| Newsletter 16 - December 2003 | |
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Contents in this issue
Seasons Greetings from ACCORD
ACCORD started the year on a high note. A number of key studies were completed. These reports will add considerably to the public knowledge about co-operatives and more broadly the social economy in Australia. We also expanded our client base and laid groundwork for several new commissioned research projects. These are the signs of a healthy maturing organisation, with an increasing public research profile and capacity. http://www.accord.org.au/about/index.html It is not, however, a time to become complacent. Co-operatives, mutuals and the broader social economy remain relatively unknown or ignored in Australia. This ‘knowledge-gap’ is also evident in a number of comparable countries. Our challenge is to reflect on the experience in these countries and to learn the lessons for Australia. The social economy has a key role in the age of globalisation. But, its promotion needs to be grounded in an understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. In future, ACCORD will be seeking to play a larger public role. It will be drawing on our increasingly wide-ranging research to contribute to the public debate about social and economic issues in this country. To find a space in the public disclosure for the social economy; to take the theory and help put it into practice; to raise awareness by publicising outstanding co-operative achievements nationally and internationally; and to expand our engagement with government and the social economy generally. This is our task over the next few years. Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all our friends and supporters. Uri Windt, Chair of ACCORD A House of Cardboard
Adriano Pupilli, Honours architectural student at the University of Sydney, recently presented a full-size model of two 2-storey bays of the Armacel House. This is an experimental prototype for a very low-cost, self-help, five-bedroom reinforced cardboard building sponsored by the Armacel Technology Group. During the coming 2004 International Year of the Built Environment, the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Centre hopes to attract further sponsors to erect the full house for occupation by Adriano and student colleagues in a prominent place to highlight the need for innovative, environmentally responsible, low-cost housing. After two years of live-in testing it is proposed to promote the model under the banner of CRASH, Sydney. The Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Centre was established in the University of Sydney in 1966. It is funded by the estate of the late Ian Buchan Fell, who graduated in Architecture at Sydney University in 1929 and died in 1961. The Centre was generally, but not exclusively, established for the purpose of research into aspects of social housing. The research possibilities in the housing field are vast and the Centre has conducted a variety of projects, organised seminars and conferences and produced publications, which include a biennial directory of Australian housing research. The Director, Colin James AM, is a senior lecturer in Architecture at Sydney University. He is a member of various housing advisory committees, and has previously been seconded to State and Commonwealth departments to work on housing matters. "Architecture is available to those that can afford it. Those that cant, often have little choice but to live in marginal housing... prescribed design, one size fits all, such as public or project housing or no shelter at all. From my Philippines squatting experience I have learnt that self-help shelter is a vital and constructive form of shelter that provides choice, allowing the common person on a below average income to design and build a home appropriate to their needs, budget and lifestyle. The paper house may be a local response." CRASH - Sydney
A major research project of the I B Fell Housing Research Centre is CRASH – Sydney (Construction Industry Relief and Assistance for Sydney’s Homeless). It was launched by Andrew Cappie-Wood, convenor of the NSW Inter-government Task Force on Homelessness, on 8 October 2002. CRASH - Sydney seeks to engage the private sector property industry in supporting homeless persons with medium-term shelter in vacant buildings in Sydney city, http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/nwfa/research/crashweb.pdf. The initial pilot projects will work with groups of 18-25 year old homeless persons without medical support needs, to incorporate, to take up no-cost property leaseholds and to undertake caretaker training, while fitting out their own spaces with assistance from architects and builders. The model was developed from a London precedent, CRASH (UK) and the Sydney Housing Action Collective’s recent occupation of vacant buildings in Broadway, Sydney. It has been directly assisted by the UTS Community Law and Legal Research Centre and ESTP (Empty Spaces, Temporary Places).
