Once this principle is respected, co-operatives will by their very nature play an important social role, depending on the wishes and needs of their members. From their origins, co-operatives have been used by disadvantaged groups to promote their common interests. Indigenous people in remote rural areas, refugees, migrants, unemployed persons, the elderly, and the disabled have all found co-operatives a means of improving their own situation. Especially in developing countries, they are often one of the few institutions which provide an opportunity for participatory democracy. Some organisations, such as Folksam Insurance in Sweden, have shown themselves to be a national leaders in their policies towards women both as customers and as employees.
Community development is a concern of many co-operatives.
Many co-operatives throughout the developing world have decided to allocate a portion of their annual surplus to community causes. In recent years co-operatives have expressed their concern for community through increasingly active programmes of environmental protection. Consumer co-operatives in Britain, Scandinavia, and Switzerland have become market leaders in their efforts to develop natural products and reduce environmental waste. In China the co-operatives have used their extensive marketing and supply network to become the country's leader in waste resource recovery. The 1992 UN Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro helped to focus the attention of co-operatives, like other members of the civil society, on the global dimensions of sustainable development.