Co-operative News - Mexico

Government allocates 1.5 million pesos to co-operatives in Oaxaca

Anca — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:00:35 +0000

The government of Oaxaca state of Mexico allocated 1.5 million pesos to co-operatives in an attempt to support social economy.

The Governor of Oaxaca, Gabino Cué announced in December 2012 government plans to sustain co-operative development. As a result, 22 co-operatives received furniture, machinery and tools and other co-ops were created across the eight regions of Oaxaca. Scholarships were also awarded to Oaxacan co-operators in a ceremony taking place at the Government's Palace on 9 January.

Overall, 828,000 co-operators will benefit from this investment. The initiative is part of a programme that supports social economy and co-operative development, with the aim of generating jobs. Governor Gabino Cué said in the first two years of his mandate, he has sought to place a strong emphasis on social economy; providing training and advice for 928 co-operators from 165 co-operatives.

Mr Cué also said that out of the 99 per cent Oaxaca's social economy, 143 million companies come from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and many out of these are co-operatives. Furthermore, co-operatives employ 239 million people in Oaxaca across the eight regions of the state, particularly in the craft, industrial and services sectors.

Labour Secretary Daniel Juárez López also said that co-operatives are key to the social economy of the state and play an important role in securing jobs. When announcing the measures in December 2012, Mr López referred to the International Year of Co-operatives saying that creating new co-ops is essential for the economic development of the state.

To boost co-operative development the government also organised an expo that took place between 8 and 9 November 2012. More than 100 co-operators attended the event and 50 co-operatives exhibited their products.

The Labour Secretary also said that the government is working jointly with the International Labour Organization to increase exports and a better commercial flux for Oaxacan co-operatives.

With the funding received from the government, co-ops will be able to improve their products, redistributing wealth into the local economy.

Next year the government of Oaxaca plans to allocate 10 million pesos to its Co-operative Development Programme, supporting the creation of more co-ops across the state.

Fair Trade USA and Progreso Join Forces to Support Small Coffee Farmers in Chiapas

Fair Trade USA — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:01:00 +0000

In the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, small-scale coffee producers face a level of poverty that keeps many families from accessing basic healthcare, education, clean water and the fundamental business capacity needed to thrive in competitive international markets.

Through Fair Trade, Mexican coffee cooperatives have been able to face these challenges with grace and dignity, ensuring that their members are paid fair prices and wages, work in safe conditions, protect the environment, and earn community development funds to empower and improve their communities.

To further support the social, environmental and economic development of the small-scale coffee farmers in this historically volatile region, Fair Trade USA is collaborating with Progreso on a 3-4 year program to help co-ops in Chiapas address some of their biggest challenges: market access, productivity, quality, and access to pre-harvest and export financing. The project was made possible with generous funding from the DOEN Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Rabobank Foundation.

This is not the first time Fair Trade USA and Progreso have come together to support cooperatives around the world. The two organizations are also currently working together on a project to help strengthen coffee co-ops in Aceh, a mountainous region on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

“By collaborating with other like-minded, mission-driven organizations, we can have far greater impact on the farmers and workers we serve,” said Ben Schmerler, Fair Trade USA’s Senior Manager of Coffee & Supply Chain Services. “We’re proud and honored to work with Progreso again in Mexico; it’s a prime example of innovation in action—of thinking outside the box to help small farmers access the tools they need to grow their business and become more competitive in the U.S. market.”

The Partners

Progreso has long championed improvements in living/working conditions for small-scale farmers across the globe. The group currently works with many coffee and cocoa organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, to achieve their mission of assisting and supporting small producer organizations as they work to improve the livelihoods of their members.

For Fair Trade USA, this work is part of their Co-op Link program. Co-op Link is about developing innovative new partnerships to connect and transform the lives of small-scale farmers worldwide. Its goal is to link organizations from all areas of the supply chain to maximize impact for producers and their families, specifically through projects that help cooperatives improve quality, increase productivity, access capital cost-effectively, and become stronger business partners.

