educated trainers stronger cooperatives · introduction the project educated trainers stronger...

«Project Reference: ETSCOOP Educated Trainers Stronger Cooperatives” 2016-1-TR01-

KA204-034770 - Programme Erasmus+ KA2 "Strategic Partnership”

Educated Trainers

Stronger Cooperatives

BEST PRACTISES BOOK



1

Introduction 2

A good example of rural development model: Gökçeören Agricultural Development

Cooperative 5

An alternative teaching method to change the educational system 9

Promote local development through a non-profit cooperative 12

Gender equality and working conditions worthy for the women in Ankara 18

Social innovation, circular economy and cooperative values: the cooperative Innovaction Hata! Yer işareti tanımlanmamış.

The cooperative model as a tool for combating organized crime 22

Trafilcoop: making industry in cooperative form Hata! Yer işareti tanımlanmamış.

Break down all the barriers with the cooperative "Si può fare" 29

With “Thalassia”: environmental culture in a nature reserve 36

Je(m)ma: a community cooperative to rediscover the ancient products of the earth 40

Shared Interest: a cooperative that provides financial services and business support in the

„global south‟ 43

Suma: the largest British cooperative 47

A new way of consuming with the Unicorn Cooperative 52

CASA: care and share 84

Cooperative housing with heart and in the heart of Berlin 90

Marketing cooperatives – a professional partner when it comes to freshness 95

"Traditional and natural" - How a small dairy cooperative stands out in a dairy Region 103

Raiffeisenbanks eG in Germany – Banks for people, the community and the Region 107

In the beginning was the apple - How fresh and delicious products from Germany's Vegetable

Island Cooperative conquered the Region 114

ANNEX I: BEST PRACTISE BOOK - Case study template 93



2

Introduction

The project

Educated Trainers Stronger Cooperatives Project is a project funded by the Turkish National

Agency under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Adult Education (KA2). The project

has been implemented between September 2016 and August 2018 under the coordination of

Ankara Development Agency together with the Cooperative College from UK, Legacoop

Puglia from Italy and DGRV from Germany along with Provincial Directorate of Agriculture,

Provincial Directorate of Commerce as well as District Governorships of Beypazarı and

Nallıhan in Turkey. The project aims at strengthening the capacity of the cooperatives

according to the needs of their regions and global market. The main intellectual outputs of the

project are:

• The website that brings together all stakeholders and disseminate knowledge;

• A training needs analysis report of cooperatives;

• A toolkit and manual to guide the trainers

• A good practices book and video to disseminate the successful cases.

The Best practises book

“Best practice” means a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to

those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark.

This book contains some successful cases of cooperatives. It shows 18 cooperative cases. For

each of them, there are general information about selected cooperatives, their main activities,

information on how they have succeeded, which methods they use and how they maintained

sustainability in their work.



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The method and process

The 18 cooperative Best practices have been selected by partner organizations involved in

ETSCOOP project in their regions and countries (Turkey, UK, Germany, Italy).

The ETSCOOP consortium prepared a “Case Study template”, a tool for collecting the

information about best practices.

The sections are about:

● general information and contacts,

● the main activities,

● the local context in which the co-operative operates,

● the co-operative choice,

● market strategies,

● business models,

● number of members and employee,

● stakeholders and external relationships,

● strengths and weaknesses,

● problems and solutions they found,

● active role in communities,

● goals and challenges for the future.

To prepare the cases, partners organizations organized field visits, made interviews to

members and stakeholders, review relevant material and documentation.

How to use Best Practises

The Best Practices Book can be used by trainers and facilitators for supporting training

activities and discussions about the Co-operative model. In particular, it can be used:

● for supporting lectures and study , providing for examples and practical cases;



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● for practical activities during training courses, to show some aspects in the real

cooperative life;

● for providing for ideas and inspiration for people who are starting their cooperative in

that sectors;

● for speaking about the co-operative model to students and young people in vocational

guidance or entrepreneurial education activities;

● fro spreading up the cooperative culture and promote a good knowledge of the co-

operative opportunities among stakeholders, opinion leaders, civil society.

The Best Practises Book can be considered an open tool and can be updated and improved

step by step by trainers and facilitators according their personal and professional experiences.



5

A Good Example of Rural Development Model:

Gökçeören Agricultural Development Cooperative

Partner organization: ADA

Country: Turkey

Cooperative Gökçeören Agricultural Development Cooperative

Contact: Mahmut Tümay Position: President

Gökçeören Agricultural Development Cooperative is engaged in the activities of buying and

selling flour and cereals, product storage services, petrol station operations, buying and

selling coal, fertilizers and agricultural equipment with an aim of increasing the welfare of

the villagers in Gökçeören and surrounding areas and to strengthen the commercial activities

of the farmers.

Gökçeören is one of the villages of the Kalecik district, one of the small districts of Ankara,

with a population of 13,250 of which 120 live. Grain growing in Gökçeören and the

surrounding villages is the main economic activity and there are a few who are still engaged

in animal husbandry. The reason for the decrease in animal husbandry is that there are very

few people living in the villages, as in the rest of Turkey.

Vegetable, beet, sunflower and chickpea cultivation have also been practiced as irrigated

agriculture in the area. However while 5000 rounds of beetroot planting had been done

before, now due to dysfunctional water distribution channels, water pumps which State

Hydraulic Works sold to Gökçeören Agricultural Development Cooperative, the beetroot

cannot be planted in the village.

Currently with limited water resources, irrigated farming is only done as subsistence farming.



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The cooperative was founded in 1970 by the people of area. The main purpose of the

cooperative in the first years of its existence was to send workers abroad in an organized way.

After 80's with changing needs and priorities, the villagers start concentrating their efforts on

establish a mechanism under a cooperative for the improvement of the process of buying and

selling wheat.

As the main step in the formation of an effective system, 5000 tons capacity crop storage is

being installed in Gökçeören. With the installation of storage, farmers did not need any more

to go to Ankara to sell their produces, instead they put their crops in the storage and

Cooperative took the responsibility to sell them.

Grain products such as wheat and barley produced in Gökçeören and surrounding villages are

now stored and marketed by the cooperative.



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Today there are 178 members in the cooperative while 3 people are employed on salaries as

permanent attendants.

The cooperative is intensifying its efforts to find solutions to the problems of local farmers,

mainly the obstacles they face in selling their wheat products, and in getting a price on par

with the value of the product. The cooperative is also shielding the farmers from the traders

whose aim is to buy the products cheaply by providing them with a storage place for their

products. Therefore, the cooperative first buy the products at a fair price from the farmers,

and sell in the market when the time is right.

The cooperative serves an important function by maintaining a stable environment for

farmers. Farmers are not vulnerable to fluctuations in the prices thanks to the Cooperative‟s

strategies based on market movements. The products mainly go to Polatlı to be sold, here the

Cooperative who buy all the products of its members beforehand, bases its decisions on

market movements, and try to sell the products at the most opportune moment.

Since 1970 a sustainable structure has been established with solidarity and faith in the

cooperative. While making a profit since the foundation of the cooperative, the Ministry of



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Food, Agriculture and Livestock has given various supports and loans up until 2011. At the

same time, in 2012 with the financial support program of the Ankara Development Agency

the Crop Processing and Packaging Facility established and Good Agricultural Practices

Project started to be implemented. There are very few cooperatives that benefit from this

support given by ADA.

The strong point of the cooperative and the reason it is the leading one among all other

cooperatives in the region lie in the fact that the villagers are conscious of their strength when

they are together and they value this solidarity.

One main problem the cooperative can face is the inability to collect the money for the wheat

it sells. When such a situation arises, the co-operative partners agree to forgo the sum of

money corresponding each of them so that they can continue to function as a cooperative.

The cooperative refunds the money to the partners when the profits rise.

Wheat, flour production and selling, fuel and fertilizer selling, honey production and other

agricultural tools‟ commerce are being done between members and farmers regularly. This

provides in return a regular income for the villagers which prevents their migration to the city

centers and attract new members to the cooperative. At the same time, cooperative owns a

grocery store and petrol station from which the villagers can do their shopping. Another

positivity the cooperative has created is that it encourages quality production between farmers

to ensure selling of their products.

The cooperative plans to produce certified seeds since they won‟t be able to benefit from the

state‟s aids when they produce non certified seeds. They will establish a sifting machine for

that reason. In order to further develop their activities they need to establish a laboratory and

for that they are working towards increasing their own capital.



9

An Alternative Teaching Method to Change The Educational

System

Partner organization Ankara Development Agency

Country Turkey

Cooperative Another School Is Possible

Contact: Derya Dinçer Position: Member

Website: http://bbomankara.org/ Social: Twitter/ meraklikediler Facebook/meraklikediler Instagram/meraklikediler

Another School Is Possible is an education association which has various schools throughout

Turkey . These schools are structured to be operated as cooperatives. The one in Ankara is

called Curious Cat School. The schools are in principle based on the concepts of democratic

governance, ecologic stand and authentic finance.

The cooperative has been initiated to create an alternative teaching method to the traditional



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Turkish education system in public schools and profit-based model of private schools. The

deficiencies of Turkish educational system such as rigid hierarchy, over-crowded classes in

public schools, uniformity in education which does not cater to special needs and talents of

the individual students are aimed to be eliminated through new educational models.

Founders of the cooperative first came together in 2014 to elaborate on a new model of

progressive and creative teaching that will eliminate the problems derived from classical

design of the Turkish education system.

First school building is rented immediately in Ankara and after the restoration of the building

the school started to operate in 2015. The school goes beyond to the classical school

standards and concepts in Turkey, and aims to meets the individual needs, skills and learning

pace of students . The school fee is set without consideration of profit-making. Besides,

every decision regarding the governance of the school is taken democratically together with

the participation of all the children.

Now, the cooperative has 60 members, 53 of whom have children at the school. There are 9

teachers and 5 support staff employed at the school.

The school system which compels the children to be very competitive and the rigid learning

pace imposed on the all children disregarding the individual differences in capacity. The

cooperative, on the other hand, applies a curriculum aiming at developing the socio-



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emotional skills of each children by focusing on their particularities, and puts the academic

success in secondary place.

The school does not aim at making profits as the school fee is set in a range only enough to

cover the expenses. The customers and members of the cooperative are the people who

embrace s the education model of the cooperative and sent their children to the Curious Cat

School. Cooperative finds its new members through its wide network.

The cooperative has three main models followed in administration which contribute s to the

sustainability. The student oriented education model, democratic governance and the non-

profit making finance model.

The weak side of the cooperative is that there are contradictions between upscaling the

cooperative and being faithful to the Another School Is Possible model. This dilemma

creates some financial worries.

The solidarity culture within the cooperative, the democratic understanding in cooperative

and school administration as well as the alternative education model presented are all

strengths of the cooperative.

Their experiment contributes in an important way to the tendency of the private education

institutions„ search for alternative education models; to the increased awareness of the parents

about the importance of the student-based education, and to closer attention to the alternative

models by whole society. The cooperative, as one of the pioneering initiatives in the

education arena, shares its experience regularly with newer initiatives.

Being faithful to the Another School Is Possible model, and creating permanent solutions to

the financial sustainability of the cooperative, managing the cooperative more professionally

are the main challenges for the cooperative. Also, for the future the cooperative aims at

starting a school at the secondary level.



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Promote Local Development through A Non-Profit Cooperative

Partner organization: ADA

Country: Turkey

Cooperative: Kalkınma Atölyesi Kooperatifi –

Development Workshop Cooperative

Contact: Sinem Bayraktar

Position: Child Rights Workshop Director

Website http://www.kalkinmaatolyesi.org/v2/tr/ana-sayfa/

Social https://www.facebook.com/kalkinmaatolyesi

https://twitter.com/kalkinmatolyesi

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5OnvpbesEJFGCQF7DvMEwA

The Development Workshop is a not-for-profit cooperative (NGO) established in 2004 to

support the development of Turkey and to provide contributions to conduct sustainable,

reproducible and successful projects of all scales. The Development Workshop develops and

implements programs in the field of governance, social development, education, and children

and youth for and together with non-governmental organisations and producer unions. Areas

of particular interest and strength for the Workshop are local development programs and

project development, research and capacity building, promoting the cooperative movement,

apiculture, seasonal labour migration and child labour.

