<strong>op</strong>osal to raise money over the long term.<br />
According to the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK report,<br />
92% of businesses that have run community<br />
share offers are still trading, a figure that has not<br />
changed since 2020.<br />
Although crowdfunding can be a good way<br />
to inject some cash into a co-<strong>op</strong> in the short<br />
term, withstanding a serious period of crisis<br />
may require the kinds of activities that increase<br />
resilience overall.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s are still a particularly resilient model,<br />
and were found to be four times less likely to go<br />
bust during 2020.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>omer points to membership as one of the<br />
key factors here, saying that with co-<strong>op</strong>s, and<br />
especially community businesses, “it’s a much<br />
wider pool you can go out to.<br />
“I think it’s where co-<strong>op</strong>s have managed to<br />
grow their membership and keep growing their<br />
membership that are probably the ones that<br />
have been and will be most resilient.”<br />
38 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>s and<br />
Human touch<br />
By Alice Toomer-McAlpine<br />
HOW CO-OPERATIVES<br />
IN THE UK AND<br />
NORTH AMERICA ARE<br />
RESPONDING TO MENTAL<br />
HEALTH CHALLENGES<br />
In recent years, the third Monday in January has<br />
been dubbed ‘Blue Monday’. First concocted for<br />
a UK travel company’s marketing campaign, it<br />
was supposedly the most depressing day of the<br />
year, thanks to cold weather, shorter days and<br />
post-Christmas financial pressures.<br />
This reflects increased attention around the<br />
world to mental health – for instance, with the<br />
mention of suicide and mental health in the<br />
UN’s Sustainable Devel<strong>op</strong>ment Goal around<br />
health and wellbeing.<br />
The pandemic has made things tougher, with<br />
the World Health Organisation reporting a 25%<br />
increase in anxiety and depression in 2020.<br />
And although the idea of Blue Monday is<br />
pseudoscience, it does offer society the chance<br />
to discuss mental health.<br />
Suicide prevention charity Samaritans, for<br />
example, promotes ‘Brew Monday’, encouraging<br />
the public to reach out and connect with family,<br />
friends and colleagues over a cuppa – not only<br />
on this day, but regularly.<br />
“The whole purpose of Brew Monday was to<br />
try and get pe<strong>op</strong>le together and spend some<br />
quality time with each other. Rather than<br />
isolating and being busy with their own lives,<br />
to share a cup of tea and a catch up with other<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le,” says S<strong>op</strong>hia of the Manchester and<br />
Salford Samaritans.<br />
The Manchester and Salford branch volunteers<br />
hosted a number of events for Brew Monday,<br />
collectively making over 250 connections across<br />
a range of organisations, as well as offering faceto-face<br />
support to pe<strong>op</strong>le who are struggling.<br />
This growing awareness of mental health can<br />
also be seen in the co-<strong>op</strong>erative world, with UK<br />
retail societies launching initiatives and funding<br />
charities such as Samaritans.<br />
There are also co-<strong>op</strong>s directly involved in<br />
UK mental health provision, such as the Good<br />
Mental Health <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative, the Lanarkshire<br />
Association for Mental Health and Men’s Sheds<br />
Cymru providing spaces that promote mental<br />
wellbeing through human connection.<br />
Further afield in Saskatchewan, Canada,<br />
Crocus <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative was established in 1982 by<br />
community members who were seeking peer<br />
support after receiving psychiatric care. Starting<br />
with simple meetings at home, Crocus now runs<br />
a space which hosts around 75 pe<strong>op</strong>le a day.<br />
u<br />
The whole<br />
purpose of<br />
Brew Monday<br />
was to try and<br />
get pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
together and<br />
spend some<br />
quality time<br />
with each<br />
other”<br />
t Canada’s Healthy<br />
Minds <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> works<br />
to empower pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
with mental health<br />
issues (Image: Tyler<br />
<strong>Co</strong>lburne)<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 39
When you<br />
empower<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le to be<br />
a part of the<br />
solution for<br />
something<br />
that they’re<br />
intimately<br />
experiencing,<br />
I believe there<br />
are better<br />
outcomes”<br />
q Healthy Minds<br />
believes the co-<strong>op</strong><br />
ethos brings better<br />
outcomes (Image:<br />
Tyler <strong>Co</strong>lburne)<br />
Everyone who accesses the space becomes a<br />
lifetime member of the co-<strong>op</strong> and the board is<br />
made up of 51% co-<strong>op</strong> members.<br />
Executive director Taylor Baier says this level<br />
of involvement is often lacking in mental health<br />
provision. “In the mental health world, a lot of<br />
times pe<strong>op</strong>le are telling you what you should<br />
be doing and what you need. And our model<br />
as a co-<strong>op</strong> suggests that the pe<strong>op</strong>le with lived<br />
experience are the experts, and they’re the ones<br />
that should be deciding what they need and how<br />
they need it.”<br />
A similar approach is taken by Healthy Minds<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> in Nova Scotia. The phrase “nothing about<br />
us, without us” is used by founding member<br />
Susan Kilbride R<strong>op</strong>er. “It’s made a difference to<br />
us to be able to live by the co-<strong>op</strong> model…there<br />
was no other model that was so member-driven.”<br />
R<strong>op</strong>er, who at 16 began experiencing what<br />
would later be diagnosed as bipolar disorder,<br />
says a driving factor for Healthy Minds was the<br />
need for better representation on community<br />
needs for pe<strong>op</strong>le with mental health issues.<br />
Tyler <strong>Co</strong>lbourne, Healthy Minds’ executive<br />
director, agrees. “When you empower pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
to be a part of the solution for something that<br />