A second partnership with Progreso in Chiapas was the perfect fit for Fair Trade USA, as the two groups share a common mission and dedication to the well-being and long-term success of small-scale farming cooperatives across the globe.

“Progreso is enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with Fair Trade USA in a new country,” said Marieke Rodenhuis, Progreso’s Latin American Project Manager. “By strengthening these cooperatives we are creating new possibilities for the small coffee farmers of Chiapas and around the world.”

The Plan

During a joint visit to the region in March of 2012, Progreso and Fair Trade USA met with a group of cooperative farmers to hear their ideas about the project. Based on their feedback, farmers will receive comprehensive training in the following areas:

Fair Trade Certification and Compliance: Strengthen organizational capacities needed to maintain producer certification
Improving Quality and Productivity: Provide support and technical assistance to farmers as they work to increase volume and improve potential for export of high quality coffee
Market Access: Encourage direct contact between producer organizations and their (potential) customers, specifically through key international trade events like the Specialty Coffee Association of America Symposium
Access to Finance: Focus on strengthening administrative capacity and financial organization of the participating co-ops, as well as gaining access to short and long term financing

Nine coffee cooperatives in the region will participate in the program:

FIECH, Ángel Albino Corzo
Unión de Ejidos San Fernando, San Fernando de Chiapas
Majomut, San Cristóbal de las Casas
OPCAAC, Jaltenango
ORPAE, Jaltenango
Cesmach, Jaltenango
Triunfo Verde, Jaltenang
Comon Yaj Noptic, La Concordia
Ramal Santa Cruz, Independencia

The plan also helps put at least five additional cooperatives on the path to earning Fair Trade certification, in hopes that even more coffee farmers in Mexico can begin to access the transformative opportunities and benefits that stem from participation in Fair Trade.

“We are an organization that seeks to enable the personal development of men and women, by working together and organizing. Our work is based in solidarity and respect for the environment and focused on the production of high quality products and services”-- FIECH’s mission statement, participating cooperative

Swapping Trash for Fresh Produce in Mexico City

AnthonyMurray — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:21:00 +0000

Isabel Becerril has come with some friends to the “barter market” in the Mexican capital, to exchange 40 kgs of recyclable refuse for fresh produce, sweets and plants. “This is the first time I have come here, and I like it,” the university student tells IPS, with her ecological bag in hand.

“This encourages people to separate their trash,” says Becerril, 20, a student of graphic design at the Autonomous Metropolitan University.

Since March, the Mercado del Trueque – barter market – has operated the first Sunday of each month in the Bosque de Chapultepec, a forested park that is described as “the lungs of the city”, to the west of the capital.

The market is a novel idea forged by groups of local vegetable and plant vendors and the Mexico City secretariat of the environment (SMA).

The barter mechanism is simple. In a large white tent, SMA employees and volunteers at 20 tables receive cardboard, paper, glass, aluminium, plastic bottles, electronic devices and other waste from consumers, weigh the materials, and give the customers slips of paper which they hand over at kiosks for plastic vouchers representing the points they earned.

Using these vouchers, they can buy tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, lemons and other produce from farmers from districts surrounding Mexico City. The amounts depend on the points gained.

For example, one kg of plastic bottles is equivalent to 24 points, a kg of aluminium is worth 16, and a kg of cardboard or glass, three points each.

And at the vegetable stands, 20 points can buy half a kilo of tomatoes or potatoes.

The project “has been a success for the farmers,” says Erick Izquierdo of the Tierra Nueva Cooperative, founded in 2011 to advise small farmers on agroecological practices.

“The idea is for people to meet peasant farmers, see what they grow, and value their work,” he told IPS.

In Xochimilco, one of the 16 administrative divisions of the capital, Izquierdo raises rabbits and quail, and grows plums, avocados and lettuce.

Recycling is still in its infancy in Mexico. Of the more than 40 million tons of garbage generated every year in this country of 112 million people, only 15 percent is recycled. And in Mexico City, which produces 13,000 tons of solid waste a day, the rate is just 12 percent.

Farmers participating in the barter market have gained a new place to sell their produce and earn an extra income, which is paid by the SMA.

