Cooperatives: From Building People to Leading Comprehensive Solutions

Author: لما عواد

Amid the economic, social, and political challenges besetting Palestine, the idea of cooperative economics emerges as a strategic tool for enhancing community resilience and achieving social justice. However, cooperatives, in their essence, are not mere buildings or laws, but a "spirit" embodied by individuals who believe in the idea and are trained to practice it. This was aptly summarized by Arab thinker Dr. Hassanein Kachk, who said: (Prepare the cooperators before the cooperatives).

Today, with the UN adopting 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives, and the world celebrating International Cooperatives Day under the slogan (Leading Sustainable Solutions for a Better World), a new window opens to fundamentally rethink the role of Palestinian cooperatives.

"While the world seeks to build cooperatives, Kachk - and we add from Palestine - calls us to something deeper: to build the cooperative person. In a land battling occupation and division, it is not enough to establish cooperatives; we must establish a cooperative mentality. Without cooperators, cooperatives have no value."

Between the idea and reality: Where do we stand in Palestine?

In Palestine, where social, economic, and political challenges are complex, cooperative revival requires a deep understanding of the concept of cooperation that goes beyond the economic side to building a cooperative person capable of active participation in community development. Despite the existence of many registered cooperatives in Palestine and the diversity of cooperative frameworks (especially agricultural and women-focused), many aspects of the experience remain hindered, suffering from formal establishment without a value or training base, weak real representation of women and youth, the absence of governance and transparency, and an artificial dependency on funders instead of a genuine connection to community needs.

The Palestinian experiment: cooperatives without cooperators? Why do some fail despite the legal framework?

The absence of continuous training programs for member skill development, weak governance and democratic management, and a lack of awareness of laws, rights, and duties within cooperatives.

Formal establishment is often driven by the aim of obtaining funding or facilitation, not due to collective awareness of the concept of cooperation.

Organizational division and weak leadership: Most cooperatives lack a transparent democratic structure that produces genuine cooperative leaders.

Lack of cooperative education: There is no systematic framework for teaching cooperative thought, whether in schools or training institutions.

Dependency on funders: Cooperative projects are often tied to the will of the funder more than the needs of the community, making them weak-rooted.

The absence of specialized financial and educational support institutions for enhancing cooperative capabilities, with many cooperatives relying on external support, affecting their sustainability.
(Kachk: Value education before skills. Kachk believes that any cooperative effort must start with the person. Before thinking about financing, production, and marketing, we must instill the values of cooperation: shared responsibility, transparency, humility in leadership, fair distribution of returns. He also stated that "the cooperative is a school of citizenship," teaching individuals to respect the law, work collectively, and be self-reliant rather than dependent on the state or donors).

What does "preparing cooperators" mean in the Palestinian context?
At a time when calls are increasing for a solidarity economy as a tool for improving livelihoods, establishing cooperatives is no longer just an organizational decision or a developmental initiative; it has become an existential necessity in the politically and economically complex Palestinian context. Yet, the failure to prepare cooperative individuals remains the greatest challenge hindering the success of these initiatives.
Dr. Hassanein Kachk, a pioneer of cooperative thought in the Arab world, summarized this issue in a succinct phrase: (Prepare the cooperators before the cooperatives); this phrase was not a slogan, but a revolutionary call to reorder priorities.

• Building administrative and financial capacities through regular workshops on budgeting, social marketing, and managing joint projects.
• Instilling cooperative values through interactive monthly meetings and educational campaigns about the importance of teamwork and active participation in decision-making.
• Enhancing legal culture by training cooperative members on understanding Palestinian laws, especially those related to registration, funding, and taxation.
• Supporting women and youth by creating special programs that enable them to lead within a cooperative framework, with facilitation in funding and mentoring.

And here arises the big question: Do we really have cooperators, or just cooperative structures?
There remains a significant opportunity to leverage cooperative work as a tool for economic and social empowerment in Palestine, especially if it is bolstered by clear strategic directions based on capacity building, appropriate legislation, and good governance.

We can draw inspiration from the Jordanian model, where Jordan presents an exemplary model for developing an integrated cooperative system, combining clear political and legislative support (Cooperatives Law 2025). Institutionalizing training through the Cooperative Development Institute, empowering women and youth in council membership, and international engagement through the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). Community activities linking cooperation to local development (such as tree planting and beach clean-ups). These steps provide valuable lessons for Palestine, especially regarding linking cooperative thought to employment, the environment, education, and good governance.

