Iain Macdonald, Director General of the International Co-operative Alliance visiting Sydney

Launching a report on the 2004 ACCORD Co-operative Leaders Survey while visiting Sydney, ICA Director General Iain Macdonald said, 'it is encouraging to see that co-operative leaders in New South Wales are optimistic about the performance of their organisations, even though some felt they were not performing as well as in previous years.'

The report contains data gathered from senior contacts in co-operatives across New South Wales. The findings have been used to assess their organisations' compliance with co-operative principles.

'One of the ICA's goals is to promote the co-operative identity, and the co-operative principles are important guides on how co-operatives should operate,' Mr MacDonald noted. 'While most are complying with the principles, there are gaps that we think require attention.'

'One of the ICA's goals is to promote the co-operative identity, and the co-operative principles are important guides on how co-operatives should operate,' Iain Macdonald

ACCORD Senior Research Fellow and author of the report, Andrew Passey says, 'it shows that co-ops, who thought their performance was improving, were the most likely to comply with co-operative principles, and senior members of the NSW co-operative movement link economic growth with co-operative behaviour. This link is important when comparing the performance of co-operatives with other organisations'.

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