DW has contributions to the socio-economic analysis of the work and labour connected

issues in seasonal agriculture, especially child labour, DW supports industry-based solutions,

local and national level policy interventions to eliminate child labour, conducting research

and producing evidence for policy initiatives as well as engaging with advocacy efforts.

DW‟s approach is within a deeper focus on supply chain mapping, enforcing realisation of

the roles and responsibilities of relevant institutions. DW also has intensive efforts for the

realisation of international conventions for the fulfillment of global standards for human

rights and child rights.

http://www.kalkinmaatolyesi.org/v2/tr/ana-sayfa/

https://www.facebook.com/kalkinmaatolyesi

https://twitter.com/kalkinmatolyesi

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5OnvpbesEJFGCQF7DvMEwA



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A group of young people with vision of conducting development activities in Turkey

established the Development Workshop Working Group in 2003 to support and be a part of

national and international development efforts. This working group consisted of professionals

who are experts in social anthropology, sociology, physical anthropology, international

relations, biology and forestry. On 3 November 2004, this group of professionals founded

Development Workshop (DW hereafter) as a cooperative. Cooperatives are not a common

choice for organisation in the area of social development in Turkey or in the world. The most

significant reasons for becoming organised as a cooperative are solidarity, cooperative

production and contributing to new ideas in the area of social development. Another

important reason is becoming a multi-partner actor in social development activities and

having active participation in the democratic process. 13 years ago founders of DW have

decided to be structured as a cooperative because of its distinctive features; independent and

flexible organisational structure (horizontal), democratic participation mechanism (1 vote for

each), common interest, consensus and solidarity, sharing and joint production, being

dynamic, easily adaptable to conditions. Innovation and entrepreneurship were also

significant elements that provide local remedies as well as stimulating innovative solutions or

adapting global models for change. Meanwhile, it also became obvious to them that

cooperatives may play quite an important and even life-changing role in fighting the

challenges of social justice, and in recommending and implementing sustainable solutions

with their distinctive features and networking capacity. Therefore, solidarity and dialogue

between stakeholders, volunteers and friends of the cooperative plays crucial role for learning

from good practices, risk reduction by applying tested methods, participatory policy making

and decision taking by including local expertise and real life experiences.



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It has 13 members at the moment, however does not have full-time personnel, but rather

employ short-term or long-term experts within the scope of projects or programmes. In line

with tasks like project management, assistance, consultancy, surveyor, lawyer, translator,

accountant, designer etc. people‟s expertise are being used and so recruitment for specified

duration is done. At the moment DW has been implementing 1 programme that is consist of 7

projects, which employs/employed more than 25 people, 1 project in which 7 experts are

assigned with various tasks, 2 training projects that involves approximately 50 experts and/or

consultants.

DW provides consultancy services for impact assessment, baseline and endline survey

activities per request from companies, NGOs, IOs. For such services, single source request

are coming to DW as it is a well-known institution that has the know-how, experience and

human resource network, working in related field.

DW‟s strengths are mostly about the way of its working. As a civil society organisation

working in the field of social development, DW first defines the problematic reality/unjust



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equilibrium together with policy or strategy recommendation always by doing field research,

face-to-face interaction with beneficiaries, responsible institutions, experts of the subject.

Secondly, DW conducts awareness raising and partnership building activities in participation

by local actors (civil society organisations-CSOs, public agencies, decision-makers, leaders,

affected groups etc.) which empower youth, women, producers, community members and

leaders, disadvantaged groups to participate in decision making process, to learn their rights

and related procedures, to initiate their own solutions. These kind of work has multiplier

effect; starting from few which will then influence its vicinity, so will end up with critical

mass. Rather than putting these methods in separate boxes, DW use a hybrid model; using

them simultaneously or consecutively. Thus, advocacy for desired outcomes are supported by

scientific proofs, coordination between related actors, tested by beneficiaries, embraced by

stakeholders. In all methods, DW works inclusively; persons from all segments of society and

from all business sectors. Therefore, collaboration with and targeting all increases the

possibility of societal change.



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Besides, DW has been successful to achieve coordinated and interactive work of all

responsible public, non-governmental and private sector bodies as well as academics and

experts about the issues on The Model for Combating Child Labour in Turkey and Decent

Living and Working Conditions for Seasonal Agricultural Labourers.

Guided by the cooperative principles; participative process for transformative solutions for

the good of all, and using mixed methods to advocate for the cause, DW believes and

observes that cooperatives are practical tools to bring the issue to the attention of decision

and policy makers while informing and raising awareness of communities and public in wider

arena. Moreover, with their solidarity base and locally initiated solutions, cooperatives may

generate more sustainable and feasible answers.

Despite its strengths and powerful business model, it has weaknesses in some areas. For

example, it has limited human resources consisting competent, experienced people, and

initially devoting volunteering time and it has insufficient financial capital for general

expenses of the Cooperative. Thus, absence of funds/resources for Research & Development



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works, including payment for expertise has been problem for the cooperative. Besides,

cooperative has no communication strategy, especially social media plan.

Cooperative main goals for the future are combating against child labour, reducing poverty

and deprivation, protecting and developing the natural environment, strengthening the

position of women in society and supporting gender balanced development, developing

cooperation for regional and international development, designing and implementing

sustainable development models. However, there are challenges to achieve these goals. The

main challenge is that there is a loss of data, information and experience due to the deficiency

of documentation and archiving work. Lessons and experiences learned have not been used to

analyse the present situation and to implement effective, active and realistic planning for the

future. This has also made it impossible to carry out social impact assessment, monitoring

and evaluation for the outputs or impacts of activities carried out.



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Gender Equality and Decent Working Conditions for the Women

in Ankara

Partner Organization ADA

Country Turkey

Cooperative S.S. Zeytindalı Women, Environment,

Culture and Management Cooperative

Contact Menşure IŞIK

Position Cooperative Director

E-Mail [email protected]

Adress 75. Sokak 38/12 06490, Bahçelievler –

Ankara

Zeytindalı Women, Environment, Culture and Management Cooperative is a cooperative

established to improve the status of women in their locality and works for increasing decent

work opportunities of women in Ankara by operating textile and silver workshops.

The local context in Turkey is very disadvantageous for women. Women‟s employment rate

is only 27.5%. Although there is an increase at women‟s employment in recent years,

temporary, provisory, and unsecured work such as atypical employment, self-employment,

unpaid family work still constitute a considerable portion of this employment. Within this

framework, the most effective way of creating a registered, socially secured, and productive

women employers population who own their own businesses and supply employment to

others, is through women‟s cooperatives.

One of the best practices of women‟s cooperative that has been formed by self-organization

of women in Ankara, is Zeytindalı Women, Environment, Culture & Management

Cooperative that has been founded in 2004. Zeytindalı Women‟s Cooperative‟s main goal is

set as strengthening women‟s status. Through cooperative activities, they are getting in touch

with women, to create platforms for sharing and have new experiences. To reach this goal,

since its foundation the cooperative has targeted especially the low-income women with

regards to creation of new economic, social & cultural opportunities, and presented project

mailto:[email protected]



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applications to national and international entities and has led many projects to strengthen

women‟s status through its human resources potential. Among them have been:

● Training program targeting women in shanty-towns as part of World Bank Social

Risk Reduction Fund,

● “Elderly Care” and “Cleaning Personnel” training as part of employment project,

● “Labour Land – Silver Seed” project in line with Protection and Development of

Women‟s Rights, as part of Training on Silversmithing Skills Improvement,

● “First Step Woman at Local Level” project to increase awareness, train and

encourage women for local elections,

● Protection of Women & Children‟s Health targeting the people living in suburbs of

the cities.

Through all these projects, the cooperative has also published many publications in order to

sustain women‟s presence in workforce market and increase women‟s productivity. As part of



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the project, the workshop established to teach women silversmithing has turned into an all-

time working workshop with support of Association for Research and Study on Women‟s

Social Life (KASAİD) later on.

Another women‟s cooperative founded for struggle against women‟s poverty –based on 23

houses- in 2007 is “Kozadan İpeğe – Home-based Working Women‟s Cooperative” that aims

to bring visibility to home-based women‟s work, take out the middle-person who acquires

profits from the unseen labour by staying in between the producing women and employer, to

sustain continuous work and income, to reduce unregistered employment, to increase

awareness in economic and social rights, to get together with home-based working women

and discuss problems and solutions, and to share good practices. Another goal of this

cooperative is to have an impact on the public policies, yet various problems they have

experienced later on have incapacitated them. Kozadan İpeğe Home-based Working

Women‟s Cooperative has been merged with Zeytindalı Cooperative in 2014. Through this

merger, an independent textile and training workshop has also been acquired. Zeytindalı

Cooperative that has become stronger through this merger with Kozadan İpeğe Cooperative,

has also gained access to Mamak and surrounding region through the extended activities of

this cooperative.



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Currently the 15 partners of this cooperative that has a total of 20 partners, consist of high

level business owners that voluntarily labours for strengthening of women‟s status and

employment. This situation is seen as the strongest asset of the cooperative. Cooperative with

its social capital is able to communicate with local and international institutions to sustain the

working mechanism of established workshops and the received orders serve for employment

of more women. Of the 5 other partners, 2 are involved in silversmithing and 3 are in seams

business. The orders received in these workshops are complemented by the employment of

women living nearby. The women who are employed in the workshops, if they so wish, can

be accepted in the cooperative as associates.

One of the aspects that might be perceived as weak from the cooperative‟s perspective is the

heavy load of work, due to people involved in this through a united goal, also having other

jobs to do. However, feeling the support of these people behind them motivates them.

Moreover, the fact that they are doing this pro bono, for the sake of the women, sustains the

system itself and also enables everything to be conducted transparently and justly. Another

weak aspect is the hardships faced in working together for a greater goal, by women who live

in poorer regions. The fact that these women are being prevented from working due to

familial restrictions is another hardship.

In the future, the cooperative aims to bring an institutional structure to workshops, have a

more rigorous process in workshop activities, to widen the customer portfolio to present more

employment opportunities for women, bring a systematic sustainability to training activities.

Moreover, the cooperative aims to become a center where women‟s problems are discussed

and moderated in the Mamak region.



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The cooperative model as a tool for combating organized crime

Partner organization: LEGACOOP PUGLIA

Country: Italy

Cooperative TERRE DI PUGLIA LIBERA TERRA Soc. Coop Soc

Contact: Francesco Gigante

Position: President

Website: http://www.terredipuglia.it

Social: https://www.facebook.com/Terre-di-Puglia-Libera-Terra-

359455074184617/

https://www.facebook.com/masseriacanalipuglia/?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/hisotelaray/?fref=ts

The cooperative deals with the agricultural management of land confiscated from organized

crime. The activity of the cooperative is placed in a critical, complex historical, economic and

social context.

