Tag Archives: Nicaragua Cooperative

The Wealth of Peasants

In one sense, it’s entirely appropriate that Winds of Peace would take on the field of education as one of its priorities, since there is so much education to be had from our interactions with the rural populations in Nicaragua.  Each and every visit  for me has revealed perspectives that I might never have known but for my visits with a wide range of Nicaraguan “teachers.”  In some cases, I think these educators know that they are teaching the gringo something new; in other cases, the teaching moment may pass with no recognition of impact or import.  In either case, I have been the beneficiary of a graduate degree worth of lessons at the feet of some incredible professors.  One such lesson emerged a couple weeks ago on the final day of a two-day workshop with rural coffee cooperative members.

The workshop process- facilitated by researchers Rene Mendoza and Edgar Fernandez- has been chronicled at this blog site in previous entries.  The workshops have sought to create new understandings and alliances among the various participants in the coffee growing and commercialization chain of a given territory.  It’s valuable technical information that is shared, but there is also ample opportunity for participants to become eloquent about the other factors which play into the success or failure of the rural producers.  They broach topics such as strategic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.  They talk about the political and cultural obstacles that impede their progress.  On this occasion, they also articulated dozens of myths- assumptions deemed true by many but false in fact- whose acceptance often stands in the way of positive change.

The list developed by the participants was long and impressive in its inclusiveness; brown butcher paper with the entries covered two full walls of the meeting room,  nearly surrounding all of us with fictions as diverse as the participants themselves.  It’s really rather amazing what we will allow ourselves to believe.    And among the 115 citations was this one which stood out to me: “God made the poor and the rich, and he made me poor.”

I stopped reading the list of myths for a while when I reached this one.  Of all the untruths and misrepresentations on the wall, this one struck me as the most egregious on many fronts: it invoked the presence of God as an entity which deliberately targeted these people to be poor; that in God’s judgment, they would never be anything except poor; their poverty was irreversible; that for whatever capricious reasons, the peasants’ poverty was simply “meant to be,” while the wealthy were ordained to live comfortably.  The implications of this one myth contained enough defeat and sorrow to keep simple, rural families in their places forever.  It implied a finality which takes away all sense of hope for the future, the one lifeline to which all people must cling if they foresee a future at all.  The hopeful news was that the participants had recognized it as the lie it was.  The sorrowful news was that there were likely to be many more in the countryside for whom this notion rang true.

I took my place around the workshop table and for two days listened to presenters and participants envisioning their futures.  The dialogue created a hopeful atmosphere, one in which participants could muse, at the very least for a while, about a better way of existence and offer reasons for their optimism.  Their ideas, plans and laughter combined to form an antidote to that sobering myth I had read earlier.   But as if to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind as to such  resolve, Don Edmundo, president of one of the participating cooperatives, took the floor and offered an even stronger repeal of the myth of my notice.  “We are not poor,” he offered.  “We have an abundance of many things.  We are wealthy.”

Now, I have heard many courageous things said in Nicaragua.  I have observed many courageous people who have refused to break under the yoke of extreme poverty which they have born.  There are nearly endless stories of personal bravery by rural peasants simply trying to survive a nearly endless barrage of injustices, natural disasters and man-made misfortunes.  But this was the first time I ever heard anyone from the impoverished countryside tout wealth as part of their patrimony.  Don Edmundo went on to enumerate the sources of wealth which gave merit to his claim: family, community, land, communion with the environment, and belief in the very God  implicated in the fickle injustice of the myth.  He itemized these gifts as though tallying the treasure of a counting room, weighing each talent in his words like they were ounces of gold, only more precious.

I’m not sure how his classmates felt about the pronouncement.  There were nods of assent across the room, but who knows whether the affirmations came from recognition of reality or courtesy for the speaker.  Just maybe, some recognized the same truth which I heard.  That truth had little to do with riches as we in the west have come to think of them.  It did not address the romanticized ability of the poor to regard the little they have as more than it really is.  The truth spoken in that classroom revealed that deep within each of us is both the longing and the instinct to have created something of value, to have struggled for a measure of dignity through our lives, and to have achieved some semblance of that.  That does not diminish the pain, anxiety or loneliness of the poor, but it just might render the truth less obscured for them than for those whose lives are filled with the distractions of western-style riches.

In an ironic twist, the impoverished and disenfranchised may live closer to understanding that truth than most, and therein lies a portion of the wealth of peasants….

 

 

 

 

Ownership Here and There

                                                                    
I’ve been involved in the notion of ownership quite a lot.  I helped construct an employee ownership plan for my company, I served as a Trustee for that plan for more than 20 years, I was a participant in the plan, I served two terms on the Board of Directors of The ESOP Association (a lobbying and education association serving the employee ownership community), I served on five corporate boards of employee owned companies, I have taught ownership basics domestically and outside the U.S., I’ve written articles for employee ownership periodicals, have touted the values and methodologies of successful ownership to cooperatives in Nicaragua and have delivered more than one hundred ownership addresses to employee ownership audiences over the past twenty-seven years.  You might say that I like the notion of employee ownership.

