ACCORD NEWS
Number Four (03/2002)

Spotlight on ACCORD

Welcome to the fourth edition of ACCORD News. In this edition we feature some interesting co-operative developments in the health and medical fields in Australia and overseas. These initiatives show how collective action benefits those involved and flows on to the wider community.

On 11 April, ACCORD will host the first of a series of seminars for 2002. Titled, Co-operative Initiatives to Strengthen Rural Communities, the seminar will draw on the work of leading co-operative researchers, Dr Jo Barraket and Dr Gary Lewis. The seminar is relevant to anyone involved, or interested in rural economic and social development. Please see ACCORD Events for a copy of the program, and how to register.

ACCORD news is published online every six weeks. The next issue is due on 7 May. If you would like us to announce your event, or if you have an interesting story to tell, please forward the details to us as soon as possible.

1. World-wide interest in community development finance institutions
2. Call for flexibility in forming trading co-operatives
3. Health co-operatives: a viable solution in health service delivery?
4. Australian doctors embrace the co-operative culture
5. ACCORD regional seminar on 11 April 2002
6. Community co-ops - a model for rural community revitalisation
7. Are worker co-ops good for your health?
8. ACCORD to partner University of Saskatchewan's Co-operatives Centre in a major study
9. Accountancy firms should become not-for profit-mutuals
10. Maleny Community Capital Conference
11. New title to be released soon

Public Policy

1. World-wide interest in community development finance institutions

Governments world-wide are interested in finding new ways to ensure disadvantaged communities and regional areas have access to adequate forms of finance and business services. In many cases, the market has failed to deliver these essential services. Lack of access to commercial financial services, appropriate business advice, loans and venture capital restricts local economic growth, employment and investment.

Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) have begun to emerge world-wide as a response to this gap in the finance market. Some, such as those in the USA, have been encouraged to develop as a result of supportive legislative and regulatory environments, provided by the 1977 Community Re-investment Act.

Other CDFIs operating in the UK, and to a much lesser extent in Australia, have had a patchy development. Indeed, the UK Government recently renewed its interest in the role of CDFIs through the Social Investment Task Force (SITF). The task force reported to Treasury in October 2000 on the ways in which the government could revive under-invested communities by creating economic growth and employment. For instance, Treasury is considering the establishment of a community investment tax credit for CDFIs that allows for investment in both profit, and non-profit enterprises.

CDFI's can take a variety of legal or organisational forms and operate under a diversity of regulatory regimes. ACCORD has recently begun research to review the institutional settings, history and operation of CDFI's internationally, and the gaps in the Australian community finance market.

If you are interested in obtaining information or contributing further to ACCORD's CDFI research project, please contact Kathryn Parker kathryn.parker@uts.edu.au

2. Call for flexibility in forming trading co-operatives

Associate Prof. Jenny Onyx, ACCORD board member and of School of Management, University of Technology, Sydney, has called for greater flexibility in the incorporation of co-operatives. Prof. Onyx indicated that amendments could be made to the Associations Incorporation Act 1984 (NSW) to facilitate the formation of small trading co-operatives.

Prof. Onyx said that, "the current Co-operatives Act makes it difficult for small trading co-operatives to be incorporated, particularly where those co-operatives are in the process of building membership and determining community or industry support for their proposed trading activities". The incorporation of these co-operatives under the Associations Act, would provide a fast and cost effective way of establishing these co-operatives, she said. Prof. Onyx was drawing on her experience in Sweden where she conducted research into the formation of community associations.

ACCORD is currently reviewing options to facilitate the registration of small trading co-operatives under the Associations legislation and the Co-operatives Act. For details, contact Peter Boland on (02) 9514 5750.

3. Health co-operatives: a viable solution in health service delivery?

"Recent news stories have told harrowing tales of people waiting months, and sometimes years, for elective surgery; of cancelled life-saving procedures because of hospital bed shortages and too few nurses; of the hardships experienced by people living in rural areas when doctors have withdrawn their services; of long waits in crowded emergency rooms; of worn-out equipment and not enough new equipment; and so on."

These are some of the concerns referred to in a paper by Kristen Sinats, titled Health Co-operatives: A Viable Solution to the Current Crisis in Health Service Delivery, published by the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies, University of Victoria, Canada. In her article, Sinats describes models of primary care co-operatives and community health centres. She also discusses the strategies needed to incorporate the co-operative approaches within the health care system.

The paper advocates the development of a legislative and financial framework to legitimise health co-operatives. It also points out the need for educating the public and "users" of the health system as to the benefits and disadvantages of the current and alternative models of health care.