The recycling industry also benefits, because the materials collected are trucked to a company that processes and prepares them for industrial uses.

The Mexico City Federal District law on solid waste, passed in 2003, makes the separation of organic and inorganic waste obligatory, for their management and recycling.

The early bird…

The initiative was an instant success. More than 20,000 people have visited the market, exchanging over 70 tons of waste materials for 41 tons of fruit, vegetables, dairy products and plants, according to the SMA.

Jorge Godoy, who has been selling his produce at the market since it opened, sold his entire stock of pigweed, lettuce, potatoes and parsley – over 100 kgs – on Sunday Aug. 5.

“Sales were good today; this income is a big help,” the 27-year-old farmer, who works a one-hectare plot of land outside of the town of San Gregorio Atlapulco, in Xochimilco, told IPS.

Preparations begin the day before, as the goods are trucked to the market. At 6:00 AM on the first Sunday of each month, the farmers begin to set up their stands in the 686-hectare Bosque de Chapultepec, the largest city park in Latin America, whose name means “hill of the crickets” in the Nahuatl tongue.

The market opens at 8:00 AM and continues to do business until all the produce is sold.

Since the very first edition, long lines of people have formed in the barter market, waiting to swap their recyclable waste for fresh produce. Work goes on at a frenzied pace, at both the recycling tables and the vegetable stands.

At the entrance, visitors are greeted by a large sign that says “Don’t throw away what still has value; swap it instead”.

In the areas where the separated recyclable trash is placed, another group of people fill up the trucks that take the materials to the processing plant, where they will once again be transformed into useable elements.

Lourdes García got up early to bring in her load of glass and plastic. “This is the first time I have come. I heard of the market when it opened, and I started to collect my trash, and now I decided to come,” the 60-year-old retired nurse told IPS.

She said she was going to use her points to buy ornamental plants.

But the project is now facing a challenge: how to expand its operations. “We’ve reached our limit; the next step would be to make it a ‘travelling’ market, or replicate it in other areas,” Izquierdo says.

There are more than 20 “travelling” organic produce markets in Mexico, which are becoming more and more common.

The participating farmers and the SMA are negotiating to create the Tarjeta Proverde, a “green” card that would entitle them to discounts on purchases of farm machinery or parts.

Another alternative is based on the possibility that the city government may certify organic producers for using environmentally-friendly techniques.

Becerril wants to return to the market. “It’s a good idea, because it generates benefits for both consumers and producers,” the graphic design student says.

Profiting from Sustainable Forests on Communal Land in Mexico

AnthonyMurray — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:06:40 +0000

Mario Guzmán plans to start cutting down trees again in August and September, the last months of the rainy season. "Now the roads are impassable, and the trucks can't get in to haul out the timber," the Mexican farmer, whose community is sustainably managing its forests, told IPS.

Guzmán lives in El Potrero, an ejido – an area of communal land used for agriculture, where community members own and farm their own plots – 150 km south of Mexico City.

El Potrero is one of the 11 ejidos that make up the Emiliano Zapata Union of Ejidos of Amanalco, founded in 1981. The Union has 2,400 member farmers, and has managed to preserve 11,600 hectares of forest, while commercially exploiting species like pine, holm oak, and oyamel fir.

The ejido is located in the Bravo-Amanalco river basin, which is key to the water supply in greater Mexico City.

"It's a big help for us that we can benefit from the forests. For years we saw how a company made use of them, and we didn't know if the profits ended up here, or went elsewhere," said Guzmán, who grows corn, oats and potatoes on his 7.5-hectare farm, mainly to feed his own family.

The 51-year-old father of six, who immigrated to the United States and lived in New York from 2002 to 2004, is now president of the ejido's vigilance council.

The Union of Ejidos is a successful example of sustainable forest management, and one of six pilot projects in this country for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), a U.N. programme aimed at curbing climate change.

The ejido residents only cut down and sell older or damaged trees, to preserve the forests while profiting from the lumber. They also select trees that are closer to the dirt roads, to facilitate the extraction process and limit damage to the rest of the forest.