In the wake of those activities, I continue to reflect on the importance of ownership to individual and collective development, both domestically and abroad.  When I first began working in Nicaragua, I was struck by the similarities between Nicaraguan organizations seeking to strengthen themselves and the employee-owned entities with whom I had worked in the U.S.  It turns out that those elements of transparency, participation, engagement, and collaborative work are not only progressive management strategies, but also universal human needs.  But lately I’ve reawakened to another truth about ownership that is as certain in one society as it is in the other: successful ownership of anything requires commitment, attention and buy-in.

I’ve recounted here the moving testimony from some Nicaraguan coop members who describe actually owning something for the first time in their lives.  I’ve heard tearful stories about how belonging to a group of fellow producers has fundamentally changed families and lives.  We’ve witnessed in wonder at the development of rural peasants who, with no prior experience, have ambitiously taken on the formation and registration of a coop , organized its members, dodged the many political and economic obstacles along the way, and improved their prospects.  The opportunity of ownership is encouraging stuff for the most part, and it’s why we continue working with such people.

But we’ve also seen the “other” side of the ownership equation, the risks and responsibilities.  Recently we learned of an embezzlement perpetrated within one of the coops we have most admired; the discovery was not only disappointing because of the trust broken on the part of the manager involved, but also the realization that the coop members had not been as attentive to their business as they could/should have been.  There is a deeply held hope that the plan for restoration of coop members’ funds as well as WPF assistance can be carried out timely and fully, but there is the nagging question of whether they can accomplish firm footing after such a blow.  There are also the several coops who simply did not repay their obligation, for a variety of stated reasons.

I know that there can be a tendency in the case of U.S. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) companies to see the establishment of an ownership plan as a gift, as a transfer of rights and privileges to be enjoyed by the new owners at their leisure.  Of course, that perception is a false and dangerous one, since the value of the ownership is only as strong as the work being put into it.  Ownership is not a gift, only an opportunity.  But it’s the same opportunity that successful entrepreneurs have embraced and leveraged in development of enterprises which others admire and wonder how to emulate.  There is no magic formula, nothing in the genetics to favor such owners over others.  There is only the hard work applied to the opportunity.  Do all opportunities pan out successfully?  No.  But without the commitment element, even the most favorable opportunity cannot succeed.  It’s a lesson that U.S. ESOP companies preach and teach in consistent cadence.

The lesson is no less true in Nicaragua.  Ownership is a tremendous opportunity, but one which requires the diligence, self-honesty and fundamental skills to give life to that chance.  Aspiring Nicaraguans- as well as North American employee owners- might hear about fortunes made overnight, but such wealth is often, in fact, made in the darkness of deceit and manipulation, where the light of integrity and collaboration does not shine and where lasting advantages cannot survive.  It leads to impoverishment far deeper than money can define. Just ask guys with names like Madoff or Skilling or Lay.

In trying to leverage the opportunities of ownership, there are lots of models from which to learn.  The ones which hold the greatest promise are those which reject notions of secrecy, political influence or personal gain. Because in the long run, secrets become told, political influence changes parties and personal gain, in fact, means that you most often end up alone.

Maybe we all speak the same language, after all….

 

 

 

 


On Being Cooperative

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, highlighting the contribution of cooperatives to socio-economic development, particularly their impact on poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration.  With the theme of “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World”, the Year seeks to encourage the growth and establishment of cooperatives all over the world. It also encourages individuals, communities and governments to recognize the agency of cooperatives in helping to achieve internationally agreed upon development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals.                     -U.N. IYC Webpage Introduction

It’s about time.  Finally, there is light being shown on a methodology which has for too long been relegated to the very back pages of economic and organizational development.  Like one of its cousins in the U.S., employee ownership, cooperativism has the potential to create sustainable and meaningful change for organizations and individuals alike, and the U.N. declaration hopes to advance that awareness around the world.  I know that we will be taking note with our partners in Nicaragua.

The themes are entirely consistent with the focus and methodologies that Winds of Peace has employed over the past year, in particular:

Increase
awareness
  • Increase public awareness about cooperatives and their contributions to socio-economic development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
Promote growth
  • Promote the formation and growth of co-operatives among individuals and institutions to address common economic needs and for socio-economic empowerment
Establish
appropriate
policies
  • Encourage Governments and regulatory bodies to establish policies, laws and regulation conducive to co-operative formation and growth.

Cooperatives are not a panacea or even a simple way of organizing an economic enterprise.  In fact, when done with excellence, coops are a more complex way of doing business.  There is a demand for more and better communication among the participants.  Participants come to expect more information about the causes-and-effects of their business, decisions are more frequently made by participant teams rather than one individual, participants expect to have a greater “say” in the business, the organizational configuration often more closely resembles a circle than a triangle, and coops as a result sometimes respond more slowly to changing circumstances.  But when done with excellence, coops can promote business growth, learning, entrepreneurial skills individual development and accelerated wealth creation faster than more traditional forms of ownership/management.  It’s why the U.N. has taken such a visible stand with its declaration.  And it’s why Winds of Peace has provided increasing support to the coops of Nicaragua.  The good news is that we know what the excellent practices consist of and that they can be learned and replicated anywhere.