The co-operative health model has yet to be seriously considered, as a practical option for health care delivery, by the majority of policy-makers and health delivery people in Australia. There are a few health co-operatives, the most widely known being the Yeoval Community Co-operative Hospital. To-date, however, the co-operative model has not been replicated widely. Governments in Australian are currently using a Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) model to deliver health services to small country towns. The MPS Program is aimed at providing flexible, viable aged and health care services.

To read more, please read our info-brief.

Co-operative Profile

4. Australian doctors embrace the co-operative culture

The Australian Medical Co-operative Ltd (AMCL) is one of Australia's newest, registered co-ops. In this article we see how collective action, sharing resources, equipment, knowledge and ideas, not only benefits the members, it flows on to the wider community.

The co-op was conceived to allow independent medical practitioners to share ownership of technologies and support services, normally beyond their individual capacity to access. "The challenge for the AMCL was to bring together competing, traditional local general practitioners in a common ownership situation," says Dr Joseph Nicholas, Chairman of AMCL.

"These practitioners have adopted the co-operative culture and demonstrate the sophistication required to manage the AMCL service centres in local regions, in collaboration with their colleagues," he says. Membership has now reached 300, with the majority in NSW.

AMCL's core business involves ownership and operation of regional allied health centres established to meet the therapeutic needs of patients of local general practitioners. The centres provide a wide range of therapeutic and support services including: physiotherapy, remedial massage, psychology, pain management, rehabilitation, and legal services. One of the strengths of the AMCL is that it allows general practitioners to retain control of patient management through close liaison with the therapy providers.  With the bargaining power of 300 doctors, the AMCL has been able to broker significant savings in the purchasing and running costs for its members.

The structure of governance of the AMCL has created a transparent and compliant environment in which each member has equal influence and ownership and can confidently participate. A minimum of 80% of members must be general practitioners with all significant decisions requiring at least 75% agreement. Final approval lies with the Co-operatives Registrar, which ensures all members' rights are protected.

The AMCL is fast becoming the model for the preservation of traditional general practice. "Involvement, transparency and confidence are the major drivers in recruiting new members", says Dr Nicholas. Membership is open to medical practitioners and other parties who may access the services of the health centres.

For information about the AMCL, e-mail Dr Joseph Nicholas at: docjoenich@hotmail.com.

ACCORD Events

5. ACCORD regional seminar on 11 April 2002

11 April 2002 at The Grange, Charles Sturt University, Panorama Avenue, Bathurst,
from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm.

The program for the seminar is as follows:

For further information and registration please contact Suzanne Henderson or Carolyn Smeaton on (02) 9514 5121 or e-mail accord@uts.edu.au

Co-operative Development

6. Community co-ops - a model for rural community revitalisation

Community co-operatives can be a mechanism for vitalisation of rural communities, according to a recent article on the Co-opBus E-mail list by Phyllis Winnington-Ingram.

Phyllis Winnington-Ingram, Principal of Winnington-Ingram & Associates, planning and community development consulting group, says that the community co-op alternative is both timely and effective. Phyllis Winnington-Ingram has developed and incorporated four community co-operatives and a number of innovative co-operative structures that meet specific community needs, one of which is the Ontario Energy Co-operative in Canada.

In her paper Winnington-Ingram outlines the revitalisation of the Muskoka District in Canada, where small communities had been left without a voice due to amalgamations of rural townships into municipalities. Villages and small communities had begun to look for options for gaining unity and self-reliance; influencing their future; and initiating and implementing economic development in their small rural areas. "The community co-operative model addresses these issues with people coming together to help themselves, " she says.

The community co-op formed partnerships with local agencies on various projects, which successfully brought the first community Internet site to Muskoka. It also undertook a pre-natal nutrition project titled, Great Beginnings, later adopted in five other communities, and established a Youth Drop-in Centre.

In contrast, community co-operative structures are rarely used in Australia, even when they would be appropriate community renewal models. One exception is Hunter Organics - Winter 2001, which focused on the development of Murrurundi, a small town with a declining population. Faced with a rather bleak outlook, the Murrurundi community decided to act by establishing a regional investment company with residents as the shareholders, to reverse the economic downturn.

To read more, visit our info-brief.

International Developments

7. Are worker co-ops good for your health?

At least one UK researcher believes they are!

Dr David Erdal's thesis is that people will flourish in more egalitarian communities, such as those with widespread employee ownership and increased numbers of worker co-operatives.

