Opening remarks – David Shanks

ICCIC-CCA “Cooperatives Reducing Poverty in Rural China Project”

Results-Sharing and Practice-Exchanging Conference

Ladies and gentlemen.

 I must tell you that I am honoured to be here among such an esteemed group of co-operative thinkers and practitioners. I bring warm greetings from Dave Sitaram, President of the Canadian Co-operative Association, to each and every one of you who have taken the time and interest to gather here at the CASS campus this weekend to mark the conclusion of a timely project – a co-operative experiment really, a modest initiative to push the standard of co-operative organization in China to a new level.

So. Here we are. Standing together nearly 70 years to the day of the founding of the Gung Ho movement, and witness to the  very early days of China’s new post Millennium era of co-operative development.  It is an exciting time. For who among us would have thought just 10 years ago that we would be witness to the registration in law of tens of thousands of local, farmer owned and led co-operative enterprises?  I would be remiss in not also saying that, for co-op developers, it is also a time of apprehension.  After all, as with all such social developments, who among us knows what imprint these coops will leave in their communities?  However, I do believe that with this small but ambitious project, Gung Ho co-operatives have produced something of timely value to China’s rapidly expanding co-operative sector. Your collaboration with CASS RDI and so many other organizations assures that the lessons learned on this project will be heard by policy and decision makers as they continue to recalibrate the co-operative program in the months and years ahead.

Four years ago, Gung Ho and CCA conceived the idea of promoting pilot co-operatives to demonstrate the look and feel of self-directed co-operative development. We devised some basic criteria with which to select candidate co-operatives for the experiment. We chose three rural co-operatives in three different provinces, each at different stages of growth, and producing different products – oranges in Sichuan, barley in Gansu, and traditional crafts in Saanxi. Over the course of time, the leaders and members of these co-ops were to hold a mirror up to themselves at regular intervals to take a long, hard look at how they were doing: their Vision, their Governance and Member Engagement, their Management Capacity and Business Development, and their Financial Management

They would set about to locate resources to help them strengthen areas in need of improvement and to further develop those areas where they were doing well. They would do this in a way that encouraged men and women to share equally in the benefits of the co-operative, and in ways that enhanced their physical environment (did not deplete the environment).

For three years, the mirror they held up before them was the Development Assessment Ladder, a tool designed by and with co-operative enterprises in mind.  A tool based on standards and definitions of co-operative enterprise as outlined in the International Co-operative Identity Statement and representing the main features of a healthy co-operative enterprise as a means of social and economic development. 

Project staff and others were trained in using the DLA. Along the way the tool was translated and later localized to be more relevant to local farmers.

The co-ops came together at intervals to observe each other’s experiences and to share ideas and approaches.

Are the co-operatives in a better place now? What lessons have we learned that can inform development efforts underway in other parts of China? What unmet needs did our work uncover?

Along the way the farmers co-operative law was drafted and enacted. And one year later it was reviewed.  Some of the drafters of that law are with us today.

To me, the value of this project lies in the kernels of insight we discover and apply to our work as policymakers, co-op promoters and stakeholders to enable more and more ordinary people to work together for better lives and livelihoods.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the leaders and members of Shandan Shilipu Barley; Sichuan Qingjian Fruit, and  Shanxi Qianyang Xinxing Handicraft co-operatives for your participation and commitment to the goals of this project.  I am truly eager to hear what you have to say today.

I don’t want to delay our discussion for one minute further. I will end these remarks by wishing all of us a productive day of discussion, and by sharing a few words from a co-op visionary I -- and others among us -- have admired for many years. I would like to believe that our work to strengthen co-ops using tools like the DLA answers, in part, his call to action – that the work we have done these past three years will play a small part in realizing his dream for a vibrant rural economy in China aided by co-operative organization.

“High buildings are not all. The people must be brought together to create new wealth.”

The type of people with the necessary capacity and ability to go forward in almost any line exists abundantly in the village, simply needing capital and leadership on the scientific side. Science that embraces both organization and technique. P. 18,

The co-operative starts out in its working life as a small unit composed of a group of people who are interested in the idea and want to make it work. It needs thoughtful practical promoters to begin with, to help it to solve the many problems any new organization must face. They would need to be special classes to train such promoters, and also the accountants so essential to every production group. P. 44.Feb. 5, 1986.

In the first instance after setting up the co-operative, there will be many difficulties to surmount. Sometimes it becomes hard to get legal status to operate. Then there are the difficulties of housing, raw materials, marketing and supply.  As the group surmounts these so will mutual confidence and understanding grow, as well as the strength to meet newer problems. P39 Nov 17, 1984.

Rewi Alley’s words are prophetic. The fundamentals of co-operative organization haven’t changed that much in 70 years.  In the DLA, Gung Ho has fashioned a new tool to aid co-operative development and strengthening. Congratulations!