Read the advantages cited by the IYC in its description of coop strengths:

  • Cooperative enterprises build a better world.
  • Cooperative enterprises are member owned, member serving and member driven
  • Cooperatives empower people
  • Cooperatives improve livelihoods and strengthen the economy
  • Cooperatives enable sustainable development
  • Cooperatives promote rural development
  • Cooperatives balance both social and economic demands
  • Cooperatives promote democratic principles
  • Cooperatives and gender: a pathway out of poverty
  • Cooperatives: a sustainable business model for youth
If even a portion of such claims are true (and there is ample evidence to support such claims), the case to be made in support of cooperative development is solid.  And we think that our evolving experiences at Winds of Peace further confirms the potential contained in the coop movement.  Spend some time reviewing the growing body of research and experiences under the Rural Development heading on the left side of the WPF homepage.  The articles and experiences there reflect our belief in the importance of the cooperative movement, but also the ways in which the strengthening occurs when done with excellence.  Elements of collaborative work, open-book financial literacy, wealth sharing, participative decision-making and holistic strategic thinking can create a very different reality for, in this case, coffee farmers who can see the advantage in strengthening one another.
The year 2012 might well prove to be a threshold year for coops around the world.  I hope lawmakers in the United States take heed of the essential elements in cooperativism, particularly in light of the misdeeds and mismanagement of so many of our large public corporations brought to light over the past several years; ownership structures like cooperatives and employee-owned companies represent a healthy alternative to such sick environments on the basis of greater involvement by more of the participants.  I know that Winds of Peace will continue to seek out Nicaraguan coops that are committed to the principles of effective cooperativism and who are eager to experience cooperative life done with excellence….

Worth the Visit

One of the sites I visited last week was the Buculmay Cooperative, an outgrowth from the Women’s Council of the Indigenous People of Jinotega.  I’ve written before about how abused these women (and some men) were at the hands of the unscrupulous Board President, but take a look at where the coop is now!  They are in the middle of a pig-raising project financed in part by the government, and they are on track to become a model for this activity!  From less-than-obscurity to state-of-the art livestock, and with all of the recognition and self-esteem that such progress brings.

 Nica August 2009 032 Nica August 2009 033

It’s one thing to develop a vision of what you want to become and a mission to specify how to get there.  But it’s another thing altogether to bring those concepts into reality, especially when you’re at the bottom of the pile socially and economically to begin with.  But with patience and a belief in the “rightness” of their independent walk, the Buculmay members are doing just that.

  

   

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From organizing themselves into a coop to learning the basics of collaborative work, as was happening in the above sessions, the members have been eager learners on their own behalf.  Some of the rudimentary business plans they created on their very first attempts were as good as some I’ve seen in mature corporations!  It was during this training session that the government became aware of the unusual extent of education that Buculmay was experiencing.  As a result, the government approached Buculmay with the proposal to manage the pig project!

 

Nica August 2009 047 One of the means by which this project is being funded is through the members’ own contributions, made possible by the crops that are raised and sold (yes, in addition to developing the pig-raising enterprise, these folks have “real” live, too).  Availing themselves of better seeds and fertilizers (not chemicals or GMO stuff), they have vastly improved their harvests.  Just contrast the corn crop in the foreground- grown under traditional means- with the field in the background, using newer methods and more indigenous inputs.  The volume difference is overwhelming, and these women are not necessarily farmers!  This could be Iowa corn!

 

Nica August 2009 036 The residence quarters for the Buculmay pigs is not some ramshackle sty.  With technical and construction advisors provided by the government, this modern facility features gravity-fed self-watering apparatus in each stall, grated floors for automatic removal of wastes, a bio-gas facility to capture waste product gas for fuel, four separate electrical sectors for energy efficiency and more.  Here you can see the installation of the main waterline.

 

Buculmay Coop August 09 I’m no pig farmer, but I know organization and efficiency when I see it.  Subsequent buildings to be constructed in Phase 2 of the project will allow separation of the animals according to maturity and need.  Note Julieta on the left, President of the Buculmay Cooperative and a lynchpin in their development.  With justification, she showed us the facility with extreme pride, undoubtedly recalling those dark days several years ago when everything seemed lost.  She did not imagine this!

 

Nica August 2009 054 This good-bye photo captures only a portion of the membership, but the image is in stark contrast to the group with whom we met those several years ago, who wondered how they might survive socially, economically and in every other way.  They stand taller, their smiles are wider and even the surroundings in which we met are brighter.  There is certain satisfaction, I suppose, when members of your community now seek you out to ask about membership in your coop, and the adversary who has oppressed you is now quiet in the face of your earned status as a credible and important entity in the community. 

Buculmay means “the place where corn becomes ground.” Basic.  Honest.  Of the earth.  It’s evident that this collection of courageous actors is true to its name….