News

After contacting more than 2 dozen persons involved in credit union and co-operative development the Board of Directors of GCDG have agreed to continue exploring the potential for such a program, including what could be its major elements as well as how it might best be organized and delivered to be sustainable over time. 

You may read the preliminary report describing the project and some initial thoughts on going forward using this link: Report on Coaching and Mentoring.pdf  

Please check back in the next month or two for further updates.

On Feb 22, 2016  Terry MacDonald, Greg Wallace, Alfredo Molina, Patrick O'Connor and Sandra Wallace met with the President Jesus Torres Nuno of TRADOC at the tire factory in El Salto Mexico to discuss the history and current state of this rather unique worker co-operative. 

The meeting lasted for almost two hours during which President Jesus Torres described the struggle roughly 1,000 workers went thru in a 4 year battle with the Germany multinational company - Continental Tire.   You can read a little of their earlier story here:

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14833/mexican_workers_win_ownership_of_tire_plant_with_three_year_strike

Update - April 2, 2016 The story is in the final stages of editing and being translated into Spanish for review by Sr. Torres.  We hope the story can be posted on our website and on the ICA stories website early in May. 

                                               Press Release
       Concern for Community: The Relevance of Co-operatives to Peace
 
By Ian MacPherson & Yehudah Paz
Edited by Joy Emmanuel
Release Date – December 10, 2015
 
A new e-book on the history, theory, and practice of co-operatives and peace by the late Dr Ian MacPherson and the late Dr Yehudah Paz will be published in early December.
 
As part of several initiatives focused on co-operatives and peace, Ian and Yehudah were working on this publication at the time of their unfortunate passings in November 2013. Concern for Community: The Relevance of Co-operatives to Peace contains the distillation of the authors’ convictions on how peace building is at the core of the co-operative model of enterprise and how co-operatives can make a fundamental contribution to peace making initiatives.
 
Drawing  on  their  many  years  of  direct  experience  in  the  co-operative  sector  and  their contributions to the field of Co-operative Studies, the authors lay out their insights on the subject of co-operatives and peace. From a review of the historical record to the development of the Co-operative Identity Statement in 1995, the authors illustrate how peace has been a significant theme in the life of the international co-operative movement.  From an examination of how co-operatives  empower  their  members  to  address  inequalities  and  social  tensions  in  local communities,  to  defining  the  role  co-operatives  can  play  in  building  relationships  among  all parties in war-torn regions, they explain how the co-operative movement has developed a set of values and practices that build on a concern for community and form a natural bridge to building a more just, peaceful world. 
 
“Peace building happens in communities not on battlefields,” claims Dr Ian MacPherson. “And it is  in  this  context  that  co-operatives  can  make  their  greatest  contribution to  building  a  more peaceful world.” 
 
“Peacemaking is central to the growth of the co-operative movement,” asserts Dr Yehudah Paz, “and co-operatives are relevant to matters of peacemaking and conflict resolution at the level of neighbour-to-neighbour within and across communities, regions, and nations.”
 
The writings of the authors are complimented by nine case studies illustrating how co-operatives embody practices of peace building from employment creation for marginalized groups of people and  establishing  savings  plans  in  impoverished  communities;  to  addressing  discriminatory practices  around  race,  ethnicity,  gender,  and  religion;  to  engaging  in  sensitive  practices  of peace building in communities affected by outright violent conflict.  “This book is part of the legacy of two men who deeply believed in co-operatives as a value-based tool for development, as well as the role of the co-operative movement in brokering peace,” states Vivian Silver, Former Co-Executive Director, AJEEC-NISPED, Israel.
 
“The co-operative movement has not yet been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, but this book makes one hopeful that it might one day be more fully acknowledged for its role in promoting an ideal longed for with more urgency in recent days.”  Charles Gould, Director General of the ICA
 
Concern for Community: The Relevance of Co-operatives to Peace will be available as of December 10, 2015 as a free e-book. See: www.peace.coop.  
 
Thanks to the Co-operative News for assistance in distribution and promotion of the publication and other co-operative organizations for support in promoting the publication, including: the ICA Research Committee (ccr.ica.coop), Negeva Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (http://en.ajeec-nisped.org.il/), the Co-operative Development Foundation (www.cdfcanada.coop) the  Canadian  Co-operative  Association  (www.coopscanada.coop),  Co-operatives  and  Mutuals Canada  (CMC)  (http://canada.coop/),  the  Canadian  Association  for  Studies  in  Co-operation
(CASC) (http://www.coopresearch.coop/), and the Co-op College, UK (http://www.co-op.ac.uk/). 
 
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Dr  Yehudah  Paz  was  founder  and  Chair  of  the  Negva  Institute  for  Strategies  of  Peace  and Development (NISPED).  Yehudah served as director of the ICA Board from 1993-2005, he was chair of the ICA Human Resource Development Committee from many years, and also served as a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Asia-Pacific  region.  He  was  Chairperson  of  the Department of International Relations of the Central Union of Co-operative Societies in Israel and academic  Director  of  the  Israel  Co-operative  College.  In  2005,  he  was  award  the  Rochdale Pioneers Award from the ICA and in 2006 he received the Golden Dove of Peace prize from the Institute for International Research Disarmament Archives (IRIAD) in Italy. Dr Paz was a member of Kibbutz Kissufim from 1951 until his death in 2013. Throughout his life, he worked for peace, political justice, and the cause of international co-operation. 
 