At the end of the '70s the Salento peninsula (the south of Apulia region) was the scene of the

development of a fierce and bloody criminal organization, which intended to change the

structure and attitudes typical of “Cosa Nostra“ in Sicily. The fourth mafia, the united Holy

Crown, in a few years insinuated itself into the folds of the Apulian society, undermining its

serenity, civil life and deeply polluting the economic fabric. Especially in the Brindisi area

and in the Lecce area the most violent groups were formed, able to put themselves at the head

of the entire criminal consortium until the end of the last century. Those were hard years for

the entire local population, a trail of blood that seemed to have no end. The repressive action

of the police and the judiciary, however, beheaded the leaders of the organization, very fluid

http://www.terredipuglia.it/

https://www.facebook.com/Terre-di-Puglia-Libera-Terra-359455074184617/

https://www.facebook.com/Terre-di-Puglia-Libera-Terra-359455074184617/

https://www.facebook.com/masseriacanalipuglia/?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/hisotelaray/?fref=ts



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in structure and weak in gathering the consent of citizens. But the life of the community of

Salento and Puglia still seems poisoned by a chronic emergency of legality. Today the Sacra

Corona Unita seems tamed, but in reality it does not sleep. The clans no longer fire, but

continue to handle illicit trafficking, often working as intermediaries in the service of other

mafias in relations with criminal organizations across the Adriatic. In short, the criminal

affairs that determine a serious danger to democracy, remain.

The agricultural land extends over 80 hectares divided between the municipalities of

Torchiarolo where 26 hectares of vines and one hectare of olive trees are managed, San Pietro

Vernotico where two hectares of vines are cultivated, just under 20 hectares in the

municipality of Mesagne where they cultivate arable crops (tomato, wheat, artichoke and



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chickpea in detail), Andria where one hectare is cultivated with olive trees, Galatina where

there is an olive grove of 84 ares and finally in 2016, 34 hectares were added, divided

between the municipalities of Fasano and Oria cultivated with olive trees (14 hectares in Oria

and 4 in Fasano) and arable land (16 hectares in Oria).

Using these lands, the cooperative produces semi-dried Apulian tomatoes, artichoke hearts,

pâté of turnip tops, olive pâté, artichoke pâté, cherry tomatoes, tarallini with extra virgin olive

oil, tarallini with fennel seeds, wines.

In addition to the lands, the cooperative manages two real estate properties (Masseria Canali

and the Cantina di Torchiarolo).



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According to the Law 381/91, the social cooperative of type B has the purpose to pursue the

general interest of the community to the human promotion and social integration of the citizens

through the carrying out of different activities, aimed at the employment of disadvantaged

people.

The Law 109/96 "Provisions regarding the management and destination of confiscated assets"

defines the methods by which assets confiscated from organized crime are granted on free loan

For the founding members, the cooperative choice was to respond to the public requirements.

The law required the establishment of a social cooperative of type B for the social use of

confiscated assets.

The cooperative today consists of 6 working members and 3 volunteer members.

Out of 6 members, 50% are disadvantaged people according to law 381; 5 members work

indefinitely and one with a professional service contract. In addition to the 6 members who

work, the cooperative employs about 20 other people (mainly in agricultural activity).

The products are sold to the Libera Terra Mediterraneo Consortium, that is an association of

cooperatives formed by the Libera Terra cooperatives all over Italy, which deals with

distribution and marketing, marketing strategies and labels.

Libera Terra Mediterraneo coordinates the productive activities of the individual cooperatives

that compose it and directly follows the transformation of agricultural raw materials into

finished products, with the constant search for their maximum valorization and the

consequent best economic recognition. In addition, the products are sold to large-scale

retailers, especially Coop (http://www.e-coop.it, that is the biggest italian retail cooperative),

in the fair trade market, through the hotel, restaurants and wine bars, through online sales.

The cooperative also has a direct sales point, a small shop in the historic center of Mesagne

(close to Brindisi). The main "customer" is therefore the Consortium, which takes about 98%

of sales. The main partners are the Consortium itself, with which there is total sharing of the

strategies, the Municipalities where the assets are managed, Legacoop, the Unions, the local

associations. The most frequent ways in which the stakeholders meet are assemblies,

http://www.e-coop.it/



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meetings, events in the farm, all the opportunities to let the community to benefit from the

good.

The strategic suppliers are above all the transformers of the wines, of the sub-oils, of the

bakery products.

The cooperative sustainability model is based on the sale of products deriving from the

transformation. The cooperative deals with the production and collection of the raw material

(tomato, grape, artichokes), receives in processing account (not transfer of the products) to

other companies that, depending on the recipe and the indications of the cooperative,

transform the branded product.

In addition, the cooperative also carries out social activities (summer camp for children,

events at Masseria Canali, workshops and trainings for young people and adults). A

fundamental characteristic of the "E!StateLiberi!" workshops is the deepening and study of

the mafia phenomenon through the confrontation with the relatives of the mafia victims, the

institutions and the operators of the social cooperatives and the associations that manage the

confiscated assets.



27

They make three different kind of activities: agricultural activities or restoration of the

property, training and meeting with the territory for an intercultural exchange.

The cooperative has carried out consumer education interventions at the Coop Alleanza 3.0

(the most important retail cooperative in Italy) stores in Taranto, Brindisi and Lecce, as well

as at local schools. The training aimed at students of all levels concerned the issues of

responsible consumption, attention to food waste, proper nutrition, biodiversity, respect for

the rules in the food supply chain, democratic citizenship, knowledge of the fundamental

principles of paper Italian constitutional. The market is very competitive and the cooperative

product are not very competitive on price, but this is not so high if compared to quality. The

main strengths of the cooperative are linked to the high quality of the products, organic food,

and to the mission of social reuse of the goods. For this reason, a "good and fair" product

comes out. It is also a dynamic environment that responds quickly and is able to innovate.



28

The cooperative aims to give back to the community and to the social use the good that has

been confiscated from crime. It therefore undertakes to encourage the participation of citizens

and the whole Community in the use of that good.

Another theme on which the cooperative undertakes is the creation of job opportunities. The

work is equally paid and as stable as possible, even for people with special disadvantages, in

a land where unemployment and crime are present at high rates. The cooperative tries to

make a strong contribution to the community, above all involving the population in social

activities and also in work (in this case, with attention to respecting workers' rights, by paying

the wages fairly, in a difficult agricultural environment). If in the early years there were

difficulties in finding workers, now the cooperative cannot hire other people for the amount

of work available.

The objectives and challenges for the future concern the possibility of being able to make

wine directly at the wine cellar in Torchiarolo, without external providers, optimizing costs

and time. While it is unthinkable to do the same with the food products, it could be possible

with wine, because of the wine cellar they have in Torchiarolo. From a social point of view,

the main challenge is to involve society more, making the assets they manage more usable.



29

Break Down all the Barriers with the Cooperative "Si Può Fare"


Country: Italy

Cooperative SI PUÒ FARE SOC. COOP.

+ 39 0831.1987849

Via G.B. Papadia 11 – 72022 Latiano (BR)

Contact: Valerio D‟Ancona

Position: President

Website: www.sipuofarelatiano.it

Social: www.facebook.com/sipuofarelatiano

www.instagram.com/sipuofarelatiano

The Social Cooperative “Si può fare” (that means “You Can Do it”) deals with the

organization, management, coordination and supply of social, health and welfare services for

disabled people, including psycho-sensory and with compromising functional autonomy,

which require rehabilitation and health services. All services provided are of a specialistic,

domiciliary and residential nature.

The Cooperative was established on December 2013, and immediately, proceeded to plan and

fulfill all that is necessary for the activation of a Socio-Educational and Rehabilitative Center

for disabled, regulated by a regional regulation in Apulia (Reg. n.4/2007). The services are

aimed at the maintenance and recovery of autonomy levels person and supporting the family.

The choice of this type of service as primary among the various services offered, stems from

the awareness gained in the founding members, that was a service as necessary and essential

as lacking.

The Cooperative started not only as a meeting between new rules, places, professionals, and

the design of organizational structures based on predefined models, but mostly it was a

choice of structuring designed and adapted to the complex specificities of the individual

situations. Even though the short experience of the Cooperative (3 years), they have become a

qualified reference on the territory, which was totally devoid of this type of structure in some

of its districts. The province of Brindisi, in fact, has always been a territory very sensitive to

http://www.sipuofarelatiano.it/

http://www.facebook.com/sipuofarelatiano

http://www.instagram.com/sipuofarelatiano



30

Cooperativism and specifically, to the Social Cooperativism. In the Municipality of Latiano,

more than 15 Social Cooperatives insist. They manage the same number of Social Health

Services (although different in nature from those offered by Si può fare Cooperative), and all

this can only contribute to raising the overall quality level of the services offered, as well as

at its completion.

The Cooperative is currently composed of 17 ordinary working members and 2 voluntary

members, but for the performance of its services, it also includes the collaboration of several

professionals on a permanent basis. Of the 17 ordinary members, 15 are also permanent staff

members, distributed in the key sectors of the Cooperative: 3 are the members of the Board of

Directors, and they also cover the roles of General Manager, Services Coordinator and Legal

Consultant. The remaining part of the staff is composed of 6 Professional Educators, 1 Social



31

Worker, 2 Healthcare Workers, 2 Auxiliaries, 1 Assistant for the disabled people. The

Cooperative also engage 1 neuropsychiatrist, 1 physiotherapist, 1 tax consultant and 1 labor

consultant.

With regards to the problems that the cooperative tries to solve and its activities is necessary

to talk about the Socio-Educational and Rehabilitative Center. This Center, run by the

cooperative, intended for use by diversely skilled, even psycho-sensorial subjects, with

significant impairments of functional autonomy, which require rehabilitation and social-

health benefits. The Center is open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, and it is therefore a service of

constant support for family life. The place would to be a point of reference for people with

disabilities and their families, a place without barriers, open and able to offer the necessary

inputs to lead a life full of joy and gratification.

The services provided are aimed at the evolutionary growth of the people hosted, the

development of residual capacities and the maintenance of those acquired, and offer

assistance and targeted socio-educational activities. The treatments are addressed to the

person in his entirety and complexity, respecting his physical and psychological peculiarities,

and supporting his need for relationship with the other. The ultimate goal of every activity



32

and performance offered to the user is its full integration into the community fabric

accompanied by the growth of self-esteem and awareness of its own means. The users of the

Center are subjects with disabilities whose age range is between 6 and 64 years, with

compromised functional autonomy. For each user, a Multidimensional Assessment Unit is

convened, with the participation of various professionals including the Neurologist, Social

Workers and Caregiver (Family), in order to determine the appropriateness and the modalities

of the rehabilitation process to be undertaken. In according with the same professional skills,

an Individualized and Personalized Care Plan is drawn up, in which the abilities and the

needs of each subject are taken into account. Given the peculiarity and the degree of

sensitivity required by the type of services offered, one of the main channels of interaction

with users is the interview, the contact and direct communication. In addition, the cooperative

makes use of the conventional communication channels made available by the social

networks, such as website, facebook and instagram.

The meeting between the services offered and the stakeholders takes place through different



33

methods, including the organization, participation and promotion of congresses and specific

training events, in order to sensitize the local socio-health services and the users themselves.

This is because the user can decide to access the services independently or on the address and

indication of the institutions, rather than medical specialists. Being a point of reference for

the territory is due to the positive feedback that the users, to whom the services are directed,

share with the company.

The economic sustainability of the cooperative activities is possible thanks to different

channels. The sanitary service of the cooperative are reimbursed by the National Health

System through a mechanism of putting in agreement of each individual user. Another part of

the services, the one of accomodation and social nature, are instead paid to the cooperative

through a complex procurement and reporting mechanism involving the Apulia Region

Government, and the users' own families. Finally, another source of sustainability is the



34

provision of additional services, such as the shuttle service to and from the facility available

to all users and/or the provision of additional and specialized services of a health nature.

Given the delicacy of the problems faced, there is still a certain degree of 'closure' of a part of

public opinion towards the 'disability' téma. This, often, combined with an inadequate support

by the institutions, translates into a general slowdown in the development of this type of

personal services, both in terms of quantity and quality. Even for this reasons the cooperative

tries to have an innovative element that is the ability to privilege the networking- work, with

which the cooperative improves the impact on the target population and the activities

proposed, and also involves the existing services at multiple levels (Social Services, Local

Health Authorities, etc) through a multi-dimensional and flexible approach to interventions.