they’re intimately experiencing, I believe there<br />
are better outcomes.”<br />
Healthy Minds is undergoing a membership<br />
renewal process, having recently reached out<br />
to its more than 400 members to centre their<br />
experience in the running of the co-<strong>op</strong>. The co<strong>op</strong><br />
is also looking at a multi-stakeholder model,<br />
which would help staff become more embedded<br />
in the co-<strong>op</strong> and gain greater agency at work.<br />
The need for autonomy at work, and a general<br />
dissatisfaction with employment <strong>op</strong>tions for<br />
mental health workers, led clinical psychologist<br />
Billie Somerville to set up Alliance <strong>Co</strong>llective, a<br />
mental health worker co-<strong>op</strong> based in New York.<br />
At first, he set up as a solo practitioner, but<br />
soon realised he needed a community.<br />
“In the state of New York, there are so many<br />
laws around profession of mental health, that<br />
impose a lot of hierarchies and create a lot of<br />
obstacles to co-<strong>op</strong>eration in this space. So I<br />
started a long research project, involving several<br />
different lawyers and many thousands of dollars,<br />
to eventually arrive with a legal structure that<br />
allows us to function as a co-<strong>op</strong>.”<br />
Among the first to sign up was social worker<br />
Juliet Spier, who describes her involvement in<br />
Alliance as “a huge blessing during one of the<br />
most challenging times of my life and that for<br />
most of our clients”.<br />
Alliance was able to grant Spier three months<br />
paid time off while she was unable to work due<br />
to long <strong>Co</strong>vid last year. “[The experience] has<br />
really shown me how important it is to feel like<br />
I’m in a work environment where others are<br />
accommodating to what’s happening for me,”<br />
she said, “and where I matter more as a human<br />
being than just a worker.”<br />
In the wider co-<strong>op</strong> world, wellbeing<br />
conversations are becoming more prevalent in<br />
sectors where mental health is a challenge – like<br />
agriculture, where farmers have a higher rate of<br />
suicide than the general p<strong>op</strong>ulation.<br />
Dr Tara Haskins, total farmer health director at<br />
the AgriSafe Network, a non-profit that supports<br />
the wellbeing of agricultural communities in<br />
the US, says there are a multitude of factors that<br />
can impact on farmers’ mental health. Pressures<br />
include the need to maintain connections in<br />
a community, unexpected challenges such as<br />
weather events and injury, financial struggles,<br />
family dynamics and sleep deprivation.<br />
“Pe<strong>op</strong>le that work in agriculture are often self<br />
made, and very stoic,” says Haskins. “That is the<br />
mindset that allows them to be successful, but<br />
sometimes that same mindset can prevent them<br />
from seeking help or care when they need it.”<br />
To mitigate some of these risks, AgriSafe<br />
runs a number of initiatives, including the<br />
recent launch of a crisis line for producers,<br />
training for healthcare professionals and<br />
community members, and a Mental Health<br />
Innovation Exchange events programme.<br />
This activity is part-funded by farmerowned<br />
CHS, one of the US’s leading<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s with over 10,000 employees worldwide.<br />
“Several years ago, we started hearing from<br />
some of our members that they were under<br />
an immense amount of stress,” says senior<br />
40 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
stewardship specialist Tera Stoddard, who adds<br />
that when it comes to mental health, “CHS may<br />
not be the expert, but we did want to provide<br />
some resources for our members to help them in<br />
their journey.”<br />
CHS sees its role in this area as a connector<br />
and “trusted partner”, says Stoddard. “Even<br />
though CHS is a large co-<strong>op</strong>erative, we can put<br />
faces and names to the issue.”<br />
The relationship CHS has with its members,<br />
she adds, is vital to ensuring they have the<br />
support they need to take care of their wellbeing.<br />
A similar sentiment is shared by Richard Kaye,<br />
who works for Openfield, a UK grain marketing<br />
and arable input co-<strong>op</strong>erative owned by its<br />
4,000 members.<br />
In recent years Openfield has ramped up<br />
communications about mental wellbeing,<br />
making more use of its platforms internally and<br />
externally.<br />
“By doing that, we are promoting that it’s all<br />
right to talk about mental health,” says Kaye.<br />
“Senior leadership talk about it, so when our<br />
reps are talking to our members and they sense<br />
something’s not quite right, they’ve got the<br />
courage to raise it.”<br />
Openfield regularly shares content about<br />
wellbeing on social media, including a tweet on<br />
Blue Monday promoting the Lincolnshire Rural<br />
Support Network and the Farming <strong>Co</strong>mmunity<br />
Network helplines. It dedicates at least two<br />
pages of its colleague publication to wellbeing<br />
t<strong>op</strong>ics every issue; December’s edition included<br />
a guide to managing new year anxiety.<br />
Both Openfield and CHS say that being co<strong>op</strong>s<br />
gives them more incentive than a traditional<br />
business to consider their members’ wellbeing.<br />
Stoddard says that as a co-<strong>op</strong>erative, CHS has<br />
“more skin in the game”, adding “the pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
that we are targeting these resources to are the<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le that own us. And so there’s that deeper<br />
personal connection and responsibility, to really<br />
take care of our farmer owners, maybe more so<br />
than if we were just a corporation.”<br />
The concept of connection was a recurring<br />
theme throughout all of these conversations,<br />
and a key part of the Brew Monday initiative led<br />
by Samaritans, says S<strong>op</strong>hia.<br />
“Human connection allows the <strong>op</strong>portunity<br />
to feel part of something, a community. Brew<br />
Monday was asking pe<strong>op</strong>le to break down those<br />
barriers about difficult conversations. So checking<br />
in with pe<strong>op</strong>le and seeing how they’re doing,<br />
