COPAC - Co-operative and Policy Alternative Center
COPAC Description
The vision of this website is to promote the cooperative idea, worker cooperative movement building and cooperative sector development in South African society and on the African continent.
Our mission is to provide the necessary information, technical tools and capacity building resources to achieve this.
This photo shows the leadership of one of the most successful producer cooperatives in South Africa. It is the Highveld Organic Rooibos Tea Cooperative. This cooperative is based in Nieuwoudtville on the border between the Western Cape and Northern Cape. It produces and exports 60 tons of organic Rooibos tea. The leadership together with the membership (51 farmers) owns and works in their cooperative.
News
In recent months the international body for worker cooperatives has launched an online news magazine. This communication resource connects worker cooperatives and movements from around the world. It is available from CICOPA.
"Driving global recovery through co-operative enterprise"
Over the past six months the Department of Trade and Industry and the International Labour Organisation hosted a seminar series on cooperatives. This seminar series covered various themes such as food security, informal trading, worker cooperatives, cooperative banking, cooperative entrepeneurship and the role of cooperatives in education.