Key lessons from co-operative developers: what does it take to build a co-operative?

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?

CIP carried out in-depth interviews with active co-op developers in western Canada who all have a broad range of experience working in rural and indigenous communities. These interviews were analyzed concurrently with other research streams – a telephone survey, a web-based survey, and community engagement events -- to provide triangulation. The interviews strongly echoed other results both from top down (developer) and bottom up (community) dialogue.

The collected thoughts provide key lessons for those who aim to work with rural and indigenous communities to develop new or grow existing co-operatives. These key lessons speak to several critical issues, including:

• recognizing the difference between co-operative leadership and conventional leadership, and finding ways to engage co-operative leaders;
• the role of local gatekeepers and catalysts at the community level, and learning how to address and sometimes confront gatekeepers while finding and supporting catalysts;
• the critical importance of co-operative knowledge and narratives, and finding ways to use those narratives effectively to harness and direct local social capacity;
• the power of place in co-operative development, which shows how each community is different and robust development respects and supports community to solve its own issues in a way that works in the local context;
• building a network of co-operative development technical support, including legal, administrative, and accounting experts who understand the co-operative model and can work to change and build resilience in the structure and system, as well as in individual co-operatives;
• learning to bring conflict right to the table, to embrace and address the way co-op development engages with and sometimes exacerbates politics, from the micro through the macro to the meso levels.

Active co-operative development at the community level requires a style of co-operative development that engages first with community, and continually uses lessons learned to activate and energize co-operative development through every stage.