OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE COOPERATIVISM

1. OPEN EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCE
COOPERATIVISM
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2. COOPERATIVES
1. Concept
2. Types of cooperatives
3. Cooperatives and development
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3. 1. CONCEPT
Birchall (2004, 15). The International Cooperative
Alliance (ICA) defines cooperatives as:
“An autonomous association of persons united
voluntarily to meet their common economic, social
and cultural needs and aspirations through a
jointly owned and democratically controlled
enterprise”.
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4. 1. CONCEPT
Birchall (2004, 14). “There are many ways of doing
business, but there are only a few ways of owning
and controlling business organisations. The most
familiar ones are joint stock companies, owned by
people who invest in them and who take the
profits, and public sector organisations, owned by
governments that specify what public purposes
they will pursue. These two types are so prevalent
in modern society that we often tend to overlook
the others and to engage in simplistic debates
about the relative merits of ‘public versus private’.”www.ecorl.it

5. 1. CONCEPT
“We will not make that mistake here, because
there are also family businesses, owned by people
who have built up or inherited a company, and
philanthropic organisations that are owned in trust
by people whose intention is to provide goods or
services for other people less fortunate than
themselves. Then there are membership-based
organisations owned by their ‘users’, people who
want to be provided directly with goods or
services.”
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6. 1. CONCEPT
These membership organisations are often – but
not always – called cooperatives. The crucial point
is that they are a distinctive type of organisation in
their own right. In the history of the evolution of
modern organisations, they are at least as old as
the others and are just as well established in law.
Why do not many people know this?
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7. 1. CONCEPT
Partly it is because the investor-owned business
has recently become the dominant type. Partly it is
because the membership-based type is known by
several names – mutual, cooperative, self-help
group, business club, economic association –
each referring to varying histories, traditions and
legal forms.
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8. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
We are going to analyze in which sectors
cooperatives have more revenues and therefore,
which cooperatives are the largest ones in the
world.
We will do through, The Global300 Report that
identifies the biggest co-operatives in the world
(measured by turnover specified in dollars)
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9. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
The revenues of
these 300
biggest
cooperatives
are equal to the
GDP of a
country like
Spain.
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10. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Importance of the cooperatives in differents countries.
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11. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
The main economic sectors are:
• Agriculture / Forestry
• Banking / Credit Unions
• Consumer / Retail
• Insurance
• Workers / Industrial
• Others (Health, Utilities)
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12. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
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13. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Agriculture / Forestry
Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in
supporting small agricultural producers and
marginalized groups such as young people and
women. They empower their members
economically and socially and create sustainable
rural employment through business models that
are resilient to economic and environmental
shocks.
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14. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Agriculture / Forestry
It offers small agricultural producers opportunities
and a wide range of services, including improved
access to markets, natural resources, information,
communications, technologies, credit, training and
warehouses. They also facilitate smallholder
producers’ participation in decision-making at all
levels, support them in securing land-use rights,
and negotiate better terms for engagement in
contract farming and lower prices for agricultural
inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and equipment.www.ecorl.it

15. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Agriculture / Forestry
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16. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Banking / Credit Unions
Credit unions and financial cooperatives contribute
significantly to ensuring access to affordable
financial services, access that is especially critical
given the current economic crisis. Credit unions
often provide savings, credit and related financial
services to communities that otherwise may not
have access due to geographical, cultural or
financial challenges facing individuals.
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17. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Banking / Credit Unions
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18. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Consumer / Retail
Enterprises owned by consumers and managed
democratically which aim at fulfilling the needs and
aspirations of their members. They operate within
the market system, independently of the state, as
a form of mutual aid, oriented toward service
rather than pecuniary profit. Consumers'
cooperatives often take the form of retail outlets
owned and operated by their consumers.
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19. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Consumer / Retail
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20. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Insurance
Mutuals and co-operatives represented nearly a
quarter of the world’s insurance industry in 2008.
Important role in protecting the financial well-being
of individuals and their families. This may come as
no surprise given that some of the world’s oldest
insurance companies are mutuals or co-
operatives. It also underlines that the mutual/co-
operative structure is a sustainable enterprise
model that is well suited to contributing to the
economic development of diverse markets.www.ecorl.it

21. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Insurance
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22. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Workers / Industrial
These co-operatives can be found in most
industrial or service sectors and for most of them
their workers are primarily members and co-
owners and thus participate in the share capital. It
also means the majority of members are also
workers. A second type is constituted by co-
operatives of individual producers or craftsmen
(such as masons, bakers or taxi drivers) or
professionals (such as doctors, dentists or
engineers).www.ecorl.it

