Ivano Barberini discusses the co-operative movement in Italy, with ACCORD's Communications Manager, Suzanne Henderson.

Ivano Barberini

"In Italy the first co-operative was established just 150 years ago, 10 years after the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, which was the real beginning of the worldwide co-operative movement.

The Italian consumer co-operatives were very strong until they were either destroyed or significantly changed as non-democratic organizations during the fascist era. In this country the co-operative movement was re-built after the Second World War, and by the mid-50s there were 3,300 consumer co-operatives with 7000 small stores spread across Italy and 700,000 members.

There was a joint effort from the state and co-operators to develop and promote co-operatives and improve their social and economic role. In the 60s the survival of the movement was at risk and this stimulated radical changes. New entrepreneurial dimensions were achieved through the merger of thousands of co-operatives. The sector flourished, with new retail outlets in small to medium sized villages and the first co-operative supermarket opened with a modern logo.

By the mid-70s, the consumer co-operative sector had established its own brand, to focus not only on prices, but also on social values as a protection for people against the vagaries of market forces, emphasising, for example, the importance of good quality food. National initiatives were carried out by local co-operatives and the logo was widely adopted by the sector from the beginning of the 80s. (See www.coopitalia.coop).

A campaign slogan, "Products with Love" was introduced in the mid 90s, to promote meat and fruit without pesticides. Co-ops carried out many other initiatives to educate people on best consumption as well as interactive education programs to reach young consumers, focussing on food and other products such as culture.

In 1978 our annual turnover was equivalent to 340 million Euros and there were 12,000 employees and 800,000 members. Today's turnover amounts to 11billion Euros with 5.5m members, and 50,000 employees. The co-operative movement has established itself as a market leader over the last 20 years."

Q. In your address today you talked about social communications, can you elaborate on this?

"Italy has had a very strong focus on combining the power of education and advertising, with a strong social message. We try to incorporate humour into our promotions. For example, we produced a plastic fish wearing a mask and let it follow the river system to the Adriatic Sea to raise awareness about river pollution from phosphorus in detergents. An active education campaign aimed at families and young children was central to the campaign. We had messages on detergent bottles explaining how detergents contribute to water pollution, and kids in boats joined in at various places on the Tiber River, in Rome."

Q. What is your strategic vision for the improvement of the co-operative identity?

"Co-operative organisations must play a strong role locally and at the same time stay connected globally. They need to have knowledge of both local and global needs.

The ICA needs to develop a stronger relationship with its members. We have a responsibility to increase public knowledge of the co-operative movement because, although the movement is large and widespread, it's not well known. We need to develop better communication channels. Ethnic centred communications is another challenge. With people not speaking a common language, we need to provide more targeted communications.

As well as helping under-developed countries by lobbying governments to support co-ops, we must make sure that social and community values are strongly linked to economic performance. In the global economy, the first challenge for co-operatives is competition. The second is to keep a steady co-operative identity. Co-operation's most tenacious adversary is the idea of business based purely on the logic of profit and competition.

The challenge is difficult and can only be won if we work on different and inter-connected levels at the same time, focussing on the main culture; strengthening our unique identity, business ability, member participation, production ethics and social responsibility. The emphasis needs to be on cultural values and respect for diversity, not centred just on the economy."

Q. How can co-operatives play a larger role in the world today?

"Being part of the co-operative solution to overcome poverty requires the richest countries to have an "open solidarity". A social commitment is much more than charity. It's not just giving money, but providing support and a united front. We need to link the North and South of the world because, if Africa fails, Europe has also failed. In developing the co-operative movement, the main thing we have to keep in mind is the need for peace, which is the primary condition for a stable world.

Although we can't possibly be all things to all people, we can be effective as a network and play an important role in building a sustainable global economy. Well-known American economist, Jeremy Rifkin has written about the hydrogen economy. He considers it an essential condition for guaranteeing peace, democracy and economic development. According to Rifkin the best way to develop and spread this new form of energy, is through the co-operative movement because of its wide social foundation and global networking capacity.

It is certainly a utopic hypothesis. However, it is significant that Rifkin considers co-operatives as potentially able to contribute to solving the major problems of our time especially, given their dual nature as a company and an association.

The co-operative movement's identity is founded on our history and values. Words like 'freedom' and 'democracy' have a strong symbolic meaning for us, but actions speak louder than words. As co-operative enterprises we have a responsibility to show how we put our values into practice. We need to promote the fact that our products are not produced from child labour nor do they cause environmental destruction. Our idea is to contribute to fair globalisation."

In this we have a "co-operative advantage" - an asset created by generations of co-operators, to be passed on and improved for future generations. Of course, this cannot happen spontaneously. The door to the future is narrow. Entering it means that co-operatives must be able to face the challenges of the global market, improving their image in each country and worldwide, fulfilling the dreams and meeting the needs of women and men, who look to the co-operative movement with hope and trust.