What would Kachk have said if he saw our reality? Dr. Kachk has often warned against making the cooperative merely a tool for external financing or a public relations front, but called for: Cooperative education starting in schools, cooperative leadership arising from the grassroots rather than imposed from above, and a community model that elevates values over forms. Thus, true investment lies not in "building cooperatives," but in "building cooperators."

Towards an authentic Palestinian model: A proposed roadmap.
In Palestine, cooperatives can form a vital support for a resilient local economy, enhancing economic independence and creating real job opportunities for youth and women, especially given the current political situation. Practical suggestions for activating the vision from Kachk's thought to Palestine.

First: Value-based establishment, working on cooperatives as schools of citizenship.
- Producing training manuals inspired by Kachk's thought and ICA principles.

- Introducing educational curricula on cooperative economics in schools and universities, organizing "cooperative summer schools" for youth and women.

- Establishing cooperative training institutes leveraging partnerships with Palestinian universities and international institutions (UNESCO, Arab Cooperative Federations).

- Continuous training for cooperative members, not only administratively but educationally and culturally.
(Kachk believed that cooperatives are not just a means of production or consumption, but a tool for building responsible citizens. In Palestine, where collective action is sometimes overshadowed by individualism due to general frustration or lack of trust, cooperatives can serve as a potential school for mending the relationship between the citizen and the public interest).

Second: A mentoring system.
- Connecting emerging cooperatives with Palestinian experts who have experience in cooperative work.
- Integrating cooperative values into school curricula and community cultural units to promote a spirit of solidarity from an early age. Drawing on educational programs focusing on cooperative values such as solidarity, transparency, and accountability.

- Strengthening the role of cooperatives in local development by linking cooperative projects to community needs, particularly in agriculture, renewable energy, and social services.

Third: Sustainable partnerships with civil society organizations and the private sector, aimed at financing and supporting cooperative projects in areas such as local food production, handicrafts, and technology services.
- Building knowledge partnerships before financial partnerships.
- Developing a trained cadre of "popular cooperative trainers" in villages and camps.
- Non-financial knowledge partnerships, collaborating with Palestinian universities and institutes to conduct research and periodic evaluations of cooperatives.

- Encouraging universities to establish a minor in "cooperative and community economics."
Proposing an applied project inspired by Dr. Kachk's thought, (School of Palestinian Cooperators) as a national initiative to build a new generation of cooperators in Palestine, enlightened intellectually and organizationally. This includes field training units, discussion circles on cooperative values, and support for establishing youth and women cooperatives.

Fourth: Institutional empowerment, working on a new cooperative law that ensures governance, transparency, pluralism, and the enactment of strict laws to prevent conflicts of interest within cooperative management.
- Establishing a national funding fund to support cooperatives.
- Founding a Palestinian Cooperative Institute.
- Including clear democratic electoral rules.
- Involving cooperatives in national sustainable development programs.

"Knowledge first... not funding Kachk criticized reliance on external support without awareness, which applies to many Palestinian initiatives supported by donors, where funds are injected before building the vision."

Fifth: Regional and international cooperation.
- Officially joining the ICA.
- Establishing an Arab platform for exchanging cooperative experiences.
- Signing twinning agreements with Jordanian, Egyptian cooperatives, etc. to enhance experience exchange.

Sixth: Community networking, turning cooperatives into educational community centers within neighborhoods and villages for economic and social empowerment.
- Supporting women's and youth participation in cooperative membership and management.
- Adopting promotional and educational initiatives to disseminate cooperative culture in the community.
- Involving cooperatives in environmental and community initiatives.
- Developing Palestinian cooperative women's success stories.
- Organizing an annual national week for cooperatives, coinciding with the International Day.
- Integrating youth and children into educational cooperative activities.

(Strengthening cooperatives against "partisanship" and "cliqueism": Kachk warned against the hijacking of cooperatives by vested interests, a reality experienced by some Palestinian cooperatives that have fallen into the traps of politics or family ties).

In times of crises, occupation, and division, cooperation becomes an act of resistance... provided it is led by true cooperators. From here, Palestine must not launch from laws alone but from the person, as Kachk intended, and look at the Jordanian experience not as a competitor, but as an ally from which to learn.
"As Dr. Hassanein Kachk confirmed, true success begins with preparing cooperators who carry values and principles and lead change with awareness and responsibility. By learning from successful experiences in the region, Palestine can lay the groundwork for a cooperative movement capable of facing economic and social challenges and contributing to achieving the desired sustainable development."