About 65 million hectares in Mexico are covered by forest. The authorities say the country loses some 150,000 hectares of forest annually, but environmental organisations put the figure above 300,000 hectares a year.

Forests form part of the territory in 2,300 ejidos and other communities, 600 of which run forestry companies, according to the non-governmental Mexican Council for Sustainable Forestry (CCMSS).

This country of 112 million people emits an estimated 709 million tons a year of carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Of that total, 16 percent comes from agriculture and deforestation

This year, the government and social organisations are designing a local version of REDD+, to submit to consultation at a regional level in 2013, with the aim of implementing it the following year.

"Sustainable techniques for the management of natural resources have been used. These models should be employed as part of REDD," Félix López, the president of the
Union of Forest Communities and Ejidos of the southern state of Oaxaca, told IPS.

REDD+, which basically supports developing countries with financial and technological aid to curtail deforestation and restore forests, finances national programmes in 16 countries.

In January, the World Bank approved a 392 million dollar loan for Mexico's Forests and Climate Change Project. The funds mainly went to community forest initiatives.

A study published in May in the Environmental Science & Policy academic journal reported that of 99 countries studied, Mexico was one of only four that had good capacity for both monitoring forest area change and performing regular forest inventories.

"Assessing capacities of non-Annex I countries for national forest monitoring in the context of REDD+", says Mexico has a "very small capacity gap" for implementing a national REDD+ monitoring system, along with Brazil and Chile, compared to the rest of Latin America and to Africa.

The capacity gap refers to the distance between the national commitment to the programme, existing monitoring capacities, and the technologies used.

The study also found that 49 of the 99 countries had "very large capacity gaps". In addition, it said that the countries with a small capacity gap "could have an important role in South-South capacity development."

In Amanalco, which is home to just under 23,000 people, and whose name means "near the water" in the Nahuatl indigenous tongue, local residents have learned to create natural barriers by planting fruit trees and other plants, to keep the soil on the mountain terraces from washing away during the rainy season.

The Emiliano Zapata Union of Ejidos has received financing from sources such as the CCMSS, the Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation of Mexico, and the U.S.-based Inter-American Foundation. These funds have enabled it to operate a sawmill that employs 23 people and processes 6,000 cubic feet (170 cubic metres) of wood a day.

The local loggers are thus no longer at the mercy of intermediaries, but sell their lumber directly to the Union's sawmill, or to outside buyers, for better prices. Currently, they are fetching a price of 73 dollars per cubic metre.

The ejidos hope to strengthen their administration, agricultural practices, and forestry governance, all of which are central REDD+ goals.

"The owners of the resources should be able to decide whether or not to participate," López said. "If they generate local capacities, they can access a steady flow of funds."

The Union of Forest Communities and Ejidos of Oaxaca covers 100,000 hectares of forest, where several sustainable forestry projects are underway.

With the help of REDD+, Mexico could preserve and even increase its forested areas, and avoid an estimated 41.8 million tons of CO2 emissions while reducing the territory dedicated to agriculture and livestock, for a further reduction of 4.7 million tons.

In a report released in June, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) said that one of the challenges faced by Mexico is harmonising the initiatives underway in the states while a national strategy takes shape, without curbing them, but promoting consistency and coherence between the national and subnational levels.

Mexico will be carrying out one of the eight pilot projects under the FCPF, an alliance of 28 nations, NGOs and international organisations that finances the reduction of emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation.

One touchy issue is how to apply the strategy in sites where there are conflicts over land ownership, which number 526 across the country, according to the ministry of agrarian reform.

Another difficult aspect for communities involved in sustainable forestry management is that they are not able to access funds for combating forest degradation, because they do not face that problem.

Land degradation affects nearly half of Mexico's territory.

In addition, some academics and local communities argue that REDD+ poses a risk of putting a commercial value on forests, and could endanger the autonomy of communities.

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Profiting from Sustainable Forests on Communal Land in Mexico

AnthonyMurray — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:06:40 +0000

Mario Guzmán plans to start cutting down trees again in August and September, the last months of the rainy season. “Now the roads are impassable, and the trucks can’t get in to haul out the timber,” the Mexican farmer, whose community is sustainably managing its forests, told IPS.

