Cooperative-community link: Experiences from the Fernando Echenique cooperative

Abstract

The research was carried out at the Fernando Echenique Urquiza Credit & Service Cooperative with the objective of proposing an action plan that contributes to strengthen the link between the cooperative and the community, in order to satisfy the main economic and socio-cultural problems presented by the cooperative members, their families and the community, based on cooperative social responsibility and the implementation of cooperative principles. The methodology used, based on dialectical materialism, included theoretical, empirical and statistical methods, as well as the "Cooperative Mirror" tool, developed by the World Food Program. A diagnosis was made of the factors limiting the cooperative-community link, which showed that in the Fernando Echenique Urquiza Cooperative there are economic, socio-cultural, functional and legal factors affecting this link. Among these factors are the instability in the supply of drinking water, the unfinished repair of the access road to the community, the construction and repair of houses, the existence of shortage of agricultural products, the lack of knowledge about cooperativism and an unfavorable financial situation that does not contribute efficiently to solve the problems of the community in all its dimensions. The adoption of a set of actions allowed the cooperative to strengthen the link with the community by improving its social responsibility, involving the inhabitants and stakeholders of the area in the development and implementation of activities.