International Co-operative Alliance: “

uniting, representing and serving co-operatives worldwide”

ICA Digest 68

Issue 68

January 2010

Inside this issue:

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Editor’s desk 2

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Latest news 2

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D-G’s report 3

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GA 2009:Climate & energy 4-5

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GA 2009:ICA Presidency & Awards6-7

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GA 2009:Other meetings8-9

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GA 2009:Other meetings10

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Sustainability 11

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Building Knowledge12

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ICA People 13

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Member News 14

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New Members 14-15

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Calendar 16

Editor:María Elena ChávezHertigchavez@ica.coop Associate Editors:Melina MorrisonSuzanne HendersonBarbara Cameron-Smithwww.ica.coop

ICA’s historic General Assembly

he historic election, of Dame Pauline Green of the United Kingdom to theICA Presidency for a four-year term, is a landmark event for the ICA and marksa turning point in genderrelations for the co-operative movement.Dame Pauline is the firstwoman to lead the global co-operative organisation sinceits inception almost 115years ago. She wasunanimously elected to theposition by the 2009 ICAGeneral Assembly on 20November at the GenevaInternational ConferenceCentre in Geneva,Switzerland.Almost 800 delegates fromall sectors and regions of theglobe participated in thebiennial Assembly, with thetheme

Global Crisis-Co-operative Opportunity

.Continuing its history of defining statementscommitting the co-operativemovement to decisive actionon pressing global issues, theAssembly adopted fiveresolutions concerning theeconomic crisis, sustainableenergy, climate change,peace and nucleardisarmament.Highlights of the two-dayAssembly included a movinghomage to the late, formerICA President, IvanoBarberini, and an inspiringkeynote address by worldrenowned economist,Professor Jeremy Rifkin. Hecalled on co-operatives to bethe key players in a newdistributed, renewableenergy market.

Turn to page 4 for a full report from the General Assembly and related meetings and events.

The United Nations 64thGeneral Assembly in itsmeeting on 18 December2009 proclaimed 2012 asInternational Year of Co-operatives.“The International Year of Co-operatives is a well timedevent that represents thedepth of understanding of the entire co-operativemovement,” said PaulineGreen, ICA President. Itrecognises the pivotal roleco-operatives play globally insupporting sustainabledevelopment.Iain Macdonald, Director-General of ICA, alsoindicated that theInternational Year of Co-operatives will “remind theworld that there is morethan one way of doingbusiness and that in a globaleconomy we all have towork together. Whether it isin tackling the economiccrisis, the threat of climatechange, or food securityissues, co-operativeenterprise offers real hopeof solutions to theseproblems, and I have nodoubt that the increasedprofile offered by anInternational Year willachieve great things.”The ICA has already initiatedconsultations with theUnited Nations and theInternational Labour Office(ILO) regarding the planningfor the Year. Read the pressreleases of the ICA, the ILOand the UN atwww.ica.coop

UN proclaims 2012 International Year of Co-operativesHappy New Year!

The ICA would like to wish all our readers a happy festive season and a prosperous New Year.We look forward to bringing you more co-operative news in 2010

International Co-operative Alliance: “

uniting, representing and serving co-operatives worldwide”

From the Editor’s desk

Page 2 ICA Digest 68

Maria-Elena Chavez Hertig, ICA Deputy Director-General

Latest news

This issue of the Digest ends2009 with a report on theimportant ICA GeneralAssembly, the historic elec-tion of the first womanpresident, resolutions onenergy sustainability, climatechange, co-operative resil-ience, peace and nucleardisarmament; reporting onthe new phase of restructur-ing—sectoralisation– as wellas reports on the manyevents organised by the ICAsectoral organisations andthematic committees.reconstruction. ICA hasmade an appeal tomembers for funds to help inrebuilding the co-operativemovement and is alreadyworking with its develop-ment partners to plan itsassistance to the Haitian Co-operative Movement.2010 will also bring changesto the management of ICAcentrally and at the regionallevel. There will be much toreport in the comingmonths. We look forward toyour readership and input.We start the year with goodnews—the proclamation of 2012 as International Year of Co-operatives—and moreproof of co-operativeresilience.However, we also start theyear with another devastat-ing setback for co-operatorsin Haiti after the 7.0 magni-tude earthquake. ICA hasmobilised co-operative soli-darity and, once again, co-operatives are contributingto emergency relief and arepreparing for the long-term

Co-operatives moving up the 250 Top Retailers List

he Deloitte report,

Global Powers of Retailing 2010: Emerging from thedownturn

shows that co-operative retailers have faredbetter than their rivals mov-ing up the retailers’ lists ascompared to 2009.The report notes, “2009 hascome to a close and all onecan say is good riddance. Itwas the worst year of eco-nomic performance in recentmemory and began on theheels of a near breakdown of the financial sector”. Yet co-operative retailers reportedbetween 4.2 and 12.1%growth in retail sales.The 2010 ranking alsoincludes three new entriesfrom the co-operative move-ment—FDB (Denmark), KF(Sweden) and CoopNorway. They replace theCoop Norden which waslisted as 64 in the 2009report.