23. 2. COOPERATIVES BY SECTORS
Workers / Industrial
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24. 3. COOPERATIVES AND DEVELOPMENT
Ban Ki Moon: “Cooperatives empower their
members and strengthen communities. They
promote food security and enhance opportunities
for small agricultural producers. They are better
tuned to local needs and better positioned to serve
as engines of local growth. By pooling resources,
they improve access to information, finance and
technology. And their underlying values of self-
help, equality and solidarity offer a compass in
challenging economic times.”
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25. 3. COOPERATIVES AND DEVELOPMENT
Ban Ki Moon: “Cooperatives are also critical in
supporting indigenous communities, and in
offering productive employment opportunities for
women, youth, persons with disabilities, older
persons and others who face discrimination and
marginalization.
The global financial and economic crisis has also
demonstrated the resilience of alternative financial
institutions such as cooperative banks and credit
unions.”
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26. 3. COOPERATIVES AND DEVELOPMENT
“I encourage all stakeholders to continue building
awareness and pursuing policies to strengthen
cooperatives everywhere. By contributing to
human dignity and global solidarity, cooperatives
truly do build a better world.”
7th July 2012 Message for the
International Day of Cooperatives.
Mr Ban Ki Moon,
Secretary General of the United Nations,
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27. B) LAW 5/2011 OF SOCIAL
ECONOMY
1. Origin and evolution.
2. Concept and development.
3. Influence in Spain.
4. Importance in Europe.
5. Conclusions.
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28. 1. ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
This is a pioneering law in Spain, because until the
year 2011 there was no specific legislation on
Social Economy.
The Spanish Constitution includes a series of
articles on which social economy entities are
based on (Articles 1.1, 9.2, 40, 41, 47 and 129.2).
Specifically, art. 47 covers the housing
cooperatives included in the Social Economy law.
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29. 1. ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
The Social Economy had its first explicit
recognition in Law 31/1990 of December the 27th,
and the National Institute for the Promotion of
Economics (INFES) was created. Its objective was
to promote Social Economy entities, but it was
dissolved and the Directorate General for the
Promotion of the Social Economy and the
European Social Fund assumed its functions.
Law 27/1999, of Cooperatives, incorporates the
Council for the Promotion of the Social Economy
as an advisory and consultative body.www.ecorl.it

30. 1. ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
The need to approve a Law of Social Economy
derives from the direct connection with the
principles and objectives pursued by the Law of
Sustainable Economy, because the Social
Economy is connected with the economic model of
sustainable development in its triple economic,
social and environmental dimension .
In addition, the Business Confederation of the
Social Economy (CEPES) prepared a proposal for
an articulated text.www.ecorl.it

31. 2. CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT
On March 29, 2011 it was approved with the
unanimous support of all parliamentary groups
Law 5/2011 of Social Economy, thus fulfilling the
imperative mandate of art. 129.2 EC.
Art. 2 of this law establishes the concept of Social
Economy: A set of economic and business
activities carried out by entities in their private
sphere and whose purpose is to pursue either the
collective interest of its members or the general
interest, or both.
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32. 2. CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT
Art. 3 states that the scope of this law extends to
all social economy entities operating in Spanish
territory.
Art. 5 indicates which are the entities to which this
law applies. These entities are:
• Cooperatives.
• Mutualities.
• Foundations and associations that carry out
economic activity.
• Labor societies.
• Insertion companies.www.ecorl.it

33. 2. CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT
•Special employment centers.
•Fishermen's guilds.
•Agrarian transformation societies.
•Individual entities created by specific norms
that are governed by the principles established
in article four (guiding principles).
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34. 2. CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT
This legislation encourages the hiring of workers
or the creation of companies offering bonuses in
Social Security contributions (articles 9 and 11).
However, these companies should guide their
actions through the guiding principles of art. 4 and
there are as follows:
• Priority of people and social purpose over
capital.
• Application of the results obtained in function of
the work contributed.
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35. 2. CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT
• Promotion of internal solidarity to promote
equal opportunities for men and women, social
cohesion, inclusion of people at risk of social
exclusion, the generation of stable and quality
employment, the reconciliation of work, family
and personal life and sustainability.
• Independence from public authorities.
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36. 2. CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT
Art. 13 creates a specific body that is responsible
for supervising the activity of social entities. It is
advisory and consultative.
In short, this regulation aims to establish a
common legal framework that respects the internal
regulation of each one (Article 1).
Law 31/2015 partially amended Law 5/2011 to
expand bonus quota to stimulate and encourage
the recruitment of children under 30 years.
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37. 3. INFLUENCE IN SPAIN
Law 5/2011 establishes that the Central
Administration will act jointly with the Autonomous
Communities.
The Seventh Additional Provision, among other
articles, establishes that the Government will
elaborate a simulative program of the Entities of
Social Economy consulting prior to the
Autonomous Communities.
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38. 3. INFLUENCE IN SPAIN
After the entry in force of the law, some
Autonomous Communities have been expressly
included in the Statute of Autonomy the term
“Social Economy”: Andalucia, Aragon, Castile
and Leon, Catalonia and Valencia.
Galicia has approved Law 6/2016 of the Social
Economy of Galicia, where a new model of
cooperative is created to alleviate the high level of
youth unemployment in Galicia. For this reason,
the constitution requirements are simplified.www.ecorl.it