Absolute importance is given to the continuous training and specialization of staff in force,

promoting and supporting all initiatives aimed at achieving high standards of innovation and

specialization. All services provided, from health care and assistance to accomodation

services (meal supply) are certified by international systems and control bodies, whose

review is given absolute importance and priority. The reception of users is characterized by a

psycho-pedagogical style of habilitation and rehabilitation of social functions through an

always immediate interpersonal relationship, the acceptance and sharing of responsibilities

and tasks that social life entails, through the reconquest by of the disabled person and of a

healthy identification, and through the constant presence of the operators.



35

To conclude, the main objectives of the services offered are on one hand to support the

family adequately and totally trying to reduce the commitments related to the disability of the

relative, on the other hand to make the user as autonomous as possible through various

activities, projects and laboratories that can facilitate their independent life.

On the other hand, for some types of users, it is necessary a durable and protracted support

over time, all 24h of the day; in this regard, the Cooperative has in place the planning of a

residential structure that can fully meet this type of need, providing support and integrated

assistance without interruption.



36

With “Thalassia”: Environmental Culture in A Nature Reserve


Country: Italy Cooperative THALASSIA

Contact: GIUSEPPE FLORE Position: Coordinator

Website: www.cooperativathalassia.it

Social: FACEBOOK: THALASSIA COOP

INSTAGRAM: THALASSIACOOPERATIVA

The cooperative was born in 2001, at the same time born the management body of the Torre

Guaceto natural park. Some people from WWF association after saving Torre Guaceto from

the building speculation and other dangers decided to create Thalassia Cooperative. Torre

Guaceto is a natural park in Apulia and the local context is characterized by beautiful natural

landscapes and an economy based mostly on tourism and agrifood.

http://www.cooperativathalassia.it/



37

The cooperative activities are focused on ecotourism and environmental education. The main

activities are trekking and bike trekking, even during the night, snorkeling, workshops in

nature, learning adventures, and the organization of special events such as the concert at

dawn in the summer. Everyday Thalassia activities aim to improve people's approach to the

planet, to make it more sustainable, to convince people that even individual acts can help

saving our habitats, flora, and fauna.

Today, the organization has 7 members and all of these are employed in the cooperative. In

addition to the members, the cooperative employed other 10-12 persons (depend by the

season) that work as guides in the various activities.

Thalassia intercepts the potential customers with direct contact, by word of mouth, and using

the websites and social networks. Both are the ways to market its products and services, but

overall for the services they prefer direct meetings with teachers, tourists, and tour operators.

The main customers are: schools, tourists (single or groups), tour operators,

associations. Other stakeholders are tour guides, private and public bodies (Apulia

region, provinces, municipalities, natural reserves, etc), farms, cultural and

environmental associations.



38

Thalassia makes everyday networks with these stakeholders, and in this way it become easier

to create and to maintain communication channel.

Because of the type of activities related to seasons, to achieve the economical sustainability is

very difficult. The Thalassia's business model aims to create value for the customer, to

maintain a high-quality standard and to apply an accessible final price, adapting to the new

trends and needs of customers and partners.

The reasoning behind this strategy is to create a competitive advantage on competitors,

analyzing critically and continuously the results obtained and adapting them to the contest

changes.



39

As noted above, the real problem for the cooperative is connected to the seasons. In fact,

working above all with the tourism during the summer, it's difficult to guarantee the job for

every member during all the years. This is a problem even more because the operators have

advanced training with high quality and professionalism, and they used to work in an internal

team with a high sense of cooperation and in the strong network of relationships with a

private organization in the area. The main challenge for the future is to continue educating the

most people in environmental sustainability, combining this with an ever stronger economic

sustainability of the cooperative and of the operators who work for it.



40

Je(m)ma: A Community Cooperative to Rediscover

The Ancient Products of The Earth


Country: Italy Cooperative JEMMA COOPERATIVA DI COMUNITÀ DI ZOLLINO

Contact: Alessandro Pellegrino

Position: President

Website: www.jemmacoop.com

Social: fb: Jemma - Comunità Cooperativa Zollino

The Community Cooperative Je(m)ma was born in 2012 in a small village named Zollino,

located in the heart of Grecìa Salentina, in the south of Apulia, 20 km far away from Lecce.

The strategic position allows you to experience the authentic hinterland and, at the same time,

to reach Galatina, Lecce, Otranto, Gallipoli and the Adriatic and Ionian costs, just in few

minutes. The original business idea was to support the municipality in the enhancement of

typical agri-food products, specifically the autochthonous legumes such as the nano pea of

Zollino and the kuccìa fava bean.

From that moment the Cooperative has diversified its activities and now is committed to the

culture of energy saving promotion with a spread of innovative technology for the

http://www.jemmacoop.com/



41

environment and different ecotourism activities, such as guided tours and educational trails in

the territory with show environmental best practices and typical local products.

Therefore, the Je(m)ma Cooperative trie to solve many problems in the territory like to

counter the phenomenon of internal areas' depopulation and to reduce the environmental

impact creating jobs for the community.

At the moment the Community Cooperative Je(m)ma has 120 members, of these people only

3 are employees and around 10 people are voluntary workers. In fact, the cooperative is not

yet economically sustainable. Despite this, the cooperative doesn't advertise its products: all

production is sold directly on the territory, through contact with the community. For the

others activities, the coop uses social channels such as online networks, the website, and

specialized agencies. The main partners are companies that work in the area and enhance it

through their activities: companies of the Salentokm0 network, the municipalities and the

commercial activities of Zollino.



42

The first partners are exactly the community and the territory on which the coop works. Lack

economical sustainability derives from difficulty to access to finance for new projects and

this slow down the enterprise's development. The cooperative, serving the community, is a

direct and present partner in the area. The cooperative makes known the village and its

resources, and encourages the growth also in tourism, with positive implications for its

economy. The challenge for the future is to implement the Urban Laboratory and make it the

center of the activities in the valorization of typical agro-food products, of quality food and

culinary traditions.

It‟s fair to say that the people of the community and the continuous direct contact with there

are the core business of Je(m)ma.



43

Shared Interest: A Cooperative That Provides Financial Services

And Business Support in The „Global South‟

Partner organization: CO-OPERATIVE COLLEGE

Country: UK

Cooperative SHARED INTEREST

Website: https://www.shared-interest.com/

Social: https://www.facebook.com/SharedInterestSociety/

Shared Interest is a Fair Trade financial co-op which provides financial services and business

support to people in remote and disadvantaged communities in order to allow them to trade

competitively and access capital. At the moment its members are 11,000 investor owners and

they put their money into the co-op as withdrawable share capital which can then be used to

provide poor producers with credit. Through this method Shared Interest facilitate a transfer

of funds between themselves, producers and the organisations buying produce. The co-op

also established a subsidiary charity in 2004: the Shared Interest Foundation. The aim of this

charity is to fund the training of Fair Trade organisations in the often complex and nuanced

subjects of business and finance management. It also exists to support the fair trade

movement as a whole. Differing slightly from the Shared Interest Society, the Foundation is

funded from donations. These donations are also primarily sourced from the co-op‟s

members, however.

Shared Interest has always existed as a co-op since its formation in 1990 – the co-operative

structure allows it to communicate effectively with stakeholders and to ensure that its

members, the investors, can have a say in how their money is spent. Shared Interest‟s council,

made up from some elected and some randomly selected investor members, reflect the views

of the membership to the Board of Directors. This structure ensures that Shared Interest

remains true to its aims and values by taking into account the wishes of its members. The co-

op is based in Newcastle but provides services around the world, particularly in the „global



44

south‟. It's born from the collaboration of two men: Mark Hayes, the founder of Shared

Interest, and Richard Adams, the founder of Traidcraft, another Newcastle-based organisation

which sells Fair Trade products in the UK and works with poor producers in Africa and Asia.

Hayes saw a need for a co-operative saving and loan society which promoted Fair Trade

principles, especially if it could be accessible for poor producers in the „global south‟. Access

to capital is often a big issue for farmers and craftspeople in remote and disadvantaged

communities – Shared Interest was established in part to combat this. Then, Shared Interest

seeks to combat an issue faced by many Fair Trade businesses, especially in deprived

communities: an inability to access capital and credit at a fair rate. The ability to do so is

crucial for a business to thrive and grow. This is especially true for poor producers – a lot of

the time they are not paid promptly in exchange for the delivery of their products. Shared

Interest lends exclusively to Fair Trade businesses and in doing so creates a „triangle„ where

cash can flow: between Fair Trade, producers and the produce buyers.

The stakeholders for the enterprise can be loosely categorised as follows:

● Producers benefit from the co-op by being able to access credit and business support

● Buyer organisations benefit from accessing the flow of funds provided by the co-op

● Employees ensure the co-op‟s business activities are carried out

● Members invest their money into the co-op, providing the withdrawable share capital

The democratic structure ensures that member interests are expressed through the Council, a

body made up partly from elected

members and partly from

randomly selected members. The

Council represent the views of the

membership to the Board of

Directors.

At the moment 36 people are

employed in the Shared Interest

co-op. Shared Interest struggles to



45

attract investors in the same way as similar organisations as its investors don„t receive any

interest on their investment – they instead receive the satisfaction of helping other people. For

some this isn‟t sufficient motivation to part with their money. Furthermore, as Shared Interest

is entirely reliant on the money invested by its members, it can struggle to access marketing

budgets. As a result, the business requires the presence of volunteers in various locations, as

well as 36 full time staff, to oversee transactions in local Fair Trade networks.

Shared Interest has been very successful at growing its investor base and withdrawable share

capital since its formation in 1990: it started with 200 members and £300,000 of capital and

now has around 11,000 members and access to £39m share capital.

Shared Interest has made a substantial difference to communities across the globe. As

mentioned, the model focuses not only on improving the skills and resources of individual

businesses but encourages people to contribute to their communities. Shared Interest

themselves say that, alongside helping numerous remote and disadvantaged producers and

businesses, they made a positive impact on the lives of 362,000 people. The Shared Interest

Foundation has also done work to train communities to improve their financial skills. The

main goal for the organization is to continue to grow the withdrawable share capital and

membership base, support increasing numbers of Fair Trade businesses and expand in order



46

to offer their services to people in different countries. One possible obstacle to this is an

uncertain financial climate given substantial economic upheaval in the UK. People are often

unwilling to invest in such an environment and this could be an obstacle, particularly given

Shared Interest‟s 0% interest rate. However, this hasn‟t been an issue throughout their 27 year

history, despite economic downturns and recessions.



47

Suma: The Largest British Cooperative


Country: UK

Cooperative SUMA WHOLEFOODS

Lacy Way,

Lowfields Business Park,

Elland, HX5 9DB

Contact: Jenny Carlyle & Amrit Gata-Aura

Position: Member

Website: http://www.suma.coop/

Social: Twitter: @SumaWholefoods

www.facebook.com/SumaWholefoods



48

Suma is the UK‟s largest independent wholefood wholesaler/distributor, specialising in

vegetarian, fairly traded, organic, ethical and natural products. They are a workers‟ co-

operative committed to ethical business. The organization is an ethically-driven workers‟

cooperative with a radical and progressive democratic structure, a unique equal pay policy,

fantastic benefits and conditions for every member, and a culture of tolerance, support and

development. Suma is the trading name of the Triangle Wholefoods Collective Ltd, a worker

co-operative incorporated as an industrial and provident society. It was founded in Leeds in

1977 and it's now based in the heart of England in West Yorkshire.



49

They currently distribute over 7000 products to over 60 different countries worldwide. At the

moment the co-op has 160 members-owners and all are employed in the organization.

Sometime, the organization need even casual staff for special events.

