Welcome to the United Nations
Supportive Environment for Cooperatives: A Stakeholder Dialogue on Definitions, Prerequisites and Process of Creation Poverty Reduction
15-17 May 2002, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Organized by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Government of Mongolia (with the assistance of the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives)
Click here to download the final report of the meeting
Aide-Mémoire
The General Assembly has urged Governments, relevant international organizations and specialized agencies, in collaboration with national and international cooperative organizations, to give due consideration to the role and contribution of cooperatives in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the recent United Nations Summits and Conferences, including their five-year reviews.
In its resolution 51/58 of 12 December 1996, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to ascertain, in cooperation with the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC), the desirability and feasibility of elaborating United Nations guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives. The Secretary-General's report on cooperatives which was submitted to the fifty-fourth session of the United Nations' General Assembly conveyed the overall positive views of Governments, relevant intergovernmental organizations, international and national cooperative organizations on the desirability and feasibility of elaborating United Nations guidelines on cooperatives, and presented the text of the draft guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives.
Further, in its resolution 54/123 of 17 December 1999, the General Assembly welcomed the elaboration of the draft guidelines and requested the Secretary-General to seek views from Governments on the draft guidelines and provide, if necessary, a revised version for adoption. The revised draft guidelines, together with the views of Governments on the draft guidelines and on ways to render support to Member States were presented in the report of the Secretary-General on cooperatives in social development A/56/73-E/2001/68. In its resolution 56/114 of 19 December 2001, the General Assembly drew attention of Member States to the revised guidelines which could be considered by them in developing or revising their national policies on cooperatives.
The two latest resolutions of the General Assembly on cooperatives 54/123 and 56/114 also requested the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the relevant United Nations and other international organizations and national, regional and international cooperative organizations, to render support to Member States, as appropriate, in their efforts to create a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives and promote an exchange of experience and best practices, through, inter alia, the organization of conferences, workshops and seminars at the national and regional levels.
Objectives of the Expert Group Meeting and Roundtable
The primary purpose of the Meeting is to provide support to Member States and national, regional and international cooperative organizations in their efforts to create a supportive cooperative environment and to promote an exchange of experience and best practices.
The Meeting will develop, in cooperation with the relevant members of the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives, United Nations and other international and national organizations, a coordinated approach towards the creation of a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives at national and international levels. It is expected that cooperation between the UN Secretariat and COPAC will contribute to the strengthening of national capabilities of Member States in this regard.
The Meeting will also try to develop recommendations pertaining to the creation of supportive environment for cooperatives which will be included in the report of the Secretary-General on cooperatives to the General Assembly at its 58th session. Papers presented at the meeting would also be useful inputs in the preparation of the same report.
Specifically, the Meeting will:
- Engage experts in a broad review of pertinent characteristics of the current supportive environment for the development of cooperatives at the national and international levels;
- Discuss and seek consensus on definitions of a supportive environment for cooperative development, and on prerequisites for the creation of such an environment;
- Review the contemporary approaches and practices of creating and/or strengthening a supportive environment for cooperatives worldwide, and;
- Identify and elaborate on recommendations to promote a supportive environment for cooperatives.
Papers
Dante Cracogna
Legal, Judicial and Administrative Provisions for Successful Cooperative Development
Hans-H. Münkner
The Supportive Environment for Cooperatives in the Context of the Current Political, Economic, Social, Demographic and Ecological Environments
Hagen Henrÿ
The Creation of a Supportive Environment in Theory and Practice: Cooperative Law. Is it Necessary, Is it Sufficient for Cooperatives to Prosper?
Ibnoe Soedjono
Features and Characteristics of a Supportive Environment for Cooperatives
Ravi Shankar
How Cooperatives and their Apex Organizations can Improve their Environment at the Local, National and International Levels
Anne-Brit Nippierd
The Potential Role of the UN Guidelines and the new ILO Recommendation on the Promotion of Cooperatives
Ingrid Fischer
The Changing Roles of the State and the International Cooperative Movement in the Creation of a Supportive Environment
Peter Davis
Cooperative Development and Local (Rural, Urban) Community. Towards a Bottom Up Strategy to (re) Build the Social Foundations of Cooperatives