Guzmán lives in El Potrero, an ejido – an area of communal land used for agriculture, where community members own and farm their own plots – 150 km south of Mexico City.

The ejido is located in the Bravo-Amanalco river basin, which is key to the water supply in greater Mexico City.

“It’s a big help for us that we can benefit from the forests. For years we saw how a company made use of them, and we didn’t know if the profits ended up here, or went elsewhere,” said Guzmán, who grows corn, oats and potatoes on his 7.5-hectare farm, mainly to feed his own family.

The 51-year-old father of six, who immigrated to the United States and lived in New York from 2002 to 2004, is now president of the ejido’s vigilance council.

Forests form part of the territory in 2,300 ejidos and other communities, 600 of which run forestry companies, according to the non-governmental Mexican Council for Sustainable Forestry (CCMSS).

This year, the government and social organisations are designing a local version of REDD+, to submit to consultation at a regional level in 2013, with the aim of implementing it the following year.

“Sustainable techniques for the management of natural resources have been used. These models should be employed as part of REDD,” Félix López, the president of the
Union of Forest Communities and Ejidos of the southern state of Oaxaca, told IPS.

REDD+, which basically supports developing countries with financial and technological aid to curtail deforestation and restore forests, finances national programmes in 16 countries.

In January, the World Bank approved a 392 million dollar loan for Mexico’s Forests and Climate Change Project. The funds mainly went to community forest initiatives.

“Assessing capacities of non-Annex I countries for national forest monitoring in the context of REDD+”, says Mexico has a “very small capacity gap” for implementing a national REDD+ monitoring system, along with Brazil and Chile, compared to the rest of Latin America and to Africa.

The capacity gap refers to the distance between the national commitment to the programme, existing monitoring capacities, and the technologies used.

The study also found that 49 of the 99 countries had “very large capacity gaps”. In addition, it said that the countries with a small capacity gap “could have an important role in South-South capacity development.”

In Amanalco, which is home to just under 23,000 people, and whose name means “near the water” in the Nahuatl indigenous tongue, local residents have learned to create natural barriers by planting fruit trees and other plants, to keep the soil on the mountain terraces from washing away during the rainy season.

The local loggers are thus no longer at the mercy of intermediaries, but sell their lumber directly to the Union’s sawmill, or to outside buyers, for better prices. Currently, they are fetching a price of 73 dollars per cubic metre.

The ejidos hope to strengthen their administration, agricultural practices, and forestry governance, all of which are central REDD+ goals.

“The owners of the resources should be able to decide whether or not to participate,” López said. “If they generate local capacities, they can access a steady flow of funds.”

The Union of Forest Communities and Ejidos of Oaxaca covers 100,000 hectares of forest, where several sustainable forestry projects are underway.

One touchy issue is how to apply the strategy in sites where there are conflicts over land ownership, which number 526 across the country, according to the ministry of agrarian reform.

Another difficult aspect for communities involved in sustainable forestry management is that they are not able to access funds for combating forest degradation, because they do not face that problem.

Land degradation affects nearly half of Mexico’s territory.

In addition, some academics and local communities argue that REDD+ poses a risk of putting a commercial value on forests, and could endanger the autonomy of communities.

"Negotiations are not the only things happening in the Rio Plus 20 meetings. There are side events of..."

AnthonyMurray — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 17:20:40 +0000

“

Negotiations are not the only things happening in the Rio Plus 20 meetings. There are side events of a wide range- offering experts on panelists discussing global concerns, receptions for high level diplomats, media interviews and of course the corridor chats that allow delegates and civil society to catch up on the latest news-hard news or gossip and make plans for other work beyond Rio.

Sometimes in the sea of people that seem to be everywhere, a person will bob to the surface that you view as important to talk to. If you don’t swim over to him/her at top speed - well then that person will bob away, enveloped in the sea of strangers.
Your chance of finding that individual again is doubtful to say the least.

