International Day of Cooperatives, 8 July 2015
Equality counts among the six guiding values for cooperative enterprises, and open and voluntary membership is one of the principles to which cooperatives subscribe. Cooperative enterprises also have a “one member, one vote” system, which ensures that decision making powers are equally shared amongst their members . Being people-centred enterprises, cooperatives focus on the needs of their members and of the communities in which they operate, rather than on financial returns alone.