THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN JOB CREATION

THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN JOB CREATION

 

      Cooperative or “coop” literally is organizations or group of individuals who have bind themselves to use their talent, money and knowledge for their mutual benefits. The vision of cooperative is in working together to reach the common goal which is to be a progressive individual by depending among them. Members of cooperatives may allow themselves voluntarily to serve and become a significant worker that will definitely contribute to the success of the organization. Cooperative is promoting cooperation among members to grow individually and as a group.

      Cooperative is being established mostly according to the needs of the people in their community thus the strength of its function relies heavily on the patronage of its members.  When a cooperative grows the members benefited from the community because it helps its member by sharing profit and helped them in job creation. Practically relevant to economic growth as needed, look around your areas and see if you can find the following types of cooperative.

·         Consumer Cooperative – These are small businesses engage in consumer goods and other products. They can also be Supermarket or Groceries Store, Sports house, Food house etc. Basically a consumer cooperative can start by voluntarily or forced contribution of members to establish such business and they themselves operate the store. Definitely more than the members if the business grows then the community grow and more so, it will give job creation because most businesses in retail store would need a rooster of employees including stock refiller, promo merchandiser, cashier, etc. This job creation unify the members even more since they themselves or their family can be prioritize upon hiring.  The members benefit since they are also included in profit sharing.

·         Credit Cooperative – This kind of cooperative is more than like a bank. You can be a member by simply investing your money in their organization. They implied a different perspective than bank. Their mission is to provide fund for its members but basically the idea is to help them cope up with financial constrain. Basically the program of this cooperative is something like this one, they will take your savings as an investment and after six months you can borrow money for about fifty (50) percent of your savings, then after one year you can borrow a one hundred (100) percent of your service and after another year you can again borrow about two hundred (200) percent of your saving. This is just a basic estimate but depending on the capacity of the organization it may vary. This kind of cooperative can grow tremendously because of its benefit. Imagine the business and job creation it may serve upon the start. A simple credit cooperative can start at home or a small office hiring a few staff. They also need other forms of security measures like CCTV camera in the office since this cooperatives involve lots of cash.

·         Multi-Purpose cooperative – Is a combination of two or more cooperatives; including Marketing Cooperative, Agrarian Reform Cooperative, Education Cooperative, Workers Cooperative etc. they are engage primarily on the contribution of products and services, rules and regulation and internal control formulation upon start –up.

      They embodied a large scale of members since they cater to many different types of services. As you can see like any other types of cooperative, this one needs a larger rooster of employees to help the demand of the growing needs of customers as well as members. A multi-purpose cooperative should provide multiple products and services to work in harmony with its members towards self sufficiency and sustainability.  They should highly promote the socio economic development and the mission of cooperative which is cooperation.   

·         Other forms of cooperative includes – Producers cooperative, Service cooperative, Advocacy cooperative, Cooperative banks, Financial cooperative, Fisherman’s cooperative, Electric cooperative, Health cooperative, Transport cooperative, Workers cooperative and many others.

      It is clearly shown here that cooperative is a guide to economic progress, this kind of institution should be taken seriously by the government and its members. Cooperatives do not just provide employment opportunities but it can also empower the quality of life of its members by teaching them discipline, loyalty and most of all cooperation. If by chance you would like to know more about its principles and how you can be involve as a member you may seek your local Municipality to ask for registered type of cooperatives that is located within your areas. You may also like to look in the Internet to know more about its objectives and other details.   

 

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