The cafeteria is a mini UN in its own right. Several football fields long, one can eat comfort food from home (Middle Eastern fare, hot dogs and hamburgers, chocolate chip cookies, coconut this and that) or try some of the foods famous to Brazil - beans and rice, the most exotic fruit juices and tons and tons of that badly needed jolting Brazilian coffee.

Lunchtime is for delegation meetings at that cafeteria or to catch one’s breath or to even peruse the equivalent of a mini supermarket, complete with some Brazilian handicrafts.

ICA has given out a limited supply of 2012 IYC T-shirts. The reaction has been spectacular. I have been hugged by the most unlikely people – thrilled to have one and to remind me of how their country’s co-operatives are doing effective work.
Some day you may see one of those T-shirts jogging down a road in Tuscany, sitting at a café in Mexico, heading to a market in Bangkok or dancing the samba here in Rio.

The complex itself is fascinating. Tents and walkways combined with moats and vistas of concrete walkways that run parallel to the sea off in the distance. There’s a lovely garden in the middle of all this but for most, it is merely for a five-minute break, then back to business. Recycling bins are everywhere. Recycled materials are part of the building itself and even the gifts given to diplomats are recycled products taking on a new life. The buildings are marked with big numbers - with number 5 the one where presidents will gather around to discuss the Rio document.

But Rio is not relegated to this facility at the far reaches of the city alone. Downtown there are also those white tents and planned activities and other venues in Rio also will be engaged. In short, Rio de Janeiro is Rio+ 20.

Finally, something should be said about the Brazilians who are our hosts. Security guards, negotiators, cafeteria workers, guides, hotel staff, co-operators, and on and on it goes - they keep their cool even when the political temperature is rising and are congenial and kind. Whatever Rio+ 20 brings or doesn’t bring to the global stage, the people of Rio are a great export.

Betsy

”

Betsy Dribben is Director of Policy at the International Co-operative Alliance - the global apex organisation for co-operatives. ICA members represent one billion people worldwide. Contact Betsy at dribben@ica.coop, she’s at the Rio+20 negotiations this week. This is the 3rd in a series of blogs for the ICA.

Congratulations to Abdullah Kutlu, winner of a 2012 Summit pass

Lyne Gagnon — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Last November, the International Summit of Cooperatives held a contest at the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) General Assembly in Cancun, Mexico. This contest gave participants the chance to win a pass to the Summit. A random draw was held at the 2012 Summit booth, and the winner was Abdullah Kutlu, the General Director of the Central Union of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey. Stéphane Bertrand, the Executive Director of the 2012 Summit, who happened to be attending the International Food and Agricultural Congress in Turkey this past February, decided to visit Mr. Kutlu and deliver his prize in person. In photo (left to right): Anil Turken, Corporate Relations Advisor at the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey; Stéphane Bertrand, Executive Director of the 2012 Summit; Abdullah Kutlu, General Director of the Central Union of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey; and Gülçin Köse, Director of EU and Foreign Affairs at the Central Union of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey.

World’s only fair trade lender gives communities a lifeline

AnthonyMurray — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:38:39 +0000

Providing financial support to people in need overseas at a time when household budgets are stretched at home is a challenge for any organisation.

But as the ethical investment co-operative, Shared Interest, prepares for its 22nd annual Member’s Day and AGM, it can look back on a year when it was able to lend more than £33m to fair trade enterprises, many of whom are co-operatives, across the world.

It is an impressive statistic from the world’s only 100 per cent fair trade lender, but as always the stories that lie behind the statistics are even more inspiring.

In the Veracruz region of Mexico, Shared Interest is supporting Huatusco, a co-operative of 2,000 coffee farmers. Providing an export credit facility has allowed Huatusco to pay its farmers in advance and retain them within the co-operative, rather than them being tempted to sell their produce elsewhere.

This has strengthened the co-operative, enabling Huatusco to sponsor students to attend the local university provided they work for the co-operative for five years following graduation. Huatusco also provides scholarships to school children and part finances a local health programme.

In Peru, Shared Interest is facilitating the continuing development of Bananeros Organicos Solidarios (BOS) in the Chira Valley.