39. 3. INFLUENCE IN SPAIN CASTILLA-LA
MANCHA
It does not expressly include the Social Economy
in its Statute of Autonomy although it was modified
in 2014 and cooperatives are a very important
factor in the Castilian-La Mancha economy.
In Art. 31.1.22 it recognizes exclusive competence
in cooperatives and Law 20/2002 is approved,
repealed by Law 11/2010, where importance is
attached to the will of the members and they will
no longer respond personally to social debts.
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40. 3. INFLUENCE IN SPAIN. CASTILLA-LA
MANCHA
To achieve greater development in the area of
Cooperatives, a preliminary draft on Cooperative
Microenterprise and Rural Cooperative was
approved on the 28th of February of this year.
The goal is to cover more than 2,000 companies
that employ almost 16,500 workers. The main
addition is the creation of agri-food cooperatives
(land development, cultural activities, welfare
assistance, social integration, etc.).
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41. 4. IMPORTANCE IN EUROPA
In the environment of the European Union (EU)
there is no specific regulation on Social Economy.
The first initiative in this area was produced by the
"Toia Report" (2009), where the European
Commission was urged to foster social enterprise,
since the fundamental motive is not financial
profitability, but corporate profitability.
The Europe 2020 strategy was launched in 2010
by the European Commission to alleviate the
economic crisis. It has been urged to integrate into
the strategy of Social Economy, because it
generates macroeconomic and social benefits.
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42. 4. IMPORTANCE IN EUROPA
The so-called "Social Economy Intergroup"
defends the Social Economy in Europe and it is an
informal forum composed of members of the
European Parliament, who meet to discuss these
issues.
In short, Spanish law is a benchmark and example
of good practice that can allow similar frameworks
in the EU. It would contribute to the recognition of
the Social Economy as an economic agent that
contributes to the construction of a strong Europe
in a globalized world.www.ecorl.it

43. 5. CONCLUSIONS
Despite the fact that law 5/2011 has filled a
legislative vacuum in this regard, it is worth
mentioning some problems:
1) According to the consideration of Social Entity,
third sector entities (non-profit making) can never
be considered in this way.
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44. 5. CONCLUSIONS
2) Although art. 5 makes an enumeration of
entities that should not ever be considered
social entities, they would have to be be
consulted on a case-by-case basis if they
comply with the guiding principles.
3) Who and how the principles must be fulfilled
by the entities is imprecise.
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45. 5. CONCLUSIONS
4) The self-regulation of entities can be a
problem if there are dysfunctionalities with the
general rule, because the public measures of
the Social Economy may not be applied.
However, it should not be forgotten that this law
shows Spain’s intention to implement a
sustainable, innovative and respectful economy
with work. It is still too early to know if this law is
effective because of its short application time.
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46. 5. CONCLUSIONS
In short, the Social Economy is presented as an
employment creation alternative, from a more
humane and supportive perspective, different from
the mere economic interest. In addition, the
principle of "free association for common benefit"
is prioritised over solely competitive spirit, as the
fundamental pillars of democracy, social interest
and distributive justice.
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47. Produced by:
Erasmus Plus KA2 – Adult Education
Agreement n. 302554962 Project n. 2015-1-IT02-KA204-015467
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48. PARTNERS
Università Popolare di Firenze-IT
www.universitapopolaredifirenze.it
Federación Española de Universidades Populares-SP
www.feup.org
Pula Open University -HR
www.pou-pula.hr
Eu Trade-LT
www.eu-trade.org
Yunus Social Business-AL
http://ysbbalkans.com/
Università Telematica Uninettuno-IT
www.uninettunouniversity.net
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. Publication
and products reflect the views only of the ECORL Consortium, and the Commission cannot
be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein
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