Older - and ActiveOlder people are far from being just passive beneficiaries of rural social enterprise. In contrast, the volunteer management committees of rural social enterprises frequently draw on the skills, knowledge and experience of older residents. A high percentage of self-employed people in rural areas are aged over 50, often forming lifestyle businesses of their own in preference to urban employment. A new research project recently launched by the Plunkett Foundation and PRIME (a national organisation which helps older people set up businesses) will study these interrelated phenomena, which are believed to distinguish rural social enterprises from their urban counterparts. The Plunkett Foundation is currently identifying a representative sample of 12 rural social enterprises, which are to form the basis of field research. The full version of this article is featured on our website - Old, Wise and Active - and is the printed edition of New Sector issue 58. New Sector, http://www.newsector.co.uk/, is the magazine of workers' co-operatives and community-owned businesses in the UK, and tries to establish world-wide links with others involved in local economic development work. It is published by a joint venture company on behalf of The Co-operative Union (ICOM section), Community Business Scotland Network (CBS Network) the Wales Co-operative Centre, Social Economy Agency Northern Ireland and the Plunkett Foundation. News in briefCo-operative kudosSarah Louise Taylor reports on UK social enterprise awards. This year’s Enterprising Solutions 2003 awards on 28 October, celebrated the best social and community enterprises in the UK. Supported by the DTI, NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland. the awards are open to UK-based social enterprises regardless of their legal structure. Two of the five winners were co-operative businesses. (UK government minister comments on the use of the words 'social enterprise' and 'co-operative' - page 22, http://www.newsector.co.uk/articles/59awards.htm). Youth to play larger role in international cooperative movementIn a historic move the International Co-operative Alliance has for the first time formally invited a youth representative to participate in ICA Board meetings. The new Youth Network representative is Jo Bibby Scullion from the United Kingdom. Jo is a first year student at Edinburgh University. She was particularly impressed by the opportunities to work with the ICA in its development and anti-poverty programmes. More information is available on the ICA website at http://www.ica.coop/ica/pressreleases/youth-2003.pdf. ICA President asks FAO to reverse budget cut decision.ICA President, Ivano Barberini has called on the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to reconsider proposed budget cuts to its co-operative programmes in 2004-2005. "Such cuts will have the effect of virtually closing down the FAO’s Co-operatives and Rural Organisation unit by the end of 2004", said Barberini. More information is available on the ICA website at http://www.ica.coop/ica/pressreleases/fao-cuts.pdf. Whats onEvents Overseas19 January, 2004 February 2004 31 March 2004 1-2 April 2004 23-24 April 2004 8-10 July 2004: (IAFEP 2004) 23-24 September 2004 3rd quarter 2004 19-21 September 2005 22-23 September 2005 AnnouncementsACCORD launches CDFI report
Australia lacks specialist finance intermediaries that can channel finance into disadvantaged regional and metropolitan communities according to a new report on community finance institutions. Launching the report, Research Fellow in the Australian Centre for Co-operative Research and Development (ACCORD), Kathryn Parker, said that specialist financial intermediaries are essential to create strong opportunities for business growth and employment, and to rejuvenate local economies. Written by Parker and Professor of Social Economy at the University of Technology, Sydney, Mark Lyons, the ACCORD-published report, Community Development Finance Institutions: Evidence from Overseas and Australia, www.accord.org.au/publications/ highlights the growth in most OECD countries of community development finance institutions, or CDFIs. "CDFIs are specialist institutions that raise funds for investment in community-owned and small business enterprises, in a similar way to venture capital investing and business mentoring," Parker said. "The only institutions in Australia that have some features of CDFIs are a small number of credit unions, friendly societies, foundations and regional development funds and these are hampered by an array of legal and regulatory requirements."The full press release is available on the website.
New Zealand GoldMonash University 2003 Agribusiness Co-operative Leaders Awards The Sir John Monash Gold Medal Award for Agribusiness Co-operative Directors and the Australasian Agribusiness Co-operatives’ Hall of Honour this year were awarded to outstanding co-operative leaders in New Zealand. Monash University has developed two categories of awards to recognise Australasian Agribusiness Co-operative Leaders: The University publicises the Awards, and co-ordinates the presentation ceremony. An Australasia-wide judging panel selects winners. The Sir John Monash Gold Medal Award for 2003 was presented to Peter Jensen, Chairman FMG, immediately retired Chairman of Ballance Agri-Nutrients Co-operative, and director of other co-operative businesses. Three inductions were made into the Hall of Honour. First inductee: Brian Kennedy Cameron, the founding chairman and leader for seventeen years of the NZ Co-operatives Association. Second inductee: John Desmond O’Connor, a director of Westland Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd. Third inductee: David William Ritchie, chairman of directors of Farmlands Trading Society Ltd. Read the full article - New Zealander co-operators scope the pool - on the website. We welcome your comments on our newsletter and any suggested topics or items for inclusion in the next issue, due for publication in January. If you have any items of interest please ensure that these are forwarded to suzanne.henderson@uts.edu.au by 18th January 2004. To refer a friend or to unsubscribe, please e-mail: accord@uts.edu.au. All contact information provided will be kept strictly confidential. |
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