BOS was set up in 2003 and is owned by around 500 individual farmers. As bananas are harvested all year round, the only way to increase exports is through improved harvesting, packaging and transportation.

BOS is using its Shared Interest loan to invest in new infrastructure, particularly cableways to transport the bananas, speeding up production but also improving the health of the workers who no longer need to carry the bananas.

In Africa, Swaziland Indigenous Products was established in 2005 to help rural women earn an income from the natural products that grow around them.

SIP is owned by 33 groups representing 2,600 women who gather the fruit needed to create marula oil which is used in skin care products. Shared Interest has provided SIP with a stock facility loan to ease cash flow pressures during harvest season.

Those three examples give just a brief glimpse of the work Shared Interest now does all over the world.

The Shared Interest co-operative was established in 1990 at a time when interest in fair trade was starting to grow (though still a couple of years before the Fairtrade Foundation or the Fairtrade Mark were introduced).

The co-operative’s founders sensed that, despite the support for fair and ethical trading, farmers and handicraft producers in the developing world were struggling to access the finance they needed to get their goods to market.

Shared Interest set itself the task of providing fair and just access to finance that would enable producers to create a sustainable livelihood for themselves, their families and their communities.

More than 20 years later, Shared Interest remains committed to its founding principles. Managing Director Patricia Alexander says: “We see a world where justice is at the heart of trade finance. Shared Interest is very much about helping people to develop their own businesses, providing a hand up to fair trade communities.”

The co-operative currently has around 9,000 members who have invested anywhere between £100 and £20,000. These investments are pooled and used to make payments to producer groups as well as on behalf of buyer organisations.

Funds are recycled and reused to make sure that all invested funds are used to help those that need them the most. Last year Shared Interest increased its share capital from £27.5m to £28m.

Ms Alexander adds: “It is really encouraging in the current economic climate that our members are continuing to invest. Similarly we have seen an increase in the number of new accounts opened. We realise that some people want a return for their money and with us there is no guarantee that they will get it back, although we haven’t lost anyone money yet, it is wonderful that people still want to invest with us.”

Shared Interest, a member of Co-operatives UK, has an elected board of eight directors — two executives and six non executives. The Board sets the strategy and ensures it is delivered within an appropriate risk framework while a Council of nine members ensures that the Board’s strategy is in line with Shared Interest’s mission and that the strategy meets the expectations of members.

The co-operative’s head office in Newcastle upon Tyne employs more than 30 staff, some of whom come from the countries it is working in. It also has overseas offices in Kenya and Peru and this year plans to open a further office in Ghana.

• Shared Interest’s Member Day and AGM takes place on Friday, March 16th in Oxford. Further information on the day, the co-operative, and how to support it can be found at www.shared-interest.com.

El Triunfo: Birds, Coffee and Relationships – Part III

Rodney North — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:23:38 +0000

By Todd Caspersen, Director of Purchasing
Photos by Joe Driscoll, Equipment Guru

It’s our first morning up in the mountains. We roll out of our bunkhouse just as the sun crowns the surrounding peaks, making the river and mist glow. It’s going to be a beautiful day in the forest. I run up to the cookhouse eager for hot coffee to thaw the night’s cold; it’s the coldest I have ever been in Mexico. Frost clings to the grass until the rising sun turns it to cold fresh water bound for the river.The previous day we hiked 12 km through coffee plantations then pine, oak and liquidamber forests, into the largest cloud forest in Mesoamerica, to Campamento El Triunfo.The camp is managed by CONANP, and the park guards are from the surrounding coffee growing communities–a great mechanism for community engagement.The cookhouse has a long, dark wood table that has coffee and a small snack to prepare us for our early walk; breakfast will come later. I am eager to hear from our guides the plan for the day, as the details of this little adventure had been vague all the weeks prior to the trip, and continued to be up until this moment. Jungle forays are frequently short on details.

