ILO hosts meeting aimed at developing robust cooperative sector in Suriname

Like many countries, Suriname’s cooperatives sector faces many challenges such as limited capacity and coordination. As part of efforts to address these limitations and identify opportunities for strengthening the sector, ILO Caribbean hosted a meeting with government representatives and introduced a new framework aimed at creating an enabling environment for cooperatives.



Hosted on 2 November 2023, the session included several senior officials from the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Affairs. It featured a case study of the ILO’s technical contribution as a participating agency of the European Union-funded Suriname Agriculture Market Access Project (SAMAP) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.



Key concepts presented were based on the cooperative ecosystems development approach (CDEA), an ILO framework that seeks to solidify and harness the role of cooperatives as drivers of employment and productivity.



Facilitation was led by John Bliek, ILO Caribbean Specialist in Sustainable Enterprise Development and Job Creation. During the meeting he presented the process and findings of the CDEA implemented under SAMAP which features an assess, train and coach process. The discussion also demonstrated how the process can serve to inform policy development that accurately meets the needs of cooperatives in Suriname.



Meeting participants learned that the CDEA began with the self-assessment of 29 cooperatives which revealed that 47 per cent are in a low development status. They also discussed the next phase which established training needs that were paired with internationally renowned ILO training materials that included Think.Coop, Start.Coop, MY.COOP and SCORE.COOP.



“The CDEA uses a “learning-by-doing” approach, through which participants carry out practical actions in the workshops, so that they can reflect and internalize the knowledge in their own way. It promotes an active participation of members of the cooperatives, which could generate reflection among them and result in specific actions included in their Cooperative Development Plan (CDP),” explained John Bliek.



The meeting continued with an overview of the final phase of the CDEA, which involves coaching to support the monitoring of implementation of the CPD designed by cooperatives that participated in the training workshops. The CDPs focus on strengthening cooperation, promoting teamwork among their members and structuring a more robust governance in the cooperatives. They centre on a market-oriented approach with an entrepreneurial profile of the cooperatives.



The Ministry team were also presented with feedback from participants of the CDEA under SAMAP, which included a testimonial from Granman Albert Aboikoni who highlighted the value of the collaborative initiative for Suriname. ‘’Without cooperatives it is impossible to produce at a high level. Each local soccer team plays for itself, but when national team plays, all players of different local teams come together and form the national team. We should not be rivals but work together as a team, as a cooperative. Now is the World Championship and Suriname could be the grainery of the Caribbean,” he said.



Based on its successful implementation under SAMAP and the receptiveness from the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Affairs, the CDEA has a strong potential to be replicated across Suriname and other countries in the region as part of ILO Caribbean’s strategic technical support.



For more information about training tools for cooperatives visit the ILO's website .