To test this thesis, Dr Erdal examined three towns in an area of northern Italy near Bologna: 26 % of the workforce in one town were employed in co-ops, in another there were 13%, with no co-op workers at all in a third town. The three municipalities were prosperous, with successful businesses and low unemployment. They were all within 80 kilometres of each other and in the same valley, so their physical and cultural environments were similar. They were also about the same size, with their populations in the range of 40,000 to 80,000.

The following factors were measured:

• Crime: victimisation, policing, confidence, feelings of security, domestic violence
• Education: level attained, age leaving school, truancy, post-school training, perceived importance of education
• Health: physical health, emotional health, mortality
• Social Environment: perceived gap between rich and poor, helpfulness of authorities, supportiveness of social networks
• Social Participation: membership of clubs, voting rates, blood donation

The results were in line with the prediction: the greater the proportion of people employed in co-operatives, the more positive were these measures. The town with the most co-operatives rates significantly higher than the town with no co-operatives. The town with an intermediate level of co-operatives was in-between.

Dr Erdal's conclusion was that an economy with a moderate to high level of worker co-operatives produces significant beneficial effects in the wider community: better health and education; less crime; greater social participation and improved social environment.

If you would like to read more about this research, visit the info-brief.

8. ACCORD to partner University of Saskatchewan's Co-operatives Centre in a major study

The University of Saskatchewan recently announced a $2.2-million, three-year national study to learn more about how members of co-operatives think about their organisations and their communities. The project will involve four clusters of research: urban consumers; rural rationalisation and other changing definitions of community; Aboriginal cultures; and information technologies.

ACCORD is the Australian research partner on this project.

For more details read the info-brief.

9. Report suggests: accountancy firms should become not-for profit-mutuals

A report soon to be published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in the UK, puts the spotlight on accountants. It recommends that accountancy firms become not-for-profit mutuals, providing a service to the community.

Five Brothers: The rise and nemesis of the big bean counters will be published as the sector still reels from the demise of ENRON, the biggest corporate collapse in US history. The NEF notes:

Five Brothers lays out five charges against the professional services firms. The modern commercial world has changed to make old-fashioned accounting virtually redundant. Intangible assets now account for the majority of investment in listed companies, but there is no common standard for measuring them.

New demands for corporate, social and environmental reporting are also pushing accountants beyond their professional competencies. The report claims that the "Big Five" play a major role in consolidating and concentrating power in the global economy, and are also mired in conflicts of interest.

The answer, says Five Brothers, are new regulations from the outside - including a revolution in corporate governance from within, and the complete re-engineering of how we measure the performance of companies.

For more information visit NEF's website at http://www.neweconomics.org. (Source: New Economics Foundation E-Newsletter).

10. Maleny Community Capital Conference

The Community Capital Conference will be held in Maleny, Queensland on 11-12 April 2002. The conference will explore the promotion of socially, environmentally and economically sustainable communities through local control of assets, income and resources.

The conference is hosted by Maleny Credit Union and Foresters Friendly Society. Registration fees are $ 300 for Government Departments, $ 150 for community co-operatives and individuals and $ 100 for non-waged individuals and concessions.

To register, contact Angie Dunbavan, conference co-ordinator on: (07) 3411 8338 or e-mail: angie_dunbavan@optusnet.com.au.

New ACCORD Titles and Recent Publications

11. New title to be released soon

ACCORD's latest report: Building Sustainable Communities: Co-operative solutions to Rural Renewal by Dr Jo Barraket is due for release shortly. The report focuses on the benefits of co-operative approaches to meeting local economic, social and environmental objectives. It highlights examples of overseas and Australian experiences through case studies and a literature survey.

For details about this and other reports, keep visiting ACCORD's web site http://www.accord.org.au.

We would welcome your comments on our newsletter and any suggested topics or items for inclusion in the next issue due for publication on 7 May 2002. If you have any items of interest please ensure that these are forwarded to us by 2 May 2002.

To read past issues, click here.

Disclaimer & Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this newsletter is intended for the named recipients only and may include privileged and confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not copy, distribute, or take any action in reliance on it. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in the newsletter is accurate but ACCORD, any of its Directors, staff, agents or associates, the University of Technology, Sydney, Charles Sturt University, staff, agents and associates of these universities, shall not be liable for loss or any other consequence, which may arise acting or refraining from acting as a result of material contained in this newsletter.

ACCORD NEWS is published on-line by the Australian Centre for Co-operative Research and Development.