We have two guides: Ramiro, the park ranger, and Dr. Guitchard, the subdirector of the Biosfera El Triunfo. They say we will have two walks in the forest and two activities at the camp, and then rushed us out the door to catch the early morning bird activity. We’re told to walk quietly and use all of our senses. We’re looking for tapirs, deer, boars, tepezcuntles, pumas, jaguars, quetzals, horned guans, wrens, swifts, warblers and migratory song birds, many of which are from New England. The forest itself is an amazing, complex symbiotic ecosystem; the trees host hundreds of species of epiphytes, bromeliads, insects, amphibians, and birds. It is incredible what is on, and in, just one of the huge trees seen all around us. In these conditions trees can actually develop a soil-like substrate in their canopy.Listening to birds all around us, our guide clues us into the different bird sounds and points out the small wrens and warblers hopping about near the forest floor eating insects in the lowest level of the forest structure. We see tapir footprints in the soft mud, tapir feces along the trail, wild boar footprints, signs of rooting, and pack trails leading deep into the forest. We continue.I linger behind and observe the group moving quietly through the forest together, all looking for the same thing: a special bird.As I watch, I remember the first time I went hiking with farmers. It was three years ago at El Imposible in El Salvador. It was there I realized what a valuable relationship-building tool it was to hike with your partners; common goals are important. I have been trying to include these types of trips into our sourcing activities and walking with this group is a great example. Our group has cooperative leadership from three different co-ops that work together in the buffer zone communities of the El Triunfo biosphere, two Equal Exchangers, a bank lending officer, two biologists, and park guards.

In this context, commerce is not the medium of exchange, and we are not the principle actors. The forest and its inhabitants are center stage.After an hour of hiking we spot the prized horned guan in a tree right by the trail. What a fantastic bird, he clicks and clacks his beak to a sort of two-thirds beat. Lying on the forest floor with fellow cooperators, witnessing this amazing bird together, was a great trust, knowledge and enthusiasm building experience for the whole group. I hope to experience something this special with other partners, in future trips.We walk back through the forest, one of the largest catchments of fresh water in Mexico, and marvel at our good fortune to share this place and protect it through the on-going development of a sustainable coffee trade within the buffer zone communities.—-

Today, I’m back in my office. I drink a Mexican Medium Roast from a small French press. I’m certain I taste notes of clouds in my cup.

Read the final part tomorrow or go to our website.

Articles on Cooperatives from the Center For Global Justice, San Miguel de Allende

Joe Marraffino — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:02:57 +0000

The Center for Global Justice in San Miguel de Allenda, Guanajuato, Mexico, has an archive of the Center's writings on cooperatives and regional cooperative organizing.

Bowman & Stone: Argentina’s Crisis
Bowman & Stone: Can Grameen Bank-style Microcredit Eliminate Poverty?
Bowman & Stone: Cooperatives: A Brief Introduction to their Types, History & Social Change Prospect
Bowman & Stone:Cooperativization on the Mondragón Model As Alternative to Globalizing Capitalism
Bowman & Stone: Venezuela and Argentina
Bowman & Stone: Tolantongo: Model Resort Cooperative?
Bowman: A Women’s Co-op Battles Globalization
Bowman: David vs. Goliath: Small Cooperatives vs. Multinational Corporations
Bowman: Fund for Worker Cooperatives Created by the Center for Global Justice
Bowman: May Day and Producer Cooperatives
Bowman: Shopping for a Better World
Bowman: TIERRA, LIBERTAD . . . AND COOPS! in Hidalgo, Mexico
González Díaz: Social Organization as a Process for Change: Cooperatives of Yucatán and Campeche
Larcom: “Nueva Vida” sewing cooperative in Nicaragua
Larcom: “We Have Other Plans:” Communities Implement Alternative Development
Lundren & Trigg:Weaving for Survival: Mujeres Productoras de Cienegilla
Silverman: A cooperative model of social development: Using the workplace for social and individual growth
Stone: Bauen Hotel, Argentine “Recuperated Business” Co-op, Wins Reprieve
Yasui: Mujeres Productoras, Rural Women Working Together
Yasui: Revolving Loan Fund: Report on First and Second Loans

Image of co-op tour from from Dreamcatcher Imaging

The Center for Global Justice-Expatriates Assisting Locals Toward a Sustainable Life Under NAFTA