which often we don’t do in our normal lives.”<br />
Social worker Claudia Maisch echoes this<br />
focus on connection and understanding when<br />
talking about her experience as a worker member<br />
at Alliance <strong>Co</strong>llective. “We all need pe<strong>op</strong>le, we<br />
need connection,” she says. “So much of our<br />
world tries to dismember and pathologise that<br />
need. I think a lot of pe<strong>op</strong>le feel very alienated<br />
in our world … so the more we can return pe<strong>op</strong>le<br />
to their needs of connection, I think absolutely<br />
helps pe<strong>op</strong>le’s mental health.<br />
“And as a worker in this world, I think the co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
model has really allowed me to feel<br />
less afraid of talking about my needs and feel<br />
more supported and more heard and understood<br />
by my colleagues.”<br />
Tyler <strong>Co</strong>lbourne from Healthy Minds goes a<br />
step further: he believes co-<strong>op</strong>s are “part of the<br />
solution for a better world”.<br />
“We see crumbling systems left, right and<br />
centre,” he says. “Pe<strong>op</strong>le are dying in emergency<br />
rooms, police are having to respond to more<br />
mental health crises. So I think we’re at a<br />
convergent point where I think things are going<br />
to have to shift, and I h<strong>op</strong>e co-<strong>op</strong>eratives are part<br />
of the solution going forward.”<br />
Farmers have<br />
a higher rate<br />
of suicide than<br />
the general<br />
p<strong>op</strong>ulation in<br />
a number of<br />
countries<br />
p CHS <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> in the<br />
US is working with its<br />
farmer members on<br />
mental health<br />
and wellbeing<br />
(Image: CHS)<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 41
Carbon<br />
offsetting<br />
co-<strong>op</strong><br />
OFFERS CLIMATE ACTION TO HELP THE WORLD’S<br />
POOREST COMMUNITIES<br />
By Miles Hadfield<br />
A carbon offsetting co-<strong>op</strong> has been launched<br />
to ensure that climate action helps the world’s<br />
poorest pe<strong>op</strong>le, who are being worst affected by<br />
global heating.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Climate Action – launched<br />
by five volunteer co-founders from the UK,<br />
France and Malawi – says it offers offsets that<br />
“reduce carbon, sustain biodiversity, and have<br />
the potential to tackle poverty and support<br />
small community businesses, so they can be<br />
economically sustainable in the long term”.<br />
The team is led by Mark Lewis – former chair<br />
of Wooldale <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative, now part of Central,<br />
and founder director of the Fair Traders <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
– and has already identified a number<br />
of viable projects, established a resource centre<br />
in Malawi, and undertaken a pilot planting of<br />
360 giant clumping bamboo plants.<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives are doing a lot to move towards<br />
net zero,” said Lewis, “but in the meantime<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le in Malawi, one of the poorest countries<br />
in the world, are already suffering from flooding,<br />
disease, and hunger because of climate change,<br />
and it will only get worse over the next decade.<br />
“<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Climate Action has been<br />
launched for pe<strong>op</strong>le who want to offset their<br />
carbon emissions by helping those worst<br />
affected in a spirit of co-<strong>op</strong>eration.”<br />
He says the bamboo plants in Malawi are<br />
one way to help tackle the climate crisis. “This<br />
non-invasive cultivar absorbs more than four<br />
times the amount of CO2 annually than the<br />
fastest growing trees and provides a sustainable<br />
source of fuel that removes the need to cut down<br />
mature trees.<br />
“Furthermore, it can provide goat fodder,<br />
nutritious food, water treatment, erosion control,<br />
and replace steel and timber in construction.“<br />
Action on the environment is crucial in<br />
Malawi. Lewis points out that as only a tiny<br />
42 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
minority of the p<strong>op</strong>ulation has electricity, and<br />
gas is unaffordable, charcoal and firewood is<br />
used to cook and boil water, which has led to the<br />
devastation of the country’s mature forests.<br />
To remedy this, the co-<strong>op</strong> is working with<br />
small local groups instead of large commercial<br />
plantations. It has set up a collaboration with<br />
the Wildlife and Environmental Association<br />
of Malawi, which has over 3,000 volunteer<br />
groups around the country, to establish small<br />
community plots.<br />
“This makes planting and care easier as well<br />
as reducing the need for women to carry the fuel<br />
long distances as happens at present,” adds<br />
Lewis. “Smallholders contribute financially so<br />
they value the plants and can repay the cost after<br />
three years when harvesting starts.<br />
“They are setting up a robust measurement,<br />
reporting and verification process and will be<br />
establishing a co-<strong>op</strong>erative in Malawi to manage<br />
the project.”<br />
Having started with investment from the<br />
founder directors, the co-<strong>op</strong> now h<strong>op</strong>es to<br />
expand the planting and implement other<br />
projects with funding from the co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
movement.<br />
One possible area of action is replacing the<br />
charcoal fires used for cooking and heating.<br />
Potential solutions depend on the local<br />
conditions, says the co-<strong>op</strong>, but in this part of<br />
Malawi agricultural waste in the form of rice<br />
husks and bagasse from sugar cane is readily<br />
available.<br />
This can be converted to fuel briquettes using<br />
simple technology, but local businesses need<br />
capital and training to get started. The co-<strong>op</strong><br />
says it has obtained a pilot-scale machine to<br />
demonstrate the technology and now needs<br />
funding to get the product into the market and<br />
scale up production.<br />
Another project in its early days is Sani<br />
Carpentry <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative, set up to sell products<br />
