Recent Activity of Project A2  - Co-op Index
(most recent items are listed at the top of the quicklinks menu)

Student from India hired to help build online platform for Co-op Index Survey - Jan 2012  
Project A2 participates in team meeting at Co-op Atlantic headquarters - Feb 29 2012  
Translation of the tool into new languages - 2010-2011
Tool website online
Development of a new version of the tool for flat management structures - 2011
Co-op Index Experts' Meeting - September 2010
Co-op Index presentation in Québec City - September 2010
Co-op Index presentation in Glastonbury, Connecticut - September 2010
Co-op Index Presentation in Berkley, CA - August 2010
Co-op Index Presentation in Paris, France - July 2010
Atlantic Cluster Webinar - Introduction to the Atlantic Cluster Tools - June 2010 

Atlantic Cluster Webinar -Introduction to the Atlantic Cluster Tools - June 2010
On the afternoon of June 24th, over twenty co-op members, managers, consultants and others from across Canada and the US joined the Atlantic Cluster steering committee at SMU via the internet, for an interactive webinar. Webinar participants learned about both the Co-op Index tool, and the "Co-operative Social and Environmental Accounting and Reporting Tool." The webinar generated great excitement among the wider co-op community, many of whom were hearing about the Atlantic Cluster's research work for the first time. The cluster looks forward to exchanging more ideas and information with the community as tool development continues over the next four years.

Co-op Index presentation in Paris, France - July 2010
The Co-op Index tool was presented at the International Association for the Economics of Participation conference in Paris in July, resulting in the expressed interest to translate the tool and adapt/administer it in Mondragon, Spain and Northern Italy.

Co-op Index presentation in Berkley, California - August 2010
In early August the Co-op Index for Worker Co-ops was presented in a workshop at the United States Federation of Worker Co-operatives (USFWC) Conference at Berkley, California by Peter Hough of the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation, co-leader of the Atlantic Cluster, and John McNamara, a student researcher with the project, and manager of Union Cab of Madison Co-operative. The presentation reviewed the development of the tool and provided a brief introduction to the key assumptions drawn from the theory of Total Participation Management by Ryszard Stocki that provides the framework for the tool. The workshop also focused on the process used to define the ideal worker co-op and the different ways the tool helps a worker co-op compare itself to such an ideal.   For more on the presentation click here

Co-op Index presentation in Glastonbury, Connecticut - September 2010
In September, Peter Hough delivered another workshop at Glastonbury, Connecticut for the Democracy at Work Network of Peer Advisors, which is associated with the USFWC. This network will be administering the Co-op Index with worker co-operatives in the USA as part of their support for worker co-operatives. The workshop covered similar ground to the one at Berkley with the addition of a detailed explanation of how to administer the Co-op Index and analyze the data to develop recommendations with the worker co-operative.

Co-op Index presentation in Québec City - September 2010
The Co-op Index team has been working closely with the Réseau de la coopération du Québec over the last month, adapting the French version of the tool into a potential service to the Réseau's francophone members.  In September 2010, Stephanie Guico, a masters student in the Masters of Management of Co-operatives and Credit Unions and member of the Co-op Index team, presented the Co-op Index for worker co-ops at the Réseau's annual general meeting.

Co-op Index Experts' Meeting - September 2010
Representatives from the Canadian and international co-operative sector met at Saint Mary's to discuss important differences between co-operative types (e.g. consumer vs. producer vs. multi-stakeholder), which will help the Co-op Index team customize the Co-op Index tool for use by the different types of co-ops in the future.

Development of a new version of the tool for worker co-operatives with flat management structures - 2011
John McNamara, a graduate student researcher with the A2 project, has developed a slightly different version of the Co-op Index to reflect the needs of worker co-ops with a flat management structure.

Tool Website Online - 2011
Co-ops can now instantly access the automated portion of the tool at www.coop.oindex.eu

Translation of the tool into new languages - 2010-2011
The tool is currently being translated or has been translated into:

• French
• Finnish
• Spanish
• Basque
• Portuguese

Co-op Index team members participate in Atlantic Cluster 2012 Team Meeting on Feb 29 in Moncton, to coincide with the "Managing the Co-operative Difference" conference. 
The full Atlantic Cluster research team met to discuss the progress of our research and new developments with both the Sustainability Scorecard and the Co-op Index tools.  Bucky Buckler of Ener-green Builders co-op in Sackville NB attended, and spoke enthusiastically about his co-operative's experience using the Co-op Index tool.  One interesting thing that came out of the co-op's engagement with the tool was discovering that when it came to employees' sense of empowerment and job satisfaction within the co-operative, the employees who were members were on average quite a bit less satisfied than the non-member employees.  This could indicate that while the member-owners had very high expectations for their co-op, the average worker who had previously worked in a corporate setting was very impressed with what a great work environment co-operatives can offer!

Atlantic Cluster hires student in January 2012 to build an online version of the Co-op Index survey for worker co-ops using the LimeSurvey platform.   The student, Karthikeyan Aravind, offers some inspiring words about his involvement with the project:

Back to Top