Monitor will provide a knowledge platform for the Blueprint

26 Jun 2013

The World Co-operative Monitor will help to provide a knowledge platform for the Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade, says Gianluca Salvatori, CEO of the European Research Institute on Cooperative (EURICSE).

The Monitor is based on a survey designed by the International Co-operative Alliance in association with EURICSE. And both organisations are calling for all co-operatives, no matter the size, to participate in the survey since it is no longer just about ranking the largest 300 co-operatives. The Monitor requires help from co-operatives in order to increase the knowledge on the size of the movement and the social and economic impact, which is a key aim of the Blueprint.

“I do see a strong interaction between the different goals designed by the Blueprint and the information coming from the database that we are creating through the Monitor,” he said.

According to Mr Salvatori, the survey was created to provide an accurate view of the co-operative sector as well as to address some of the existing misconceptions regarding co-operative enterprises. “The lack of information is the biggest obstacle that prevents co-operative development,” he said.

The CEO of EURICSE explained that without a good knowledge of the co-op sector based on accurate data, the movement will lack visibility within the business world, policy makers and the public.

“If we do not have the right comprehension of the co-op movement it is difficult to make any strategic planning for the future,” added Mr Salvatori.

The CEO of EURICSE referred to last year’s study as an “exploratory” one. The database included information on 2,800 co-ops from more than 80 countries. However, the study was focused on monitoring the economic impact of the sector. This year EURICSE also wants to assess the social dimension of the movement.

“We need to understand how to measure the social impact, so we are asking co-operatives to tell us how they measure the impact of their co-op on society,” explained Mr Salvatori.

Although the Monitor does not currently include data on co-operative legislation, Mr Salvatori says that EURICSE is considering including new criteria of assessing the impact of the movement in the coming years.

Co-ops will have a big role to play in this process, as EURICSE will choose the appropriate way of presenting the data through different ranking, depending on the amount of data received from the co-ops across the world.

EURICSE is also planning to assess the Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade through a series of articles on its goal. The articles will be published on stories.coop, one of the International Co-operative Alliance's flagship projects developed in partnership with EURICSE.

• Co-ops have until the end of August to complete the online questionnaire available online at www.euricse.eu/en/worldcooperativemonitor. The results will be presented at the International Co-operative Alliance's General Assembly in Cape Town this November.