made from sustainable wood. <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Climate Action has donated a building and tools<br />
to the start-up and found a carpenter willing<br />
to train local young pe<strong>op</strong>le. Sani now needs<br />
funding to install solar power and cover its<br />
initial losses.<br />
Funds are also needed for the Kasangazi Hydro<br />
Scheme, set up by a local construction worker on<br />
a small hillside stream “using a 10m plastic pipe,<br />
an old generator, some wire and a couple of old<br />
p<strong>op</strong> bottles to increase the outlet water velocity;<br />
all for about £200”.<br />
It supplies over 50 households, plus the local<br />
primary school, and a maize mill with power<br />
so they can have light in the evenings, charge<br />
phones, and watch TV. It has secured funding to<br />
build a pr<strong>op</strong>er dam but the turbine and generator<br />
need replacing, and it also has plans for a small<br />
manufacturing unit.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Climate Action also wants to<br />
introduce solar pumps, to replace the petrol<br />
ones used to extract water from Lake Malawi for<br />
irrigation, and to dam a feeder stream for use as<br />
a fish pond. It has identified a possible site and is<br />
receiving technical assistance from the fisheries<br />
department.<br />
One of the effects of climate change on Malawi<br />
is disruption to the electricity supply – it has<br />
reduced water levels in the country’s hydro<br />
power system so severely there are frequent<br />
power cuts. To help pe<strong>op</strong>le light their homes<br />
at night – allowing children to study – the co<strong>op</strong><br />
is importing solar panels, LED light bulbs<br />
and rechargeable batteries for under £15 for<br />
households to buy over a six-month period. It is<br />
now looking for funds to increase the shipment<br />
and set up a business to administer the scheme.<br />
Individuals or corporates can become<br />
members and purchase offsets from the co-<strong>op</strong>’s<br />
website and are encouraged to assist with the<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment of the business.<br />
For further information contact Mark Lewis<br />
at: info@co<strong>op</strong>climateaction.com<br />
p A sample set of fuel<br />
briquettes from agri<br />
waste<br />
One of the petrol<br />
pumps used to pump<br />
water from the lake<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 43
Can the co-<strong>op</strong> model fix our<br />
anti-social<br />
media?<br />
By Miles Hadfield<br />
Social media has long been the source of unease<br />
which periodically balloons into full-scale crisis<br />
whenever there is a fresh outpouring of hate<br />
speech, fake news and conspiracy theories,<br />
or the alleged manipulation of user data to<br />
undermine democratic processes. At the most<br />
serious end of the scale are allegations that<br />
Facebook algorithms shared hate speech which,<br />
a report by Amnesty International argues, helped<br />
incite the 2017 genocide against the Rohingya<br />
Muslim community in Myanmar; social media<br />
was also implicated in the racist mass shooting<br />
in Buffalo, USA, in 2022.<br />
Problems often come hand in hand with<br />
technological innovations, which spread and<br />
evolve faster than societies can anticipate and<br />
adapt to, and in unexpected directions. Social<br />
media can seem especially threatening because<br />
it connects itself so intimately to its users –<br />
and hoovers up their data in the process; and<br />
its explosion has left policymakers around the<br />
world floundering for solutions, with pr<strong>op</strong>osals<br />
ranging from trust-busting measures to the<br />
ongoing saga of the UK Online Safety Bill.<br />
It’s a sad outcome, given the <strong>op</strong>timism<br />
which initially surrounded the internet and its<br />
potential to reform human discourse and power<br />
structures. Social media activists have notched<br />
up a number of successes – notably defying a<br />
gagging order brought in 2009 by law firm Carter<br />
Ruck, acting for oil trading company Trafigura,<br />
accused of dumping toxic waste in <strong>Co</strong>te d’Ivoire.<br />
Trafigura went on to pay a £30m out of court<br />
settlement, in a class action suit brought by<br />
nearly 30,000 Ivorians.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erators – and in particular those<br />
involved in the platform co-<strong>op</strong> movement – have<br />
long been highlighting the potential of mutual<br />
ownership models to clean up social media.<br />
In 2017 they submitted a motion to Twitter’s<br />
44 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
shareholders to consider conversion to a co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
model. It gained just 4% of the vote but<br />
prompted valuable debate – debate which has<br />
re-<strong>op</strong>ened after the messy saga of Elon Musk’s<br />
US$44bn takeover of the tech giant.<br />
Another reform advocate is Timothy Devinney,<br />
professor of international business at the UK’s<br />
University of Manchester, who pr<strong>op</strong>osed in<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>nversation last month “a hybrid of a co<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
and a public company for Twitter”.<br />
He suggests buying out Musk and his backers<br />
“via a combination of cash, loans and debt<br />
rollovers” and reforming Twitter under a B<strong>Co</strong>rp<br />
model of ethical business.<br />
A single Twitter share would go to any<br />
individual or company with a Twitter account<br />
with minimum usage; and anyone with an<br />
active account could purchase up to nine more<br />
shares at an IPO price to be determined, with a<br />
maximum holding of ten.<br />
Anyone wishing to join Twitter in future would<br />
have to purchase at least one share at the market<br />
price, with “gratis” shares for groups such as<br />
charities or NGOs.<br />
Anyone violating Twitter’s user policy – over<br />
hate speech, for example – would have their<br />
account suspended, including any claim to<br />
dividends. They could, however, sell their shares<br />
and close their accounts.<br />
In his <strong>Co</strong>nversation piece, Devinney argues<br />
this is a better method of validation than<br />
simply paying for a blue tick. “One cannot<br />
remain anonymous to the organisation as an<br />