2010Rank 2009Rank Name Country

11 12 Rewe-Zentral Germany19 19 Edeka Zentral Germany40 58Migros GenossenschaftsBundSwitzerland52 69 Coop Switzerland Switzerland68 81 S-Group Finland76 90 Eroski Group Spain83 94 Co-operative Group Ltd UK121 - FDB Denmark 154 - KF Group Sweden172 - Coop Norge A/S Norway

See full report at:

www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Global/Local%20Assets/Documents/Consumer%20Business/dtt_globalpowersofretailing2010.pdf

.The report notes retailers inlarge developed markets willneed to offer consumers afavourable value proposition.They will need to be clearlydifferentiated fromcompetitors and focus ontheir brand management toconvey their valueproposition.This clearly presents oppor-tunities for makingconsumers more aware of the co-operative difference.It can constitute a seriousmarket advantage.The Deloitte ranking isbased on group revenue andretail sales in 2008.

ICA calls for assistance for co-operatives in Haiti

ICA is calling on members and partners to provide emergency relief and re-construction assistance to co-operators in Haiti following the devastatingearthquake on 12 January 2010. Seewww.ica.coop/activities/haiti Comments onthe Digestwelcome at

chavez@ica.coop

International Co-operative Alliance: “

uniting, representing and serving co-operatives worldwide”

Page 3ICA Digest 68

DG’s Report

s far as I can see, ourGeneral Assembly heldlast November was deemeda success. I have a tendencyto judge these things by thenumber of complaints Ireceive, and this time therewere very few! Indeed Ireceived many positiveremarks about the venue andspeakers, and this wasreflected in our evaluationsheets. All the morepleasing, as originally this GAwas meant to be in Glasgow,and we had a difficult task toensure it took place at all.I would particularly like tothank our sponsors from theUK, Canada, Italy, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore,Russia, China, Sweden,Finland and, of course,DotCoop, who ensured thatthe lack of a hostorganisation did not diminishthe end result.Our Keynote Speaker,Professor Jeremy Rifkin, gavean inspirational addressleading us to pass resolutionson energy needs, economicresilience and the threat of climate change, as well as onworld peace. Indeed theUnited Nations ClimateChange Conference inCopenhagen meets as Iwrite, and hopefully they willgive serious consideration tothe strength of ourmovement and our views onhow to tackle climatechange.We were also very pleasedthat Juan Somavia, Director-General of the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO)came to our gala dinner topresent the Rochdale Award,posthumously, to IvanoBarberini—accepted onIvano’s behalf by his wife,Nerina, and daughter, Silvia.Of course Ivano was much inpeople’s thoughts during theweek, but I think we did him justice, and his book,

How the Bumblebee Flies,

was wellreceived by all.Ivano would also have beendelighted at the election of our first woman President,Dame Pauline Green. This istruly a landmark for ICA andbodes well for our future.The Board counts fourwomen members which ispositive, but is still short of our 33% target. It ishowever, embellished by anumber of new and,generally speaking, youngermembers. These young,future leaders are seriouslyinfluential in their ownorganisations, which isessential for the increasingprofile of the internationalco-operative movement.And, our profile shouldreceive a huge boost at theend of this year, with theannouncement that 2012 willbe the United NationsInternational Year of Co-operatives. Thank you to allour members who havesuccessfully called on theirgovernments to support thismove. We are advised thatthe UN has rarely seen sucha groundswell of support forthe declaration of aninternational year. It is nowup to us to exploit thistremendous opportunity thatwe are being given.Much of 2010 will be takenup with planning for theInternational Year, and allinvolved in the ICA, whetherin Geneva, or in our regionsand sectors, will have this astheir priority.The next General Assemblyin Mexico in 2011 will be agreat launching pad for theInternational Year of Co-operatives. So, 2010 is goingto be an important year forus all. My very best wishesto you all.

Iain Macdonald

Iain Macdonald ICA Director-General

Director-General’s report

ICA Digest 68

ICA seeks candidates for Director-General

CA has officially advertisedthe post of Director-General following theBoard’s acceptance of theresignation of currentincumbent, Iain Macdonald.As announced in Digest 66,Mr Macdonald said he wouldstand down in the course of 2010 after seven,“immensely satisfying andrewarding years” as Direc-tor-General of the ICA.The firm,

Global Recruitment Specialists

, has beenappointed to oversee theprocess.The preferred start date forthe position is May 2010.Applications are beingaccepted until 8 March 2010with interviews commencingin April 2010.Applicants should e-mail acovering letter addressinghow their skills andexperience meet the needsof the position and the ICAorganisation, together withtheir CV to Mr Patrick Shields, Search Manager,

Global Recruitment Specialists

, e-mail:

shields@globalrecruitment.net

Full position requirementsare available from the ICAwebsite:

www.ica.coop/ica/vacancies.html

Iain Macdonald address-ing the ICA General Assembly 2009 inGeneva