Suma was in a leading position in the very fast-growing market for health food in the mid to

late 1990s, and was conscious of immense growth opportunities. However the preferred

method of expansion was based on the creation of independent co-operative businesses,

rather than a more coordinated strategy. Suma therefore deliberately devolved several of its

regional markets, such as Scotland and the Midlands, to other newly founded co-operative

wholesalers (Green City Wholefoods and Ouroboros respectively). They sell their products

online and also from their premises.

The co-op has an extensive marketing and customer services team who deal with orders both

in the UK and internationally. In fact, they have a range of customers both in the UK and

overseas, mainly retail outlets but also food-buying groups, restaurants and cafes etc.

Suma is a fully democratic workers‟ cooperative. All cooperative members and employees

receive the same net hourly rate of pay, no matter what their job or responsibilities. The

Cooperative policy and direction is decided by general meeting of the members. Operation of



50

the business is achieved by the Coordinators within a flat management structure. Fulfillment

of the democratically agreed Business Plan is overseen by the elected management

committee. All members have input into the direction and policy of the Cooperative. Another

key feature of Suma's structure and working practice is multi-skilling. They encourage

members to get involved in more than one area of business, so individuals will always

perform more than one role within the cooperative. This helps to broaden the skills base and

give every member an invaluable insight into the bigger picture. On the other side, they are

growing as an organisation and have a flat management structure so it can be hard to make

decisions and can take a long time.

Suma like to think that being a workers‟ cooperative is one of the fundamental keys to their

success. SUMA operates a truly democratic system of management that isn‟t bound by the

conventional notions of hierarchy that often hinder progress and stand in the way of fairness.

Suma is also involved in carrying out concrete activities to improve people's quality life.

They clean up and protect the river and riverbank adjacent to their premises. Suma staff have

also built and maintain a small wildlife garden on the roundabout under the bypass in Elland.

The site is planted with indigenous species which attract insects such as butterflies and bees.



51

They employ local people and try to source local products. Treesponsibility have set up

source, a water catchment management project, with support from Suma to mitigate flood

risk through catchment management, they see tree planting as a way of improving the local

environment. Many Suma staff have children in the local schools so they provide 20 to 30

hampers and raffle prizes every year. Also speakers on healthy eating, tours of Suma for the

local University Business Studies Students (alternative business models) and work experience

placements for local High Schools and Colleges and even sponsorship of a football strip for

the local under 9‟s team. They have also run healthy eating cookery demonstrations at six

local schools with the help and expertise of Stirrin stuff.

Since Suma was established, they have only stocked vegetarian foods. Over 30 years later

they still sell exclusively vegetarian products and are committed to promoting vegetarianism

as an ethical lifestyle choice. They are currently in the process of outgrowing their premises

and so are looking to relocate, which is a challenge. Also, as they grow it becomes harder to

manage the business in the current way so they are looking at other democratic management

techniques from other worker cooperatives, such as Unicorn in Manchester.



52

A New Way of Consuming with the Unicorn Cooperative


Country: UK

Cooperative UNICORN GROCERY

Website: https://www.unicorn-grocery.coop/

Social: https://www.facebook.com/unicorngrocery/

Due to the historical link, there is a high awareness of the co-operative movement and

consequently a high density of co-ops in Greater Manchester. In a similar story to the original

pioneers, Greater Manchester today suffers from huge inequality. It‟s not easy to find good

quality, affordable groceries that are ethically sourced. The urban setting is a further barrier to

this. Unicorn Grocery was established in part to address this need.

Unicorn Grocery is a worker food co-op in Chorlton, Greater Manchester, selling vegetarian

and ethical produce. They sell a variety of ethically sourced, organic products, with a view to

providing an alternative to mass-produced supermarket food at a price that people in the local

area could afford as an alternative to expensive health food shops. It sells a variety of things,

including fresh food, dried food, drinks, household and body care items and other groceries.



53

In 1994 discussions began between Adam York, Griff Dines and Ian Browne, the founder

members, to form a food retailer which could provide an alternative to the mass-produced,

processed food of supermarkets and convenience shops on one hand, and a cheaper

alternative to overpriced health foods on the other. Unicorn Grocery was established in 1995

as a worker co-op. The co-operative structure suited their desire for their organisation to have

a flat, democratic structure and satisfied the ethical ambitions of the enterprise. Unicorn

struggled to acquire the necessary financial backing and capital to set up the business. Many

potential financiers and backers were sceptical of the proposed structure of the business:

„managerless„ structure and equal pay were especially controversial to an audience not well-

acquainted with the successes of worker co-ops. Grant-financing was another possibility that

was eventually dismissed as impracticable. Eventually they succeeded in raising loan capital

with Co-operative & Community Finance and other backers setting them on their way to the

success they are today.

At the moment the co-op has 65 merbers. All these are workers members but sometimes the

business activity need a number of casual staff, usually comprising 10% of the workforce. All

co-op members are workers and company directors, with equal responsibility for the



54

decisions that govern the business, from long-term strategy, to budgets and recruitment, to

procedures that run the shop from day to day. Regular group training sessions and

opportunities for external training contribute to personal development among the co

operative‟s members. These aspects of Unicorn‟s structure, in combination with its Principles

of Purpose, incorporate the seven principles laid out by the International Co operative

Alliance. This model ensures sustainable decision making on behalf of the business. But a flat

structure – especially rare in larger organisations – is obviously a great aspiration that does

not guarantee success always. Unicorn can only worry about policy decisions if they sell

enough baked beans to pay for them, for example. Hierarchies of age, experience, knowledge

and expertise may be unavoidable. This means that However, as long as they are transparent,

open to change and defer to the collective, they will not challenge the flat structure. If a

structure reflects the participants‟ aspirations, the Principles of Purpose, and the working

realities, it is the right one. And it is what happen with Unicorn co-operative. From 4

members to 40, the cooperative has always made decisions as a collective. Before the

expansion, consensus decision-making was almost always an easy, efficient method. In the

larger co operative, consensus requires more preparatory work and can be more difficult to

achieve, but the advantages are still well worth it. If one member (or two, in the case of the

larger group) objects to a given proposal, that proposal is „blocked‟ and withdrawn or carried

forward to a workshop for interested parties. In most cases the workshop produces an

amended or alternate proposal; in the rare case that this proposal does not find consensus at

the members meeting following the workshop, a vote takes place. As you may imagine, this

method requires enormous respect, and occasionally, commercial decisions may require a fair

degree of patience. More often, the process of reaching consensus – clear information in

advance, questions, discussion, amendments, and even objections, „blocks‟ and workshops –

helps the workers to make strong, well-founded decisions upheld by a unified and active

membership.



55

Unicorn Grocery is first and foremost a shop located in Chorlton and the products are sold

from this building. You can view the products on sale on their website but they do not offer a

delivery service and as a result all transactions take place face-to-face in their Chorlton

location. Unicorn‟s model has been celebrated for its success and as such they enjoy a status

and prominence above the level typical for a local grocery shop. In a lot of respects their

„marketing„ is achieved by word of mouth, thanks to their delivery of excellent products and

services. Their ethical aims also mean that they attract widespread interest. They are often

invited to the Business departments of Russell Group university to explain their marketing

and business strategies in an attempt to publicise their model and spread the word. In many

ways their marketing is straightforward and old-fashioned: they sell great quality, ethically

sourced products and promote this through friends, family and supporters. Their involvement

and status within the co-operative movement also helps to raise their status. They do little in

the way of advertising.

They are closely affiliated with Glebelands City Growers, located nearby in Sale, Greater

Manchester, a company which grows fresh food and owns 21 acres of land in Cheshire.



56

Unicorn source many of their products from Glebelands City Growers.

Their customers are primarily local people in South and Central Manchester. Local people are

acquainted with the shop as, alongside providing food, drink and other groceries, Unicorn

operates as a community hub, encouraging various activities to take place on their premises.

Many community events take place at Unicorn and this encourages local people to come and

get acquainted with the space. This alternative role facilitates a strong channel of

communication to customers. In fact, Unicorn pride themselves on the impact they have on

their local community, not only through their products and services, but through their status

as a community hub. A variety of events take place there, including but not limited to:

● Visits from schools;

● Community fundraisers;

● Awareness-raising events for campaigns;

● Talks on co-ops and alternative business models;

● Student work placements.

This alternative function of Unicorn, as a community space, provides a great resource for

local people.

It would be hard to dispute that Unicorn have already achieved many of their goals. The

formation of Unicorn was an attempt to create:

● A shop selling great quality, affordable food and drink;

● An organisation run democratically and accountability;

● A space available for good work to take place for the benefit of the local community.

Unicorn is a healthy business, with around a £7m annual turnover, which makes profit every

year. This profit is invested back into the community and the co-operative movement.

One potential challenge might be the UK‟s vulnerable and changing economic climate. Many

businesses will be nervous in the face of our impending exit from the European Union.

Unicorn try to source their food locally if possible but may have to import some produce.

Future events might affect their business in that case.



57



58

CASA: Care and Share

Partner organization: Cooperative College

Country: UK

Cooperative Manchester Home Care (also known as CASA Manchester)

294 Portway – Manchester - M22 1TG

Contact: Guy Turnbull

Position: Managing Director of CASA

Website: https://www.casaltd.com

Social: www.facebook.com/CASA1MANCHESTER

Manchester Home Care (also known as CASA Manchester) is an employee owned social

enterprise, specialising in providing care and support to people living in their own homes. As

a mutual social enterprise that is owned by its employees, with its roots in the co-operative

movement.

Manchester Home Care is based in Wythenshawe, Manchesater in the |North West of

England. It is part of CASA (Care and Share Associates), a social franchise organsiation

which overseas home care branches such as Manchester Home Care in regions across the

North of England.

The CASA family was established in 2004 with a vision of becoming the UK‟s leading

employee-owned provider of domiciliary health and social care support services to older and

disabled people. It was created to replicate the success of the award winning social enterprise,

Sunderland Home Care Associates Limited (SHCA), which was established by one of

CASA‟s founders, Margaret Elliot, in 1994. Indeed the true history of CASA goes back to the

mid „70s!

https://www.casaltd.com/



59

CASA has always been a pioneering, positive force that contributes to the transformation of

health and social care services in the UK.

Over the years, the success of the business has been down to mutuality. Because the

employees are also the owners, it achieves the highest quality care and low staff turnover,

making the business more successful. CASA nurtures strong commissioner relationships and

none of our profit goes to external shareholders.

This employee owned enterprise recognises that high quality care and support is all about the

workforce. They have found a way to tap into people‟s natural creativity and commitment, by

giving them a stake in their business. Their approach to workforce planning is about more

than recruiting and training staff, it also means defining a positive workplace culture.

Although CASA‟s roots can be traced back to 1975, their mission remains the same – to be a

positive ethical force in everything we do.

Their social impact is far-reaching. As well as improving the quality of life for service users,

CASA recruits and invests in low income communities, with a great track record in helping

long-term unemployed people into work. CASA currently employs over 750 people, all of

whom benefit from a host of training and development opportunities. The employees are also

the owners. They invest and believe in the business because it is theirs.



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CASA and Manchester Home Care have their roots in the co-operative movement and bring

an ethical approach to everything they do. The way they provide care and support is shaped

by a belief in mutuality, participation and quality, which is shared across the whole of the

company‟s workforce.

The organisation promotes a positive working environment: valuing and treating all

employees well is at the heart of CASA‟s ethos and sets it apart from other home care

businesses which are not employee owned.

CASA works in partnership with various institutions and organisations across the UK. For

example, it works alongside Job Centre Plus to recruit long-term unemployed people and has

set up its own social care academy to educate and train these potential employees. It also

worked with North East Social Enterprise Partnership (NESEP) in its early days on a

European project and is connected to several organisations within the co-operative and social

enterprise movement. In addition it works in partnership with Local Authorities, Primary

Care Trusts and other social care providers to ensure that the quality of health and social care

in the UK as a whole is as high as possible.