individual shareholder. It removes the threat of<br />
fake accounts, and gives users a formal say in<br />
company decisions.”<br />
It would also bring Twitter into public<br />
ownership, <strong>op</strong>ening up its management and<br />
governance to scrutiny. “Users would be able<br />
to benefit financially and socially from the<br />
platform’s success. And it gives Musk a way to<br />
minimise his losses and exit Twitter easily.”<br />
Crucially, he adds: “It could become the public<br />
forum we need,” giving pe<strong>op</strong>le a tool to respond<br />
to political and corporate control.<br />
Meanwhile, the group of “users, shareholders<br />
and workers” behind the Buy Twitter campaign<br />
– including platform co-<strong>op</strong>erators Danny<br />
Spitzberg and Nathan Schneider – have renewed<br />
their efforts, <strong>op</strong>erating as #BetterPlatform.<br />
The group is canvassing the public for ideas<br />
“to imagine a better platform where we decide,<br />
The wave of dismissals<br />
that followed Musk’s arrival<br />
prompted a feeling of “chaos<br />
and anxiety” with “little h<strong>op</strong>e<br />
for any real agency”<br />
together” how to bring “broad-based ownership<br />
and accountability” to Twitter.<br />
The wave of dismissals that followed Musk’s<br />
arrival prompted a feeling of “chaos and<br />
anxiety” with “little h<strong>op</strong>e for any real agency”,<br />
with more than 20,000 users joining an online<br />
space hosted by Buzzfeed tech reporter Katie<br />
Not<strong>op</strong>oulos to bemoan the situation.<br />
Spurred into action, Better Platform recently<br />
polled its followers and found three key<br />
takeaways: that the site is seen as a “public<br />
utility”; those who get the most value work in<br />
journalism, content moderation, and influence;<br />
and the t<strong>op</strong> wish is for a new governing body.<br />
And 57% of the 17,500,000 votes called for<br />
Musk to step down; asked how the next CEO<br />
should be chosen, the most p<strong>op</strong>ular <strong>op</strong>tion was<br />
a civic assembly on 39.8% – beating a “smokefilled<br />
boardroom” into second place on 36% and<br />
a Twitter poll to 24.2%.<br />
pElon Musk’s<br />
acquisition of Twitter<br />
is the latest source of<br />
unrest in the world of<br />
social media<br />
(Images: Getty)<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 45
SEWA Delhi Declaration<br />
By Anca Voinea<br />
p The Declaration<br />
was ad<strong>op</strong>ted on 14<br />
December at SEWA’s<br />
national worksh<strong>op</strong> in<br />
Delhi (Photo credit:<br />
SEWA)<br />
SETS OUT WOMEN’S<br />
CO-OPS’ PRIORITIES AHEAD<br />
OF NATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE<br />
POLICY<br />
SEWA <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Federation held a national<br />
worksh<strong>op</strong> in Delhi on 13-14 December to<br />
celebrate its 40th anniversary. Over 100 women<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erators from 18 states across India attended<br />
the event, which was co-organised by SEWA, the<br />
National <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Union of India (NCUI) and<br />
ICA Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP).<br />
Themed Strengthening Solidarity: Enabling<br />
Women’s <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives and <strong>Co</strong>llective Enterprises<br />
to Thrive, the worksh<strong>op</strong> explored issues around<br />
access to finance, the ease of doing business,<br />
marketing, governance, capacity-building and<br />
digital inclusion.<br />
As it closed, the event ad<strong>op</strong>ted a declaration,<br />
making a series of recommendations to<br />
strengthen women’s co-<strong>op</strong>s and women’s<br />
leadership within the co-<strong>op</strong>erative movement.<br />
One of SEWA’s main commitments in the<br />
declaration is to continue to organise women,<br />
particularly those in the informal economy,<br />
into co-<strong>op</strong>eratives. The apex also promises<br />
to continue linking women with government<br />
programmes and support services to support<br />
their economic empowerment.<br />
Another pledge is to keep providing access to<br />
affordable financial services for women, including<br />
working capital and insurance. Alongside this,<br />
SEWA will continue to offer financial literacy and<br />
management training to women co-<strong>op</strong>erators to<br />
help them grow their businesses.<br />
Another important area of work for SEWA<br />
is co-<strong>op</strong>erative education and the federation<br />
intends to keep educating women workers on<br />
the co-<strong>op</strong>erative values and principles while<br />
building social solidarity. To this end, SEWA<br />
will continue to provide capacity-building and<br />
leadership programmes for women co-<strong>op</strong>erators<br />
while devel<strong>op</strong>ing a network of grassroots<br />
trainers and providing <strong>op</strong>portunities for peer-t<strong>op</strong>eer<br />
learning and digital literacy.<br />
46 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
The largest section of the declaration<br />
includes suggestions and commitments<br />
around advocating for appr<strong>op</strong>riate laws,<br />
policies and programmes that promote<br />
women’s co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and collective<br />
entrepreneurship. To this end, SEWA pledges<br />
to collect gender-disaggregated, state-wide<br />
data and co-<strong>op</strong>eratives and share this with<br />
state and national authorities to enable co<strong>op</strong>erative-to-co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
trade.<br />
The apex also calls for a simplification of<br />
the registration procedures for co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
engaged in non-traditional economic activities,<br />
and the devel<strong>op</strong>ment of new compliance and<br />
reporting systems through a consultative<br />
process with women co-<strong>op</strong>erators.<br />
Across the two days, women co-<strong>op</strong>erators<br />
highlighted the urgent need to simplify the<br />
registration process for women’s co-<strong>op</strong>eratives.<br />
Renana Jhabvala, president of SEWA Bharat and<br />
Padma Shri Award winner, pointed out that it<br />
can take a year and a half to set up a women’s co<strong>op</strong><br />
