DUBLIN — Iain MacDonald's main job as director-general of theInternational Co-operative Association (ICA) based in Geneva,Switzerland, is to clarify the differences between co-operativesand business. He complained that the sector is mainly ignored bythe media.

Co-operatives he told the audience are people who come togethervoluntarily for their mutual benefit and adhere to a set ofprinciples, which includes democratic control. Those principlesthat the ICA promote are no different than credit union principles:self-help, responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, andsolidarity.

ICA is the largest nongovernmental organization in the worldwith 226 national members and organizations. They cover areas suchas insurance, fishing, agriculture, and banking. They haveconsultative status to the United Nations. WOCCU is one of theirmember organizations.

He sees co-operatives as the best way to alleviate poverty.Co-operatives, he made clear, aren't tiny little operations puttogether by the poor, although the poor often benefit from formingco-operatives. “Co-operatives like credit unions provide over 100million jobs worldwide, 20% more than the multi-nationals,” hesaid. In Denmark, they make up 37% of the market, in Switzerland50% and in Japan 91%.

Despite their strength, he said co-operatives are threatened bysome of the “Neo-Liberal Economists.” He lauded the risingdevelopment of co-operatives in places like Venezuela and otherLatin American countries, where the application of co-operativeprinciples are returning power to the people.

He encouraged credit union people to work with their governmentsto see how co-operatives benefit their societies, not just thepoor, but the entire country.

He encouraged the adoption of the .coop for the Internet. Coopstands for cooperating out of poverty, he said.