8/09/09
Venezuelan Embassy Officials speak at the UK Society for Co-operative Studies Conference

On September 5, Counsellor Alvaro Sanchez and Researcher Sabine Kienzl followed an invitation by the UK Society for Cooperative Studies to tell an interested audience of at least 70 persons about “Empowerment through Cooperatives in Venezuela”.

Venezuela is probably the country with the worldwide largest number of cooperatives in relation to its inhabitants. For sure, cooperatives had existed in the country before the Chávez administration took office; however, the numbers are barely comparable. While in 1998 there were about 900 coops in Venezuela, this number had risen to more than 200,000 in 2007.

Kienzl started her presentation by explaining the roots of Venezuela’s current cooperative boom. She made clear that one first needs to grasp the socio-political context in which the boom is anchored. She highlighted that the Venezuelan cooperative revolution would not exist had the government not created the conditions for cooperatives to flourish, including, education for coop members, preferred state contracting with cooperatives, direct tax exemption and improved financial access.

Sanchez continued the talk with a focus on Communal Councils, which are not formally cooperatives, which however, resemble cooperatives in the way they work. Communal Councils are elected neighbourhood-based assemblies endowed with political and financial powers, planning and executing development projects as needed in the community. These councils have become a cornerstone of the new political process to deepen democratic participation in Venezuela.

At this moment, there are about 30,000 such councils in Venezuela. Questions from the audience evolved around the importance of creating national cooperative federations to turn independently working coops into a real movement and to cater to the specific needs of cooperatives.

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Press Office