Ian  MacPherson  was  a  leading  figure  in  both  the  Canadian  and  International  Co-operative Movement.  He was an historian, a scholar, a co-operative activist and a strong promoter of the
field  of  Co-operative  Studies.  For  many  years,  Ian  was  the  Director  of  the  British  Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies a research center he founder at the University of Victoria in 1999 to promote Co-operative Studies.  He served as Chairperson of the ICA Research Committee at  the  time  of  the  revision  of  the  1995  Principles  and  the  development  of  the  Co-operative Identity Statement for the Twenty-First Century. He played a leading role in the founding of the Canadian Co-operative Association and the Canadian Association for the Study of Co-operation. 
For over forty years, Ian served on the board of many co-operatives including serving as president of Credit Union Central of British Columbia, and on the boards of consumer, financial, and health care  co-operatives.  Along  with  teaching,  Ian  contributed  to  the  field  of  Co-operative  Studies through his prolific writing. He wrote and co-edited over 20 books, 150 articles and gave over 300 conference presentations.  
 
Joy Emmanuel,
Editor, Concern for Community: The Relevance of Co-operatives to Peace
Turning Times Research and Consulting
Joy.turningtimes@gmail.com
 
 
 
 
 

- Prepared and presented a policy paper for a number of larger Canadian credit unions concerning legislative changes that may necessitate major structural changes across the Canadian system.

- Provided management advisory services to the Malawi Unions of Savings and Credit Co-operatives and to FinCoop the largest financial co-operative in Malawi.

- Drafted and circulated ‘Systems Thinking for Co-operatives – A Primer’ as a discussion paper which illustrates why and how systems thinking (a change of mindset) is essential for longer term success across all of the co-operative world.

- Continued active involvement in the social media website LinkedIn within various co-operative groups, and discussed such wide ranging topics as co-operative failures, management capture, and reforming the co-operative movement.

- Delivered local training session (2 days) concerning the co-operative enterprise model followed up by a four day workshop on formation of a women’s’ savings and credit co-operative in central Mexico.

- Initiated a project to create a co-operative government relations program working with one of Canada’s largest consumer co-operative.

- Delivered technology management advisory services to a large credit union in Ecuador.

- Drafted and circulated a concept paper concerning the feasibility of the creation of a global lender of last resort facility for financial co-operatives, to interested co-operative leaders around the globe.     

- Promoted the growth and expansion of Global Co-operative Development Group’s voluntary network of co-operative leaders and developers around the world, as well as the co-operative enterprise website.

- Served as an invited keynote speaker by the Kenya Institute of Management and speaking on co-operative leadership at an international savings and credit co-operative conference in Mombasa Kenya.

- Continued the ongoing promotion and sharing of the flagship product of the co-operative, the text entitled “Co-operative Enterprise Building a Better World”, available in print and e formats online.

Thanks to everyone for the good works done!

Terry MacDonald will be traveling to Kampala Uganda to renew friendships and maintain contact with various co-operative organizations, and to promote the book Co-operative Enterprise Building a Better World" book which he helped co-author.

During this time Terry also plans to visit Tanzania and Kenya to discuss future  development initiatives with co-operative leaders and government officials.

Thank you for your interest!

Kenyan and Africa SACCO and Co-operative leaders will be attending the International Co-operative Summit in Kenya.  Managing Director Terry MacDonald will be attending and speaking at this event.

The theme is ...

"Transformative Development: Harnessing the Cooperative Entrepreneurship in Realizing a Sustainable Economy"

African SACCO leaders are attending this conference between Oct 27 thru to the 31, 2014. 

The theme is...

“ADOPTING  INNOVATIVE  TECHNIQUES  FOR  SUSTAINABLE

 CO  - OPERATIVE  FINANCIAL  INSTITUTIONS"  Click here for details

In case you missed it here are some of the highlights from the most recent summit.  Each video is only a few minutes long and highlights topics covered during each day of the event.   Some 3,000 co-operators from around the world attended.

Oct 7, 2014 - Co-operatives employee 250 million people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnfUgMvRqck&list=UUZqmK4rzlspKDlS895_yo6w&index=4

Oct 8, 2014 - In areas such as health care – co-operative can play and are playing an important roles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyeLrvdb31E&list=UUZqmK4rzlspKDlS895_yo6w&index=3

Oct 9, 2014 - Co-operatives are innovators, active in solving many of the world’s social and economic problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6TVtRCyOrM&index=2&list=UUZqmK4rzlspKDlS895_yo6w

Theme:

   Transformative Development:

       Harnessing Cooperative Entrepreneurship in Realizing a Sustainable Economy

During this event I will be speaking on "Secrets of Leadership and Management Effectiveness in Co-operatives", as well as "How You Can Use Technology to Connect to Co-operators Around the World".

       http://www.kim.ac.ke/news/international-cooperative-summit-2014

     Terry MacDonald