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NCBA CLUSA and the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) are pleased to announce a new partnership funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Cooperative Development Program (CDP).
Through NCBA CLUSA’s CDP project, Cooperative Ecosystem and Social Inclusion, USFWC will conduct worker cooperative sensitization and peer learning activities across Madagascar, Kenya, Guatemala and Peru to increase awareness of and interest in worker co-ops and strengthen the capacities of these countries’ cooperative movements to advocate for the worker co-op model.
Comments
Rebecca I Kemble
January 17, 2025, 3:56 pm
So sad to see what used to be a movement-based organization being used as a tool of Empire through US foreign policy. Kenya, Guatemala and Peru are places where cooperation flourishes in the Indigenous communities that the US-backed national governments are actively and passively suppressing. The terms of USAID funding require the USFWC and DAWI to participate in not only cultural imperialism, but also the surveillance and monitoring of anyone who participates in their programs. This is what happens when the collective self-determination of membership is crushed in organizations. Back in the day, USFWC members used to debate issues like whether or not to participate in programs like this. Now it’s a decision made by Executive Directors.
Josh Davis
January 17, 2025, 4:41 pm
Glad someone picked up on that. Beyond the USAID angle, the thought that ANY American is going to teach Africans (home of the susu) or South Americans about cooperativism is not credible on it's face. It would make much more sense for Americans to pay people from those countries to come here and teach us about cooperation than it does for us to try to go there and teach them anything. Really quite insulting, imho.
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