under the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative Act, while registering<br />
under the <strong>Co</strong>mpany Act takes only a month.<br />
“There is a need to look at the matter and<br />
make the process easy,” she told the meeting.<br />
Other measures suggested in the declaration<br />
include a tax exemption for women’s co-<strong>op</strong> with a<br />
turnover of up to Rs20 crore (£1.98m), devel<strong>op</strong>ing<br />
a women’s co-<strong>op</strong>erative enterprise devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
fund, ensuring that the autonomy of co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
and co-<strong>op</strong> federations is recognised and<br />
protected, and supporting the digitisation of<br />
women’s co-<strong>op</strong>eratives. The declaration also<br />
demands increased representation for women<br />
on co-<strong>op</strong> boards.<br />
The event also heard from ICA-AP president<br />
Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, who addressed the<br />
lack of female representation on some co-<strong>op</strong><br />
boards, calling on women to “fight elections”<br />
rather than restricting themselves to competition<br />
for all-women reserved seats.<br />
With the G20 taking place in India this<br />
year, SEWA’s declaration highlights the<br />
importance of linking women’s co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
and their federations with the G20 processes,<br />
showcasing their contributions to the Indian<br />
and global economy and facilitating preferential<br />
procurement from co<strong>op</strong>eratives,<br />
including<br />
export orders.<br />
Over the course of<br />
the two days women’s<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s attending the<br />
worksh<strong>op</strong> were able<br />
to sell their products<br />
at a dedicated Women<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives Bazaar<br />
Over 100 women<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erators from<br />
18 states across India<br />
attended the event<br />
within the NCUI<br />
premises, which served<br />
as the venue for the<br />
worksh<strong>op</strong>.<br />
The declaration was presented to the national<br />
committee set up by the Indian government<br />
to devel<strong>op</strong> a new national co-<strong>op</strong>erative policy.<br />
SEWA says it h<strong>op</strong>es the committee will include<br />
the recommendations in the national co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
policy, currently in devel<strong>op</strong>ment.<br />
t Over 100 women<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erators from 18<br />
states met in Delhi for<br />
the national worksh<strong>op</strong><br />
(Photo credit: SEWA)<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong> | 47
REVIEW<br />
Citizenship: Storyteller’s big fix to usher in a<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>erative new world<br />
Citizens: Why the Key<br />
to Fixing Everything Is<br />
All of Us<br />
by Jon Alexander with<br />
Ariane <strong>Co</strong>nrad<br />
Canbury Press, £20<br />
With pandemic, war, economic problems and<br />
ecological crises piling up, we find ourselves – not<br />
for the first time in history – with tough decisions<br />
to make, and here is the latest in a line of books by<br />
progressive thinkers, suggesting collective response.<br />
Inspiring such collective action is a tough call in<br />
an era of growing individualism, as co-author Jon<br />
Alexander knows too well – a former ad man until<br />
he lost his stomach for the industry’s excesses,<br />
he was a footsoldier in the consumer culture that<br />
helped to undermine our collective spirit. He now<br />
believes that we need to st<strong>op</strong> seeing ourselves as<br />
consumers, and start acting, on a daily basis, as<br />
citizens to meet the world’s challenges.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erators have long advocated the telling of<br />
stories to promote the movement’s strengths, and<br />
Alexander values narrative. <strong>Co</strong>-written with ‘book<br />
doula’ Ariane <strong>Co</strong>nrad, this books sees the history<br />
of human identity as one of changing stories: for<br />
much of history the dominant narrative was the<br />
Subject Story, placing pe<strong>op</strong>le under the authority<br />
of a crown; the <strong>Co</strong>nsumer Story offered a liberation<br />
from this but now “in order to survive and thrive,<br />
we must step into the Citizen Story”. Citizens, he<br />
says, are “pe<strong>op</strong>le who actively shape the world<br />
around us, who cultivate meaningful connections<br />
to their community and institutions, who can<br />
imagine a different and better life, who care and<br />
take responsibility, and who create <strong>op</strong>portunities<br />
for others to do the same.”<br />
The path to this is not a clear one. If the pandemic<br />
inspired citizen efforts, it also prompted consumerbased<br />
government initiatives like the UK’s thenchancellor<br />
Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out To Help Out<br />
scheme. And businesses which won praise for their<br />
ethical stance, such as BrewDog, have often found<br />
themselves mired in ethical problems.<br />
Retail co-<strong>op</strong>s also have one foot in the citizen and<br />
consumer camps, and Alexander uses his notion of<br />
the two stories to shed fresh light on the crisis at the<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group that led to the loss of the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Bank.<br />
He notes that the citizen ethos was part of the <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong><br />
at its inception in Rochdale. But “as the <strong>Co</strong>nsumer<br />
Story took hold … and challenges to market share<br />
arose from the fast-growing supermarket chains,<br />
the model began to creak, and ultimately power<br />
flooded in from the local to the central.”<br />
The centralisation process, starting in the 1960s,<br />
led to “a corporation called the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Group”, says<br />
Alexander – a “ big beast, which was far more<br />
distant and less relatable”.<br />
The Bank, he argues, “was at the epicentre of the<br />
problem. When power poured into what had been<br />
the CWS, all the various governance structures<br />
were simply thrown together, and resulted in a<br />
