Members work together on equal terms to promote and coordinate sustainable cooperative development through policy dialogues, technical cooperation and information, and concrete collaborative activities. Cooperatives Introduction A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. Cooperatives are people-centre business enterprises which operate in all areas of economic activity and in almost all countries of the world.
Cooperatives can be large enterprises with millions of members or small community enterprises.
Cooperatives also believe in social responsibility and include as one of their principles the concern for the community in which they operate. The cooperative movement is significant both in terms of membership and impact. The United Nations estimated in 1994 that the livelihoods of nearly 3 billion people, or half of the world s population, were made secure by cooperative enterprises. Nearly 800 million individuals are members of cooperatives. They provide an estimated 100 million jobs.