Manchester Home Care transforms the lives of its employees and provides them with a

sustainable income and livelihood. It is a sustainable business model because the

commitment of the employee members to the business that they own increases the quality of

care provided which in turn brings more money into the business. This money can then be



61

reinvested into other aspects of the business, such as its training academy, to help further staff

development and in turn increase the quality and efficiency of the organisation.

The Health Care industry is very competitive. Despite the strong desire and support for the

model, Manchester Home Care and CASA‟s other franchise companies are constantly facing

challenges, as they are up against big multinational companies that have more money and

resources. However, the interest in the model is growing and CASA is building networks and

gathering support to help strengthen and expand its reach.

Manchester Home Care‟s employee-owned governance model increases the commitment of

staff which in turn increases the quality of care that they provide to vulnerable people in

Manchester and beyond. In this way, Manchester Home Care deals with development co-

operation, as its ethos and democratic structure changes the lives of its employees and service

users for the better.

It also deals with the Social and Solidarity Economy, as it is a social enterprise that provides

a voice and a stake for its employees. The workforce own the business and have democratic

engagement in it, making it part of the solidarity economy. The organisation puts a portion of

its profits into training and education for staff, along with other social projects and initiatives.

It also gives members a share of the profits. In this way it is a social enterprise, because it

puts people before profit.

The economic impact that Manchester Home Care has in the North West is notable. It

provides job creation in an area of the North West that is very deprived and lacking in job

prospects (Wythenshawe). By working in partnership with Job Centre Plus to recruit long



62

term unemployed people, Manchester Home Care is improving the livelihoods of people

whose employment opportunities would otherwise be extremely limited.

The social impact that the organisation has on both its employees and service users is also

commendable. By giving employees a stake in the business, their sense of job satisfaction and

self-confidence is increased and this improves their social wellbeing as well as economic

security. It also improves the lives of service users by making them feel genuinely cared for

and taking into account all of their needs, whether they be mental, physical or emotional.

As part of the network Manchester Home care aims to continue to expand it‟s reach and

provide care and support for people living in their own homes, whilst providing stable work

and a fair income for vulnerable individulas in the community. CASA continues to look for

franchise opportunities to develop the network further.



63

Cooperative Housing with Heart in the Heart of Berlin

Partner organization: DGRV - German Cooperative and Raiffeisen

Confederation

Country: Germany

Cooperative GeWoSüd – Cooperative Housing Berlin-South eG

Contact:

Position:

Website: http://www.gewosued.net

Social: https://twitter.com/hashtag/gewosued;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wjCsS6-

Ad4&feature=youtu.be

The GeWoSüd housing cooperative is operating in Berlin since the beginning of the 1920s

and nowadays owns about 2.600 apartments in 12 different districts of Berlin in both the

Western as well as the Eastern city side. Its main duty is to offer housing at fair prices in

order to provide its members with sustainable housing opportunities. The cooperative housing

concept is hence mainly aiming at middle class and lower middle class people, but it is also

not put off quarters with certain social problems.

The success story of GeWoSüd began almost 100 years ago: In order to meet the need for

housing after the First World War, the city of Schöneberg (a district in the southern centre of

Berlin), under the direction of Berlin's later architect Martin Wagner, planned and built a

garden town from 1918 onwards. In 1922, this newly built “garden town” was sold to the

"cooperative settlement Lindenhof", the former name of GeWoSüd. The cooperative

settlement Lindenhof had been founded in 1919 in order to find a cooperative solution for the

need for housing after the First World War, a time when especially the lower and middle

class population from Berlin suffered under housing shortages and very high renting prices.

The concept rapidly became successful and until the Second World War erupted, more than

2,800 people lived there.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/gewosued

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wjCsS6-Ad4&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wjCsS6-Ad4&feature=youtu.be



64

Aerial photo of the “Lindenhof” from 1921. This settlement has been sold to the cooperative in 1922 and is until today the foundation landmark of the cooperative.

In 1942, the Lindenhof merged with another housing cooperative, the Landbau eG. Together,

they formed the new GeWoSüd housing cooperative. However, during the war in 1943

bombs destroyed about 80 percent of all apartments the cooperative owned and administered.

Within the framework of the reconstruction programmes after the Second World War, the

cooperative was able to rebuild its apartments and to even expand, although this especially

happened in the Western part of Berlin due to the division of the city after the war.

Today, the GeWoSüd cooperative consists of about 5.000 members and owns 2.584

apartments. 33 people are currently employed in the cooperative plus an executive director

and two honorary managing board members. Yet, as it is always the case in the cooperatives,

the members and the annual meeting is the highest organ also at GeWo Süd.

The cooperative‟s main reason for foundation was the aim to solve the problem of access to

sustainable and affordable housing for middle and lower class people after the First World

War. Today, the cooperative is still supporting its members with stable renting prices and



65

good housing conditions during a time, when housing in Berlin gets more and more

expensive due to restauration processes and real estate speculations.

After the reunification of East and West Germany, the cooperative faced wording problems

due to the negative connotation of the socialist understanding of cooperatives. In order to get

new members, the housing cooperative implemented different strategies such as offering

lower renting prices than the average renting price of Berlin. The monetary aspect makes a

membership interesting for the middle and lower class part of the population. Moreover,

GeWoSüd remains a very close member orientation and is focused on the common welfare of

all its members. And finally, the cooperative is constantly working on improving its housing

properties. That does not only concern common repairs and restorations. It also contains eco-

friendly and sustainable amendments such as hanging gardens, urban gardening projects and

„close-to-nature“ studio apartments – a facet which is very attractive to its members. In this

context, the cooperative restored all its houses in accordance with modern heat insulation

standards and reacts to the demographic development in Germany by constantly working on

adapting its houses to modern, barrier-free standards so that also old and handicapped people

can enter the establishments.

Except of their members, the cooperative does not have any customers or partners. The

cooperative‟s only customers and partners are their members. In order to maintain its

sustainability the cooperative invested in future-oriented green, renewable and sustainable

energy and renovation techniques.

GeWoSüd‟s success is mainly deriving from two facts: the first is that the housing they offer

is constantly oriented on the current problem or preferences the population in Berlin faces.

The second fact is the close and transparent relationship the cooperative has with its

members.



66

Attractive unique selling points for the cooperative life. Ecologically “correct living” is defined not only by thermal insulation and combined heat and power, but also by special offers such as eco-friendly and barrier-free apartments and direct supply of organic food.

As mentioned above the cooperative offers lower renting prices than the average real estate

market of Berlin offers. Moreover, it offers an easy business processes for its members and is

perceived as very transparent, creating a relationship of trust. The cooperative, for example,

produces a newsletter for its members in order to inform about significant news and joint

activities. GeWoSüd has employed two social workers whose main tasks are the

strengthening of a social living, the community feeling and the cooperative social cohesion.

This strengthens the social cohesion among the members and increases a social sense of

community.

For its members, the cooperative certainly makes a difference as it especially maintains a

community and common welfare feeling. Its members also follow these principles. For

example, many members join common activities like collective playing afternoons or yoga-

sessions offered by the cooperative, etc. In this context, the cooperative strengthens the social

cooperation in the community. Their houses are located in almost all quarters of Berlin and



67

thus they are able to increase a social cooperative cohesion in a wide area. Especially after

the German reunification, the housing cooperative started to work in Eastern Germany areas

and started to renovate old, bleak housing complexes including the provision of cooperative

values. This helped those areas to overwhelm the former problems and (social) trenches much

easier and faster than it happened in other areas. The cooperative values also fostered the

efforts of all members to not let someone drop done in critical times.

The cooperative‟s main challenges for the future are the increasing real estate prices.

However, GeWoSüd believes to be able to keep providing sustainable, good and fair housing

to its current as well as future members.

The cooperative organizes regular events such as festival for its members in order to strengthen the social living, the community feeling and the cooperative social cohesion.



68

Marketing Cooperatives – A Professional Partner when it Comes

to Freshness

Partner organization: DGRV– German Cooperative and Raiffeisen

Confederation

Country: Germany

Cooperative Landgard Marketing Cooperative

Contact: Mr Josef Müller

Position: Managing director for fruits and vegetable purchase at

the Landgard site in Bornheim/Bonn

Website: https://www.landgard.de/

The marketing cooperative Landgard eG is traditionally active in the gardening and

horticulture section and offers a broad selection of plants and cut flowers. In fact, the

cooperative‟s origin is lying in the horticultural sales and flower auctioning with which it

started. Yet, the cooperative soon identified new business areas and increased its offer by

marketing also fruits and vegetables of its members – the cooperative producers – and rapidly

became one of the biggest and most important suppliers of horticultural equipment and fruits

and vegetables in Germany.

The area between Cologne and Bonn is, beside the Niederrhein, a large and important core

cultivation area in Western Germany, in which traditionally many fruit and vegetable

producers are resident. As a result, Landgard, as a modern, successful grocery producer

cooperative, soon got involved with a Landgard Fruit & Vegetables location and a large fruit

& vegetable unit rapidly grew and expanded widely.

By now, the Landgard cooperative can look back on a 97-years location history. Indeed, the

location has been chosen wisely: the producers have short delivery times and the goods are

commissioned directly in Bornheim-Roisdorf (Landgard location) where they are packaged

and marketed specifically for the trade, too. Due to this significant fact and over the years and

decades, close cooperation between the producers and the cooperative has been developed as

well as long-term business relationships.



69

Many horticultural and fruit and vegetable companies in the region are profiting from the

sales reliability Landgard eG offers them as a modern marketing organization which offers

best retail connections to its clients. At the same time, Landgard is firmly anchored in the

awareness of the region as an employer as the cooperative is one of the major contributors to

the fruit and vegetables area and thus to the overall cultivation in the Western part of

Germany.

Since 2010, Langard holds a joint venture with Flora Holland for increased flower and vegetable auctionings.

Yet, this office has not always been as it is today. In 1910, the timber businessman Hans

Tenhaeff organised himself together with other farmers of the region and formed a fruit and

gardening association. The main reason for this was that they realised that a more modern

production and marketing system would be required in order to be able to compete on the



70

market also in the future. Therefore, their aim was the development of a modern production

and marketing system for agro- and horticultural products. In doing so, the small agricultural

farms oriented themselves on their neighbours, the Netherlands, where well-functioning

marketing systems already existed at that time. After the successful formation as fruit and

gardening association, Landgard started its first auction house for fruits and vegetables in

Straelen in 1914. The formation as a joint association had another significant advantage on

the food and flower market. Before 1910, many different small production cooperatives and

agricultural farms acted on their own (many single players) and had to find their own way for

marketing and selling their products to the customers and market. Therefore, the farmers

came together in order to find a faster and bundled way to market and sell their products in

the best and most efficient way to customers. Until 1970, many smaller cooperatives merged

to the Landgard eG with the purpose to bundle the offerings in the agricultural sector also in

order to improve their market position towards the trade sector, e.g through improved

negotiation power.

Today, the cooperative has almost 2,500 member cooperatives, an additional 700 suppliers

and about 3,000 employees (in total at all sites).

However, the selling system(s) changed a lot over the last years also because of overall

market changes. This concerns not only the trade but the production sites, too. There has been

a general tendency that the number of production sites was reducing while each single

production site got significantly bigger over the last 10 - 20 years. This development still

continues today, though not as rapidly as before. Moreover, the trade shrinked over the last

years and nowadays there are only about five suppliers left on the market who are actual

customers for Landgard eG beside regional trade companies.



71

Landgard bundles the broad selection of plants, cut flowers, fruit and vegetables, which the members of the „Landgard eG“, both national and international suppliers, produce.

Therefore, the cooperative had to adjust its selling system and today they do not sell their

products via an auctioning system (clock auctioning) anymore but via telephone and internet.

The sales durations are no longer daily sales but are done over weeks.

