Strength through unity: the advantages of cooperativism
Through shared institutions, these organisations have shown their capacity to promote significant changes in areas such as employment, health and social wellbeing.
Cooperatives are companies that belong to the professionals themselves and to the consumers (users, clients…) This means, in practice, a type of empowerment that makes it easier for them to achieve their goals. This model is not only be used to create solid, sustainable jobs, as confirmed by the study Cooperatives and Employment: a Global Report, but it also gives back to society as a whole.
The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is today one of the largest non-governmental organisations in the world, which groups together over one thousand million members from three million cooperatives all over the world. Its foundation dates back to the 19th of August, 1895, at the first Cooperative Congress in London. However, the origins of the first organisation based on the cooperative model takes us even further back, to 1761, when a group of craftsmen who worked in cotton factories in Fenwick (Scotland) created the Fenwick Weavers’ Society.
Shared experiences
In the health area, the union amongst these types of associations has allowed alliances to be created that have boosted the improvement in the working conditions of the professionals, along with their capacity to attend citizens. As explained by Noriaki Taguchi, the Secretary of the Japanese Federation of Health and Well-being Cooperatives- one of the organisations which, alongside Fundacion Espriu or Unimed, have contributed to the creation of the IHCO, since the first International Forum of Healthcare Cooperatives held in Tokyo in 1992 – this association is the result “of the recognition of the need for an international exchange amongst cooperatives.”
“At that moment, women and children’s healthcare in many developing countries was threatened by poverty. Meanwhile, the more developed countries were fighting against the aging of the population, a fact that had an impact on social security policies. The solutions provided by health cooperatives were used to generate a greater awareness regarding all these topics,” Taguchi adds.
An organisation such as the IHCO also allows its members to be able to learn from each other, sharing achievements and experiences. In the words of Taguchi, “having the chance to visit health cooperatives and take part in exchanges with a country like Spain can provide us with valuable information. I think that these interactions contribute to promoting a mutually beneficial relationship.”
