On July 6, discover the International Day of Cooperatives (#CoopsDay): What is a cooperative?

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This year, on July 6, the International Day of Cooperatives (#CoopsDay) has the theme “Cooperatives build a better future for all”

What is a cooperative?

A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons voluntarily united to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations, by means of a jointly owned and democratically governed enterprise.

Thanks to their mode of operation focused on people and not on capital, cooperatives allow a redistribution of wealth in a fair and democratic way, more than any other business model, thus avoiding perpetuating and accelerating the global phenomenon of concentration of wealth.

First cooperative

The earliest evidence of a cooperative comes from Fenwick, Scotland. There, on March 14, 1761, in a sparsely furnished cottage, local weavers carried a sack of oats into a front room of John Walker’s cottage and began selling its contents cheaply, thus establishing the Fenwick Weavers’ Society.