ATLANTIC CLUSTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES 

Atlantic Cluster holds 2nd Annual Team Meeting in Moncton - Feb 29 2012
Atlantic Cluster hosts Dr. Milford Bateman at SMU - January 2012     
Dr. Sonja Novkovic presents on measurement tools in Cancun - November 2011
Tools Cross-Pollination Workshop - SMU - November 2011
Tom Webb presents on Co-operative Capital at the NCBA Conference - October 2011
Team Meeting - Fredericton NB - Presentation on Co-operative Inquiry Methodology - May 2011
CASC 2011 - Fredericton NB - Presentation on Innovative Co-operatives in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Cluster Webinar - Introduction to the Atlantic Cluster Tools - June 2010
Atlantic Cluster Start-up Meeting - June 2010

 The Atlantic Cluster invited all research team members to join us in Moncton on Feb 29th, the eve of the "Managing the Co-operative Difference" conference, to share progress on the A1 Sustainability Scorecard and A2 Co-op Index projects, and to work together to brainstorm ideas address the following issues:

- Challenges faced by small co-operatives that may want to engage in Sustainability Reporting, with additional discussion of the process for rolling out the Sustainability Scorecard tool to the retail co-operative members of  Co-op Atlantic.

- How the results of reporting and evaluation tools can be used in strategic planning

If you are interested in seeing a summary of our meeting discussion, please contact our coordinator.

Dr. Milford Bateman, author of "Why Doesn't Microfinance Work: the Destructive Rise of Local Neoliberalism" impressed several Saint Mary's University audiences with his hard-hitting and fact-filled critique of the Microfinance industry, when he visited Halifax in January 2012. 

Please click here for more details including a video of his evening public lecture!

Dr. Sonja Novkovic of the Atlantic Cluster makes a presentation on tools that measure the co-operative difference at the General Assembly of the International Co-operative Alliance in Cancun, Mexico - November 2011.

Please follow this link to find her presentation and paper.

A1 and A2 get together to share information about their tools - Halifax - Nov 2011
On Nov. 22nd, 2011, community and academic partners from the "A1" (Sustainability Scorecard) and "A2" (Co-op Index) projects gathered at Saint Mary's University in Halifax for a special "cross-pollination workshop".

Both the A1 and A2 projects involve the development of tools that helps co-ops assess their performance in relation to the ICA's co-operative principles and values, and also in terms of social and environmental (as well as economic) indicators.

Since the outset of the CURA, members of the A1 and A2 project teams have stressed the need to get together and share information about their tools and processes - As such, it was exciting to finally have our community and university researchers in the room together on the 22nd.

Each research team began with a presentation of their tool - they described what the tool is supposed to accomplish, how it was developed, and how it is being tested and used today. It seemed that one of the most interesting things for each team was to see the nuts and bolts (i.e. computer programming) of the survey and scorecard instruments that made up the other team's tool.


Once each team had made their presentation and answered the many eager questions that were flying around the room, the researchers put their heads together to see how they could take advantage of similarities and synergies between the two tools, and look for ways of collaborating and sharing in the future.

We learned that the A1 team is planning to borrow some questions from the Co-op Index tool to use for the member and employee surveys that will accompany the finalized version of their scorecard. Discussion ensued about attempting to use similar wording for questions that are used in both tools, to facilitate cross-comparisons of data in the future.

There was also a good deal of discussion about practical aspects of administering an online tool and collecting data for research purposes, and it was agreed that that the two project teams could support each other in addressing issues such as physically acquiring the data from co-ops who use the tools, licensing of the tools, and ethical concerns.

Tom Webb, cluster team member, presents on Co-operative Capital at the annual conference of the US-based National Co-operative Business Association.
Tom Webb of the Co-operative Management Education Co-operative is a community partner in our research network.  You can download his NCBA presentation here.  This presentation is based on a paper written for the 2010 Euricse conference in Trento, Italy, which you can download here.

Peter Hough presents at Network Team Meeting - May 31 2011 in Fredericton
On the last day of May 2011, researchers of the "Measuring the Co-operative Difference Research Network's" from across the country gathered together in Fredericton for a Team Meeting, to share information about their projects and discuss the Network's vision for our research and dissemination activites over the next 4 years.

Our very own Peter Hough presented to the team of people gathered. His presentation on "Co-operative Inquiry" as a form of research methodology got everybody talking: How is Co-operative Inquiry different from Participatory Action Research?  Would it be appropriate for all research projects in the Network to adopt this approach?  See the slides to his presentation here. 

 CASC 2011 - Presentation on Co-operative Networks & Innovation
The Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operatives (CASC) held its annual research conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick in June 2011.  Dr. Sonja Novkovic, co-lead of the Atlantic Cluster, and Wendy Holm, a research economist, Agrologist, and student of the MMCCU program at SMU, did a joint presentation on the role of co-operative networks in promoting innovation, using two Atlantic case studies.  To download the slides from their presentation, click here. (If you would like more information on their presentation, please contact us.)

Atlantic Cluster Start-up Meeting - June 2010
The first meeting of the Atlantic Cluster was held at Saint Mary's University, Halifax. The morning of June 24 brought together ten key members of the Atlantic Cluster, drawn from the cluster’s two main project teams (Co-op Index and Co-operative Sustainability and Planning).  This group, who will act as the Steering Committee for the cluster, discussed key aspects of how the cluster should govern itself.

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 first learned about the Co-op Index tool, which helps co-operatives assess the degree to which their co-op adheres to the internationally-recognized co-operative principles and values. Participants and project leaders then discussed the "Co-operative Social and Environmental Accounting and Reporting Tool", designed to help co-ops measure their achievements based on a "triple-bottom-line" (i.e., not only economic impacts, but social and environmental as well).

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.

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