This is also reflected in the overall sales process. The planning of sales is nowadays done

about one year before the actual selling of a product takes place. Together with the respective

producer and customers, Landgard eG coordinates the production and sales of the respective

product for the following crop year so that it will fit the prevailing markets„ and customers„

demands at that time. “Partners” of Landgard eG are especially their almost 2,500 member

cooperatives. The customers on the other hand can be quite mixed, although particularly the

following lines are the most important clients of the cooperative:

● Specialised trade enterprises such as specialist shops, garden centers and specialist

retail chains

● Auctioning customers for potted plants and cut flowers



72

● The organised trade LEH (food retail industry), home improvement, do it yourself

stores and garden centers

● Discounters and other supermarket chains

● Cash & carry markets for the marketing to the specialist retail trade

Landgard is Germany’s leading marketing organization in the gardening and horticulture section and delivers its products inter alia to garden centers and do it yourself stores.

Sustainability is a central component of the strategic orientation of Landgard eG as a modern

marketing producer cooperative. The careful use of natural resources and responsibility for

nature are firmly anchored in the Landgard value system. The goal is to live up to Landgard's

economic, environmental and social responsibility today and in the future beyond the

minimum what is legally required. In a continuous process, the cooperative is dedicated to the

identification and processing of requirements and the realization of further potential in the



73

area of sustainability. The focus of Landgard‟s sustainability strategy is on projects above the

legal normative foundations and basic standards. Therefore, the sustainability strategy of

Landgard is built on four particular pillars: green products, climate, energy and the

environment, employees and society.

Despite being firmly rooted in the business sector, the cooperative sees several severe

challenges on which it only has a limited influence. Especially the weather and the external

conditions became challenging for German agriculture in the last decades and farmers

regularly struggle to cope with unforeseen bad weather situations. Although both the

producers and Landgard benefit from an overall moderate weather pattern in the Western

region of Germany where long periods of drought or torrential rains only rarely occur, more

frequent late night frosts became a severe challenge for the farmers. Yet, for an optimal

business, external conditions need to be excellent as well.

Another challenge Landgard eG identified is the current structural change in production

horticulture, especially in Germany. And this goes hand in hand with the aim to provide peak

performance every day in Landgards‟ core business, both for customers and for members.

When it comes to advantages, the cooperative form of Landgard as “marketing cooperative”

is widely considered as the main gain. Marketing cooperatives take over and bundle the

whole service sector for the production and thus relieve the producers of a big part of the

work which they would normally have to carry out nowadays by themselves in addition to

their daily production tasks such as logistics, quality management, marketing, contacts to

customers in order to be able to work and compete in a market oriented way. Moreover,

bundling the products of cooperatives and bundling cooperatives themselves as one big

speaker significantly increases the market negotiation power which can ultimately lead to

significant advantages for each single and smaller cooperative such as new big customers

with a high purchasing power, lower wholesale prices for e.g. fertiliser, seedlings etc.

Locality and regional orientation is a major pillar of cooperatives in Germany due to their

history. Also Landgard plays an important role as enterprise in the region and community.

With its business activities, many job opportunities are created, e.g. in logistics, packaging,



74

warehouse keeping and in production. In this context, Landgard markets mainly regional

products. With its special focus on regional production, the cooperative supports small-scale

farmers and regional production in general. This increases the wealth of the affected region

through salaries and taxes while it also limits longer production cycles at the same time. As a

member based cooperative, Landgard eG follows, fosters and strengthens cooperative

principles, ownership and democratic values.

Landgard‟s main objective is to implement the Landgard Vision of functioning as a modern

and successful marketing cooperative for flowers and plants as well as for fruits and

vegetables. This implies the coverage of the entire value chain: from cultivation and

purchasing to quality management, quality assurance as well as logistics and marketing to the

customer. For achieving this, Landgard wants to continue to concentrate on its core business

and purposefully develop the flower, plant, fruit and vegetable divisions through targeted

strategic measures.

Here, an essential goal is the consistent expansion of the producer base and the producer

management on a regional, national and international level. The close cooperation with and

proximity to its member companies is Landgard‟s cooperative basis. The cooperative

considers this as the only way for being able to offer its customers regional, national and

international quality products from all over the world throughout the whole year. This enables

Landgard to furthermore offer its retailers a one-handed, personalized product combination

with innovative marketing solutions today and in the future. This creates real added value for

the customers of the cooperative through their proximity and partnerships, setting trends and

serving the members, employees and customers to act and market economically, ecologically

and socially successfully and sustainably.

At the same time, Landgard is also propelling digitization and today has fully arrived in the e-

commerce age. In various web-shops, their customers can order from a wide range of flowers

and plants, decorative bouquets and planted bowls 24 hours per day in one click and they can

view daily offers, prices and availability. Another example is the Landgard image portal



75

which can be accessed under www.landgard-pictures.com. There are currently more than

65,000 pictures available ad hoc.

However, as much as digitization is important, the core of the business remains stationary

retailing at individual locations as well as the distribution business of the member goods.

In this context, Landgard deals with question such as

● How should cash & carry markets be structured in the future?

● Which selections, prices and services do we have to offer to the customers?

● How should the business model of specialist retailers be further developed in order

to ensure that Landgard specialist retailers are future-proof?

Like many other companies, Landgard eG is currently working intensively on the topics of

internationalization, sustainability, structural change in the industry and digitization with the

emphasis on stationary and digital sales. Digitalization creates completely new consumer

behaviour with the objective of doing shopping in the best-informed way and as comfortable

as possible. In the case of food, fruit and vegetables as well as flowers and plants, personal

sales, product contact and marketplace ideas still play the dominant role. To ensure that this

remains the case in future, Landgard eG must offer real added value and also address it in a

recipient-oriented manner. For doing this, digital components such as the WhatsApp service

of the Landgard Cash & Carry stores, the web-shops www.mylandgard.com and

www.webshop.bloomways.de as well as the image database Landgard Pictures

(www.landgard-pictures.com) are considered as suitable ways to address these issues. Hence,

the cooperative considers its digital future as a combination of stationary trade and online

trade growth including digital services - all in the interests of Landgard‟s customers and

member businesses.

http://www.mylandgard.com/

http://www.mylandgard.com/

http://www.webshop.bloomways.de/



http://www.landgard-pictures.com/



76

"Traditional and Natural" - How a Small Dairy Cooperative

Stands out in a Dairy Region

Partner organization: DGRV

Country: Germany

Cooperative Dairy Cooperative Grafschaft Hoya

Contact: Mr Heinrich Steinbeck

Position: Managing Director

Website: https://www.molkerei-grafschaft-hoya.de

Social: https://de-de.facebook.com/molkereigrafschafthoya/

The dairy cooperative Asendorf Grafschaft Hoya eG exclusively treats local milk and

produces high-quality dairy products such as different kinds of cheese, cream, butter,

yoghurt, curd etc. For the cooperative it is important that their products remain a natural

finish which is very welcome by the (local) consumers.

Traditional and local products with a natural finish are main characteristics of the dairy

cooperative. This is also reflected in their local context: The cooperative currently collects

milk from 75 regional milk producers. All the farms are located in a radius of about 30 km –

but most of them are even located in a radius of less than 8 km. The focus of the cooperative

is therefore exclusively regional. It is hence no surprise that the agricultural sector is one of

the main fields of work in the region. In general, agriculture including high-tech agricultural

workplaces in an idyllic rural environment well describes this area.

The cooperative has been founded as the registered dairy cooperative Asendorf eG in 1888 by

several farmers in the county Hoya in order to remain competitive in the region and to lower

its wholesale prices, production costs, logistic costs etc. At the moment, the cooperative

employs 33 full-time employees and 20 part-time employees as well as 4 full-time trainees.

Even though the formation as a dairy specialist in the Dairy Hoya is not very popular,

chances for a permanent employment are excellent.

https://de-de.facebook.com/molkereigrafschafthoya/



77

The Dairy County Hoya eG is a dairy with a long tradition and was founded already in 1888. Today, it remained as the county’s only small dairy still producing and has a particular regional focus.

The cooperative Grafschaft Hoya eG delivers its products in a radius of 50 km at most and is

in general a rather small dairy enterprise. Yet, the cooperative is satisfied and quite successful

with its size as, in contrast to the bigger, dominating dairies, it collects and treats regional

milk also in smaller sizes but which is characterised by an above-average quality. Their

figurehead is the regional orientation, the freshness and extraordinary high quality of the milk

and thus of all their products. The high quality increases the willingness of their customers to

pay an above-average price for the products.

The strength of the Grafschaft Hoya eG lies in its regional orientation for obtaining the milk

from its local suppliers (the dairy farmers) and for selling it to local consumers and

customers. The cooperative focuses on the production of high-quality milk and dairy products

leaving their customers satisfied and strengthening their retention.

Their hallmark, the freshness of their products, deriving from the fact that the daily delivered

milk is directly treated to products within 12 hours, however creates a disadvantage: while

being fresh on the one hand, the natural finish of all their products makes the products less

long-living on the other hand. That is a challenge the cooperative is continuously facing.

Though they want to stick to freshness and keep providing their customers with high quality

natural dairy products.



78

Managing Director Mr. Heinrich Steinbeck regularly welcomes visitor delegations from all over the world in the small dairy in order to explain the regional significance and potential also of small cooperatives.

The Asendorf Dairy County Hoya eG mainly produces high-quality and natural products. Even if the products are not durable for so long, they are very well received by the customers.



79

The cooperative collects milk from 75 regional milk producers. All the farms are located in a radius of 30 km at most. The cooperative thus has a particularly regional orientation.



80

Raiffeisenbanks eG in Germany – Banks for People,

the Community and the Region

Partner organization: DGRV

Country: Germany

Cooperative Raiffeisenbank Lorup eG

Contact: Mr Jürgen Schenzel

Position: Member of the Board of Directors

Website: https://www.raiffeisenbank-lorup.de/privatkunden.html

The Raiffeisenbank Lorup is a cooperative bank located in the small village Lorup in the

North-Western part of Germany, called Weser-Ems. The main business of the cooperative

bank are classical bank activities in the agricultural and forestry area (supporting activities

from companies in these areas, e.g. by giving loans and credits). More than one third of their

overall business activity is allotted to this section, followed by the private customer section

(19 %), the renewable energy section, including photovoltaic systems and wind energy

establishments (15 %) and the construction industry (12 %). The remaining 20% of the

bank‟s business activity are implemented in other, smaller sections. The cooperative bank is a

credit bank in a rural region. Lorup itself only has about 3,200 inhabitants. Hardly surprising,

the Raiffeisenbank is the only bank in Lorup and in the region and the local area and thus it

must be a general bank service provider for all applicable bank service operations.



81

The branch building of the Raiffeisenbank in Lorup. The town has about 3200 inhabitants and almost 1600 of them are members of the bank.

Originally, the bank was founded in 1900 during an economically difficult time. Due to this

precarious time, the inhabitants of Lorup came together and founded the bank commonly in

order to be able to conduct applying financial operations (commonly). As such and with a

focus on community based investments, the bank has a great acceptance in the region until

today. This is also reflected in the comparison of inhabitant and member / customer ratio: The

cooperative bank currently has about 1,570 members, 28 employees and almost 4,200

customers. Within the framework of its business activities, the bank counts 800 limited

partners.

Lorup and the local area was and still is a structurally weak region. Due to economically

difficult times for Lorup in 1900 – marked by low investments, no economic growth,



82

increasing poverty especially in the agricultural sector – the inhabitants of Lorup joined

together and formed the Raiffeisenbank Lorup. The main idea of the founding members was

that all members pay a share part which then serves as basis for the bank to generate

“income“. In doing so, the bank would now be able to provide loans with low interest rates to

their customers and members. With these cheap loans, the customers (members) of the bank

could conduct investments, propel their business, generate income and thus overcome

poverty and finally achieve a contribution to the overall increase of economic and social

development. Social development is an important aspect as the organisation in the form of a

cooperative bank usually augments the social cohesion and community feeling – and this also

happened in Lorup.

