Introduction

Abstract

Globally, the co-operative movement brings together over one billion people. Co-operatives provide over 100 million jobs, 20 per cent more than multinational enterprises. They are enterprises that put people instead of capital at the centre of their business. The United Nations estimated in 1994 that the livelihood of nearly three billion people, or half of the world’s population, was made secure by co-operative enterprises. These enterprises continue to play significant economic and social roles in their communities.¹ Policy makers in both industrialized and developing countries see them as effective tools to fight poverty, to create employment and to foster social cohesion. The general assembly of the United Nations declared 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives in order to highlight their contributions to socio-economic development of their communities. The year ended with the Blueprint for the Co-operative Decade, in which the world’s co-operatives identified common issues, common growth strategy and areas for increased density of co-operative businesses.² Co-operatives are experiencing a renaissance today all around the world.