This is the mission of
the UN and Rabobank
in 2012: to pass on
cooperative ideas to
the next generation 9
SPECIAL REPORT
R OF COOPERATIVES
(O
O
First a few facts: globally, cooperatives have 800 million
members in 104 countries. In Germany, one in four people
is a member of a cooperative, in Kenya one in five, in
Honduras one in three and in Singapore as much as half
of the population.The United States now has 900 energy
cooperatives, which provide energy to 37 miilion people and
run nearly half of the American distribution lines. Bangladesh
may be poor, but through cooperatives, 30 million inhabitants
receive electricity regularly and on time. Then there's the
banking sector: globally, there are 49,000 credit cooperatives
with 177 million members in 96 countries; Europe has
4,200 credit cooperatives with 149 million members. The
cooperative is thriving and growing. So celebrating this
within the International Year of Cooperatives makes perfect
sense, even if such behaviour is not an everyday occurrence:
cooperatives, by nature, tend to be modest and do not shout
about their own successes. However, celebration is not the
main reason behind the International Year of Cooperatives.
Instead, its primary goal is to enlighten and inspire: to show
that, today, the cooperative is a success story in all sorts of
ways - idealistic, commercial, pragmatic and professional.
And it is almost inevitable that Rabobank would play an
important role, since it is one of the world's largest, oldest
and most successful cooperatives.
A Piet Moerland: "For Rabobank, as for the UN, the prime
concern is how to develop and consolidate cooperatives further
and how to pass on the concept of the cooperative to the next
generation. This is why we decided so quickly to become a
partner to the UN in the International Year of Cooperatives. Since
Rabobank is highly knowledgeable about cooperatives, we will
firstly and foremostly support the UN concerning content. And
as Rabobank, we will also be developing a number of activities
in 2012, all focused on the concept of the cooperative."
A 'That's right. This is another reason why we, as Rabobank,
are pleased to endorse the International Year of Cooperatives.
What we, as the UN and Rabobank, particularly want to
communicate is that the cooperative is a business model
that fits the new spirit of the times, which is characterised,
nearly the whole world over, by a special combination of
individualism and an emphasizeon cooperation. The cooperative
links up seamlessly with a participative networked economy.
This is an economy in which networks and co-creation are key
words and where the foundations are built on the strength of
mutual, sustainable cooperation. This is a trend that will only
intensify in a digital society. Examples include entrepreneurs
and consumers who group together through the Internet for
greater strength and sustainability and who have the strength
to put ideas and plans into effect through these networks.
Here, too, you see the concept of the cooperative: together
you are stronger; together you achieve more than alone.
There's also another issue. These days, you constantly hear
that the customer is the number one priority, or should be the
RI WORLD
