A new model for a robust co-operative development environment

The Co-operative Innovation Project (CIP), a two-year pilot study in western Canada, considered: what are the conditions necessary for successful co-operative development in rural and indigenous communities? While there are... [ view full abstract ]

The Co-operative Innovation Project (CIP), a two-year pilot study in western Canada, considered: what are the conditions necessary for successful co-operative development in rural and indigenous communities? While there are community factors at play (social capacity, business capacity, community-identified need, knowledge of co-operatives, catalysts and support), CIP also considered how co-operative development is energized as an activity. What does it look like? And, do those activities match what rural and indigenous communities require?
Although co-operative development is widely practiced around the world with many successful variations, much less work has been done on conceptualizing co-operative development, the activities required for successful co-operative development, and how best to carry out these activities. Typically, co-operative development is described as a series of steps or phases.
The purpose of this presentation is to provide a conceptualization of co-operative development that draws on the larger two-year research project. In essence, the project built a co-operative development model based on identified needs and gaps ‘on the ground’ in rural and indigenous communities. The conceptualization integrates insights from twenty-six community engagement events, in-depth interviews with co-op developers, a telephone survey of over 2000 people, a web-based survey of over 350 community administrators, and international research on co-operative development as an activity at the community level.
In developing this conceptualization, attention is paid to the role played by key individuals in the community as they become motivated to find solutions to problems and issues facing their community. At the same time, this conceptualization recognizes the critical importance of successful co-operative development norms and practices already in place.
A conceptual model can be used as a guidance tool. It allows those who work within the field of co-operative development to visualize the process and find ways to see where each piece fits into the larger whole. A model can also be used to measure success, and to identify gaps or areas of concern, where current development practices may not match the conceptualized robust model.
In combining these insights, the paper presents a visualization of a model of co-operative development that considers how co-operative development activities and players might be best structured or influenced to be as effective as possible.