Ten General Survival Strategies for Cooperatives During Covid-19
Cooperatives play an important role in society more especially in South Africa where there are high levels of inequality and poverty. Co-ops create access to products and services at affordable prices. Over and above they co-create these with their communities and provide a unique opportunity for communities to have control over their supply of goods and services. It is therefore important that cooperatives survive and thrive during this pandemic as they assist their communities and readjust the operations to meet the current needs. The following survival strategies are proposed for cooperatives seeking ways to survive Covid-19:
(1) Connect with other cooperatives: join a local network of cooperatives and seek to build new partnerships. This pandemic requires cooperation amongst cooperatives for information sharing, creating new projects and coming up with ways to sustain cooperatives beyond Covid-19. Cooperatives that are not part of any network can join the ACI-SA Co-ops Network to benefit from messages of encouragement, mutual support, verified information and bidding for PPE contracts for those that are in textiles.
(2) Reach out to regular customers: It is hard for everyone - but reaching out and saying hello to regular customers, and checking on them can mean a lot for them. Cooperatives unlike investor owned businesses are about people and their wellness. It is therefore important that cooperatives do reach out to their customers on a social call and update them on how their favorite cooperative is fairing through the pandemic.
(3) Support the fight against the Coronavirus: Cooperatives must support the efforts to curb Covid-19. All co-ops must share awareness about the health practices required and make their members aware of all the rules pertaining to the Covid-19 regulations. Helping communities run feeding schemes, working with donors to supply communities with masks and fresh vegetables are some ways in which cooperatives can join the fight against Covid-19.
(4) Provide new products or services: Most cooperatives have an established line of services and products. However, this time has shown that there is a great need for flexibility and providing what is needed most, and urgently. The multipurpose cooperative model is best suited for this however, other cooperatives can be able to provide safe new product and service lines such as deep cleaning services, stock up and sell sanitizers and cleaning detergents or distribute these products and services for cooperatives that already provide these services and products.
(5) Intensify the use of Social Media: Every cooperative needs to build itself a name and a followership. The cooperative principles of solidarity, independence and community echo this idea of social media presence. Social media provides a great opportunity to showcase at zero cost the impact of the services and products that the cooperative provides. Creating a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media pages is free.
(6) Create an online catalogue: Alongside social media cooperatives need to have accessible online catalogues from which their products and services can be ordered. These need to be supported with simple checkout and pay systems. This requires some expertise to set up but it is inexpensive to get it done. Cooperatives should use reliable and trustable IT specialists when setting this up with the help of a professional.
(7) Verify All Information received: There is a heightened sense of sharing information on social media, on e-mails and through direct mail. However, not all the information received is true. It is the responsibility of all cooperative members to verify the correctness of information about tenders, purchase orders and all sorts of social media information before sharing it with others or acting on it. If unsure call ACI-SA on (073) 653 9669 or e-mail to info@aci-ac.org.
(8) Buy from a cooperative: As a cooperative member yourself you must seek to buy your products and services from other cooperatives. Also encourage your family members and friends to buy from local businesses. The over dependence on monopolies for food, clothes, medicines and daily bread is unsustainable. Shorter supply chains are needed and must be promoted by buying from cooperatives.
(9) Attend meetings and voice issues/use media: There has been a great shift to online meetings and webinars since the start of the lockdown. This has created an opportunity to reach the hard to reach people such as government representatives, agencies, and other cooperatives. Attending meetings and voicing issues is equal to exercising the democratic principle of cooperatives beyond the walls of your own cooperative enterprise. As a cooperative leader or a member you must also attend international meetings on cooperatives which are happening on various video-conferencing platforms. Online meetings provide an opportunity to table the general and specific concerns of cooperatives to highest offices and mainstream media.
(10) Uphold ethics and the values of the cooperative movement: In these hard times all cooperatives must uphold ethics and values of the cooperative movement. There are corruption allegations going around regarding Personal Protective Equipment contracts and distribution of aid such as food parcels. Cooperatives need to be sure to stay out of these acts of misconduct and not feed into these in any way like avoiding being subcontracted as PPE manufacturers or suppliers under circumstances that lack transparency. It is the responsibility of every cooperative to keep the movement free of corruption in the interest of South African tax payers and poor communities.
The above strategies show largely a need to learn new skills and to attract new talent in cooperatives. Any cooperative leader should not hesitate to tap into any existing talents within their own communities. The cooperative movement needs talented human resources to survive the pandemic. Therefore cooperative must take advantage of any opportunity available to work with skilled individuals in creating their own customised Covid-19 strategy.
For questions, analysis and ideas contact sizwe.mkwanazi@aci-ac.org