huge bank governed by a board arguably akin to<br />
the worst kind of parish council, its members more<br />
motivated by perceived status than meaningful<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunities to contribute.”<br />
Alexander’s response to such events was to help<br />
launch the New Citizenship Project (NCP), which<br />
has been working with the Group – as well as<br />
organisations such as the National Trust and the<br />
BBC – to encourage more participation by members<br />
and users. With the Group, NCP has “crowdsourced<br />
recipes for new food products, co-created a new<br />
travel insurance offering, invited widespread input<br />
into its new food sourcing policy, and much more”.<br />
A highlight, he says, is the work during the<br />
pandemic of the Group’s Member Participation<br />
team to establish a network of online, member-led<br />
229 ‘grief cafés,’ where members come together to<br />
share an online space to feel less alone.<br />
Alexander sees the co-<strong>op</strong> model as a useful driver<br />
for the citizenship ethos, and also highlights newer<br />
ideas like platform co-<strong>op</strong>erativism and the campaign<br />
for citizen-controlled social media platforms.<br />
If co-<strong>op</strong>eration is a useful mechanism for his<br />
Citizen Story, the Citizen Story also offers inspiration<br />
for co-<strong>op</strong>s. Alexander compiles moving case studies<br />
of individuals coming together to improve their<br />
communities – from a residents’ group in Grimsby<br />
to activists in a slum on the edge of Nairobi, Kenya,<br />
working to tackle sexual violence, clean streets and<br />
launch small businesses. He’s realistic about the<br />
barriers to progress, but he takes an <strong>op</strong>timistic view<br />
of human nature and argues that we need to roll up<br />
our sleeves to make change happen.<br />
“This work of transformation is not easy. We<br />
have to get beyond the usual suspects of mission<br />
statements, supply chains, diversity initiatives.<br />
We have to go beneath the surface, and rebuild<br />
from the inside out. We have to get into the detail.<br />
This is because, even having recognised the<br />
Citizen in ourselves and others as individuals,<br />
the gravitational pull of business-as-usual in<br />
entrenched institutions can still drag us back to the<br />
old ways of doing things.”<br />
48 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
Scotmid <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative is Scotland’s<br />
largest independent co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
and has been at the heart<br />
of Scottish communities since 1859.<br />
We have an exciting <strong>op</strong>portunity<br />
for someone to join our business<br />
in the new role of Society<br />
Secretary, reporting directly to<br />
our Board of Directors.<br />
If you relish a challenge and the<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunity to influence at a<br />
senior level, whilst also making a<br />
difference to local communities,<br />
this is the role for you!<br />
We would consider applicants who<br />
are currently working in a Deputy<br />
Secretary role or similar, who are<br />
seeking a devel<strong>op</strong>ment <strong>op</strong>portunity.<br />
The role will provide full secretariat<br />
support to the Board. In addition,<br />
the Society Secretary will also<br />
provide support and guidance to<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>mmunity and Membership<br />
Team to ensure the effective<br />
implementation of the Society’s<br />
Membership Strategy.<br />
While listed as a full-time position,<br />
we would be happy to consider<br />
candidates that require part time<br />
or compressed hours.<br />
The role will be primarily based<br />
in our Head Office in Newbridge,<br />
Edinburgh, but there are<br />
<strong>op</strong>portunities for hybrid working.<br />
There is a comprehensive<br />
remuneration package on offer for<br />
this demanding role, including:<br />
• Indicative salary circa £70k<br />
(dependant<br />
on experience)<br />
• Defined Benefit Pension<br />
Scheme<br />
• Tax beneficial share saving<br />
scheme<br />
• BUPA (dental and health) for<br />
employee,<br />
reduced rates for family<br />
• Cycle to Work salary sacrifice<br />
scheme<br />
• Generous holiday entitlement<br />
How to apply<br />
For a full job specification, visit bit.ly/3k2Hgmb<br />
To apply, please submit your CV and cover letter to<br />
lmacgillivray@scotmid.co.uk no later than 28 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2023</strong>.<br />
For further information on our business, visit www.scotmid.co.uk
DIARY<br />
Do you have a co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
event – taking place in person,<br />
online, or as a hybrid – to be<br />
featured?<br />
Tell us at: events@thenews.co<strong>op</strong><br />
<strong>Co</strong>nversations with Gamechangers –<br />
Guerrilla Translation<br />
11 <strong>February</strong> (online, 3-5pm GMT)<br />
Guerrilla Translation is an activist<br />
commons-oriented co-<strong>op</strong>erative created<br />
to share ideas between communities and<br />
spread the word about things that matter.<br />
To help support activist translators and<br />
freelancers to use their skills for causes<br />
they care about while also making a living,<br />
Guerrilla Translation has devel<strong>op</strong>ed a<br />
new kind of livelihood vehicle which<br />
combines two functions: a voluntary<br />
translation/media collective working for<br />
activist causes, and an income-generating<br />
co<strong>op</strong>erative agency providing translation<br />
and communication services.<br />
bit.ly/3VjKuiM<br />
Fairtrade Fortnight<br />
27 <strong>February</strong> - 12 March<br />
This year’s campaign, which is backed<br />
by and supports co-<strong>op</strong>eratives around<br />
the world, will highlight the message<br />
that whatever your budget and wherever<br />
you sh<strong>op</strong>, when you choose Fairtrade,<br />
you support farmers to take care of the<br />
environment through Fairtrade’s Price,<br />
Premium and Programmes.<br />
bit.ly/3kIfCLG<br />
UK Society for <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Studies<br />
<strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
24-25 <strong>February</strong> (Lincoln, UK)<br />
This conference will take the <strong>op</strong>portunity<br />
