Following this Resolution and upon the request of the ICA, A small group of international experts led by Mr. Ed Mayo, Vice President of Cooperatives Europe and Secretary General of Cooperatives UK, undertook the task of writing a paper titled “Digital Democracy? Options for the ICA to advance Platform Cooperatives” (Annexure 1).
This paper was conceptualized to locate platform cooperatives within and outside the cooperative sector, and to present a proposal to the ICA on the role it could play in defining and supporting the development of the platform cooperative model. The paper lays out the origins of platform cooperativism, its various definitions, understandings & practices, together with a series of events that mobilized thinking and practice of cooperatives in the platform economy space.
The paper identifies the role key individuals have played in promoting the idea of securing “decent work” for workers in the gig-economy, while providing examples of popular platform cooperatives. In its conclusion, the paper identifies three levels of activity that the ICA can participate in to promote the platform cooperatives model, and recognizes the unique position of the ICA to engage the existing cooperative sector. The three levels are Information sharing that expects ICA to catalyze awareness building on platform cooperatives, Promotion that hinges on ICA’s coordinated efforts to enhance membership in platform cooperatives or organize national/regional business development programmes for platform cooperatives, and thirdly Network that aims to play a leadership role to financial and business partnerships to advance the platform cooperative model.
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