Member-, customer- and community- oriented products and services are thus an essential

component of the banks‟ policy. Moreover, the bank conducts ecological and social welfare

projects which help to improve the living conditions of the people in the structurally weak

region. This includes e.g. community investment projects in environmental projects from

which the members and the community as well as the climate profits. Prominent examples for

this are the Wind Energy Park projects which have been initiated and partly financed by the

bank. Beside the banks own capital reserves, all members and limited partners could invest

into these projects up until a maximum amount per person. The dividends generated by the

selling of the generated electricity are then distributed to all investors. These renewable

energy projects have turned out to be outstandingly successful and generated a lot of income

for the region and the people.

Regarding social welfare projects, the bank fosters social housing and barrier free living for

older and/or handicapped people by constructing suitable barrier-free apartments / houses.

Wishes for implementing such barrier-free living opportunities had been raised by the

municipality towards the bank before. In the following, the bank was both willing and able to

finance this project. A special advantage is that a care service is located in the apartments as

well. In case of need, older and handicapped people can fall back of the care services offered.



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These activities contribute to the great acceptance of the bank in Lorup and the local region.

In that way the bank “sells” its products and services and at the same time it is also its main

“marketing strategy”: focusing on social, community and ecological investments from which

the members, the inhabitants of Lorup and the region profit.

The small town Lorup has about 3,200 inhabitants. The Raiffeisenbank Lorup has almost

1,600 members and 4,175 customers. Even though their customers are also people living in

the surrounding area, the numbers indicate that basically all customers and members of the

bank are inhabitants of Lorup. The high customer number derives from the fact that the

Raiffeisenbank Lorup is, as mentioned above, the only bank in Lorup and its region plus the

people share a high regional identification, acceptance and community feeling with the

cooperative bank.

The Raiffeisenbank Lorup also built on its own account 14 barrier-free apartments in Lorup for older people with physical handicaps.

The Raiffeisenbank Lorup currently has around 800 limited partners. These partners are

mostly regional enterprises, SMEs, the municipality and renewable energy companies.

Having an increasing number of limited partners is the result of the banks‟ infrastructural

undertakings such as the renewable energy and barrier-free living projects.



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Communication is mainly done through classical bank communication approaches, meaning

direct bank to customer and bank to partner talks. Moreover, as it is a cooperative bank, there

is a general assembly one time per year for all members in which the latest numbers are told,

important decisions are taken together with the members and the board of directors is elected.

The banks sustainable business model is its regional focus with a clear community aspect as

well as the community investment in renewable energy projects. They enjoy great acceptance

in the region and generates – in the ideal case – income for every member. Yet, Lorup

remains a comparatively weak region structural wise. As long as investments e.g. in

renewable energies are done and the good community sense and community acceptance is

kept, the prospects for the cooperative bank and its members are good. However, the risk of a

lack of investments or a disruption of the community sense and acceptance remains and

provides one of the main risks to the bank.

Another risk / weakness are the increasing administrative and financial stipulations and the

increasingly complex banking law and regulations. For small, community focused banks like

the Raiffeisenbank Lorup, which do not generate massive amounts of income and rather aim

for self-preservation, this means a lot of additional work, knowledge, skills and time

investment, meaning money investment after all, in order to fulfil all the required regulations

and obligations. In fact, this tendency overall threatens the existence of small cooperative

banks like the one in Lorup in whole Germany. Moreover, in order to be able to conduct big

investments like the banks‟ renewable energy projects, small cooperative banks like Lorup

are dependent on the “Finanzverbund“ (Cooperative Financial Network). While the

cooperative financial network is a strong and reliable shield on which cooperative institutions

can fall back in case of need, the burden of high investments and payment of interests need to

be covered by the cooperative bank after all.

In sum, the Raiffeisenbank‟s main strengths are primarily the great acceptance in Lorup and

the local region. This goes hand in hand with a mutual trust – from the members towards the

bank and vice versa. Due to the cooperative financial network the bank is able to invest even



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in financially big projects, such as renewable energy projects as they can fall back on the

cooperative central bank, the DZ Bank, in contrast to conventional smaller banks. The DZ

Bank is able to support small cooperative banks with loans, planning and management.

Therefore, the bank is able to conduct its diverse projects – e.g. the Wind Energy Parks and

social housing / barrier-free living – which support the community, the municipality through

community trade taxes for example and which strengthen the customer loyalty after all.

Together with its members and limited partners, the Raiffeisen-bank invested in a renewable energy project and did set up wind energy plants from which both the nature and the members profit.

Yet, the bank sees also several challenges and goals for the future. The main objectives of

Raiffeisenbank Lorup are to continue generating a sustainable return for the region and its

inhabitants with the new Wind Energy Park in accordance with the banks„ principle

“promised and kept“. The bank hopes for a continuing high public participation and

membership as well as client base and wants to continue or even expand their business and

social welfare projects in order to further foster the region. Due to the projects, the



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municipality is profiting as well by receiving a stable trade tax payment. Such money can

then be reinvested into the town and the region.

However, the bank is confronted with severe challenges, too. Although the projects are

promising and gain both financial and social profit, there is still a certain dependency on

investments from outside the region, partly by the cooperative financial network, partly by

private investors. This dependency shall be reduced in the sooner future. Moreover and as

indicated above, since the last financial crisis in 2008/2009, there is an overall tendency in

Europe to increase the banking business regulation requirements and obligations. Although

such increased obligations are aiming at a future prevention of a new financial crisis, smaller

banks are struggling heavily with fulfilling the requirements due to limited capacities. Hence,

the Raiffeisenbank Lorup considers this as another main challenge for the years ahead.



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In the Beginning was an Apple - How Fresh and Delicious

Products from Germany's Vegetable Island Cooperative

Conquered the Region

Partner organization: DGRV – German Cooperative and Raiffeisen

Confederation

Country: Germany

Cooperative Vegetables Reichenau

Contact: Mr Johannes Bliestle

Position: Managing Director

Website: www.reichenaugemuese.de

The island Reichenau is known in Germany as the “Vegetable Island”. The main reason for

the islands‟ famous brand name is the Reichenau Gemüse eG, a vegetable growing co-

operative. The cooperative takes care of the distribution of vegetable products from the

member producers. For this purpose, it maintains a modern marketing facility with

greenhouses and cooling chambers. The cooperative bundles the offer and carries out all

marketing activities. In addition, it maintains its own irrigation system. Hereby, it supplies

the members with sufficient and high-quality irrigation water from the Lake Constance.

It is thus today a modernly structured and well established cooperative in Germany.

However, the cooperative only has a decently long tradition compared to other well

established cooperatives. In fact, the cooperative "Reichenau Gemüse eG" was not yet

officially founded until 1956. Yet, the vegetable trade with products from the island

Reichenau was already organised before through the local Raiffeisen warehouse. This trading

through the Raiffeisen warehouse was established at the end of the 19th

century and has now

existed for more than 120 years. The region where the cooperative is located in is nowadays

one of the most important economic regions in Germany and of high importance in the

federal state Baden-Württemberg. In addition, vegetable cultivation has a positive impact on

the second most important local industry: tourism. The cooperative is an employer and also

supports local clubs and institutions financially and ideologically.

http://www.reichenaugemuese.de/



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The island Reichenau is surrounded by the Lake Constance in the very south of Germany. It is known as the “Vegetable Island” of Germany due to its famous high quality vegetable and fruit products grown and marketed by the Reichenau Vegetable Cooperative eG.

Raiffeisen‟s classical principle of “Help for self-help” was the main reason why the first

members decided to join together and to establish the cooperative. The reason for this was

and still is today the fact that the business organisations are very small on the island

Reichenau. By bundling the offer, the members/producers wanted to be even more interesting

for potential customers. The customers seek high quality products and a continuity of supply

– and the cooperative established itself over the years as a reliable partner which is able to



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fulfil this demand. Due to the ongoing concentration on the sales side, this basic issue of

being more and more interesting for potential customers and fulfilling the retail markets‟

demands has not changed until today – and at the same time, the demands of the retail market

became much more challenging so that a single farmer is less and less able to fulfil them

alone.

The cooperative Reichenau vegetable eG primarily supplies the food retail sector and specialised wholesale trade with its fresh products. But also marketers, retailers and local restaurants are its customers. Close and long-term customer relationships are the cooperative’s main marketing strategy.

The classic customers of the Reichenau cooperative are today primarily partners from the

food retail sector and specialized wholesale trade. But the cooperative also supplies

marketers, retailers and local restaurants. Some of the contacts grew over time, some came



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from customer inquiries and others arose from acquisitions. In fact, the cooperative was able

to establish close customer contacts over time and sales are based on long-term customer

relationships.

This was and still is today the main marketing strategy of the cooperative. As a result, the

wishes and requirements of the customers are optimally implemented and the cultivation is

purposefully controlled. Of course, the cooperative also offers different consulting services.

In addition, it also cooperates with universities and research institutions. In cooperation with

the University of Konstanz for example, a sustainability report was recently compiled in

accordance with the G4 standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Today, the cooperative has about 80 employees and 200 members. Yet only 75 members are

in fact active members. The other members are former vegetable gardeners who do not

actively participate in the cooperative proceedings anymore. Besides a decreasing active

participation of its members, the cooperative also struggles with other challenges. As it is an

island, the surface which can be used for agriculture on Reichenau is limited. In general, the

area is already packed with agricultural infrastructure and there is not much space left for

expansion. This automatically leads to the fact, that there are primarily small structures

available.

Partly this goes hand in hand with a lack of development opportunities for the farms on the

Reichenau Island. Due to the small structure build-up and the lack of surface to be used for

agricultural purposes, also the development options for each single farmer is limited.

Another main challenge which will accompany the cooperative in the next decades is the age

structure of its members. There is a general tendency in German agriculture for the farmers to

become older and business successors are either missing or the chances for their

establishments are missed. Working in the agricultural sector became less attractive in the

past decades and thus young people and children of farmers pursued their career elsewhere

and in other economic sectors. This is a general trend in agriculture which is rather increasing

then decreasing.



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The cooperative thus puts a lot of effort in counteractions to these developments. In doing so,

the cooperative continues to continually identify and align its strategic direction and to

exploit its strengths. The cooperative benefits a lot from its good networking on the vegetable

market, long-term customer relationships and its image and brand awareness, not only in the

region but in whole Germany. In this context, it also pays off for the cooperative that the

members constantly reinvested into the cooperatives and built up well-known modern

marketing facilities and an organisation which is able to fulfil the challenging demands of the

food retail sector. Additionally, the cooperative can rely upon its well-trained and motivated

employees who constantly seek to further develop the cooperative.

Working in the agricultural sector became less attractive over the last decades in Germany – yet, the Reichenau vegetable cooperative has one of the most modern marketing facilities and constantly aligns its strategic direction in accordance with the markets’ demands. This is its key to success!



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ANNEX I: BEST PRACTISE BOOK - Case study Template

BEST PRACTISE BOOK Case Study Template

Partner organization Country

Cooperative Contact Position Website Social

The main business activities of the cooperative

The local context

When and why they decided to be a Co-operative?

How many members do they have?



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How many people are employed in the cooperative?

What was a very important problem they tried to solve?

How do they sell their products or services? What is their marketing strategy? Do they get any consultancy?

Who are their customers and partners? How have they established the relations and communication channels with these stakeholders?

How does the cooperative maintain the sustainability? What is the business model?

What are the main weaknesses?

What are the main co-operative's strengths?



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Do they make a difference in their community and in what way?

What are their main goals? And the challenges for the future? Please, add pictures and further material or documentation that can be useful to describe the best practise.

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