to reflect on <strong>Co</strong>nsumer <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eration,<br />
particularly in the context of the business<br />
and service delivery changes over the past<br />
three years. The programme will include<br />
panel discussions and academic papers,<br />
exploring the position of consumer<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives in the present, looking<br />
at member engagement, the use of<br />
technology to facilitate online meetings<br />
and how data is shaping retailers’<br />
relationships with members.<br />
ukscs.co<strong>op</strong><br />
Women’s Voices<br />
8 March (Staffordshire, UK)<br />
To celebrate international Women’s Day<br />
<strong>2023</strong>, Central <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> is again hosting its<br />
annual Women’s Voices event, at the<br />
National Memorial Arboretum, with<br />
worksh<strong>op</strong>s and guest speakers including<br />
Dame Pauline Green and Dame Margaret<br />
Beckett.<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Retail <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
24-26 March (Cheshire, UK)<br />
The <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Retail <strong>Co</strong>nference is the<br />
only annual event designed specifically<br />
for co-<strong>op</strong> retailers. It attracts leaders,<br />
managers and directors of consumer<br />
owned retail co-<strong>op</strong>s from across the UK.<br />
uk.co<strong>op</strong>/crc<br />
Playground for the New Economy Festival<br />
19-20 May (Manchester, UK)<br />
Stir to Action’s annual festival is heading<br />
to Stretford Public Hall for two days of<br />
panels, worksh<strong>op</strong>s, local DJs, and food.<br />
stirtoaction.com/festival<br />
UK <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>Co</strong>ngress<br />
June (date and location TBC)<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>Co</strong>ngress brings together those<br />
working to build a fairer economy to share<br />
ideas, get inspiration and take action.<br />
Details TBC<br />
International Day of <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
1 July<br />
ICA CCR Global and Eur<strong>op</strong>ean <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Research <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
10-13 July (Leuven Belgium)<br />
The overall theme of the <strong>2023</strong> conference<br />
is ‘Governing co<strong>op</strong>erative innovation’ and<br />
will bring together academia, researchers,<br />
and co-<strong>op</strong>erative practitioners from all<br />
over the world, as well as policy-makers<br />
at the EU and international level, to<br />
discuss the latest research and policy<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ments in the area of co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
governance. The event is hosted by<br />
the Centre of Expertise for <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong>erative<br />
Entrepreneurship (KCO KU Leuven), a<br />
research and teaching centre.<br />
info@icaccr<strong>2023</strong>.com<br />
<strong>2023</strong> World Credit Union <strong>Co</strong>nference<br />
23-26 July (Vancouver, Canada)<br />
The global credit union education and<br />
networking event offered by the financial<br />
services industry is returning to Canada.<br />
Organised by the World <strong>Co</strong>uncil of Credit<br />
Unions and the Canadian Credit Union<br />
Association (CCUA), the event will hear<br />
from global industry experts on a variety<br />
of t<strong>op</strong>ics. The educational programme<br />
includes breakout sessions, worksh<strong>op</strong>s,<br />
keynote sessions and a Solution Center<br />
geared towards solving today’s challenges.<br />
wcuc.org<br />
Practitioners Forum<br />
23 November (Manchester)<br />
One of the leading training and<br />
devel<strong>op</strong>ment events for pe<strong>op</strong>le working<br />
in co-<strong>op</strong>erative businesses – big and<br />
small – Practitioners Forum is an annual<br />
sell-out. It hosts around 20 covering<br />
membership, governance, finance, HR<br />
and communications.<br />
Details TBC<br />
50 | FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong>
1–13 11–13<br />
24–26<br />
March March<br />
March<br />
2022 2022<br />
<strong>2023</strong><br />
Wychwood<br />
De Vere<br />
Park<br />
Cranage<br />
Park Hotel, Hotel,<br />
Estate,<br />
Weston,<br />
Crewe,<br />
Byley Lane, Cranage,<br />
Cheshire, CW2 CW2 5GP 5GP<br />
Crewe, CW4 8EW<br />
The • only The only dedicated dedicated retail retail conference conference for for<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>eratives in thein UK the UK<br />
For • leaders, For leaders, managers managers and directors and directors<br />
of consumer of consumer owned owned retail retail co-<strong>op</strong>eratives<br />
Keynote • Keynote presentations from from industry industry<br />
specialists specialists and best and best practice practice from from retailers retailers<br />
Unrivalled • Unrivalled learning learning and networking<br />
and networking<br />
ook Book your your places places now now at at<br />
ww.uk.co<strong>op</strong>/crc<br />
www.uk.co<strong>op</strong>/crc
UP TO £200 *<br />
OFF YOUR NEXT HOLIDAY<br />
EXPERIENCE M RE<br />
7 nights<br />
5* all inclusive<br />
from £1,889pp<br />
Resort credit,<br />
room upgrade &<br />
treats included<br />
THE GET<br />
MORE<br />
SALE UP TO<br />
£200 OFF *<br />
5* Margaritaville Island Reserve Cap Cana Hammock<br />
EXPERIENCE M RE:<br />
$100 resort credit per<br />
room, per night<br />
Refreshing treat<br />
on arrival<br />
Free room<br />
upgrade<br />
Return private<br />
transfers<br />
CALL 0808 239 8831<br />
QUOTE: COOPDOMREP<br />
Prices correct as of 03/01/<strong>2023</strong>, subject to change and availability. Free upgrades from March <strong>2023</strong> only. Based on 2 adults sharing. Departing from London Gatwick on 28th September <strong>2023</strong> and staying 7 nights All Inclusive at the<br />
5* Margaritaville® Island Reserve Cap Cana Hammock. Return private transfers and 23kg hold luggage included. Provided by <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> Holidays, trading name of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Holidays Ltd. ATOL protected 11121.<br />
*For sale terms and conditions visit www.co<strong>op</strong>travel.co.uk/information/terms-and-conditions/