Henry Veltmeyer — Professor Emeritus, IDS-SMU 

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Camila Piñeiro Harnecker — Professor, Centre for the Study of the Cuban Economy at the University of Havana 

PARTICIPANTS

Wendy Holm — CME and Coordinator, Cuban Co-op Index Project                     .(National Association of Cuban Small Farmers and CME, SMU)

A SSHRC-Connection Workshop • Halifax, N.S. • 28–29 April 2016

Marcelo Vieta — Professor in Workplace Learning for Social Change at the University of Toronto 

Workshops

Sonja Novković — CME / Economics-SMU; Chair, International Cooperative Alliance Research committee 

Marie J. Bouchard — Centre de recherche sur les innovations sociales (CRISES), Université du Québec à Montréal.President of the Ciriec International Commission on Cooperatives and Social Economy 

Milford Bateman — Independent consultant on local development; adjunct professor, IDS-SMU. 

Introduction

Tom Webb — Adjunct Professor, SMU; co-founder of the Co-operative Management Education (CME) Program, Chair of the Board of the Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting for Co-operatives (CEARC), SMU 

Cliff DuRand — Research Associate, Centre for Global Justice, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico 

Hugo Pons Duarte — Special Advisor to the President; with ANEC’s Latin American Cooperativism (SCC) network 

Beatriz Díaz — Senior researcher at FLACSO-Havana, Cuba 

Isaac Saney — Director, Transition Year Program; Senior Instructor, Black Studies, Dalhousie University

Participants

Olga Fernández Ríos — Instituto de Filosofía, University of Havana 

Dean Sinković — Professor, Juraj Dobrila University-Pula, Croatia

Grizel Donestevez Sanchez — Professor, Universidad de Las Villas, Cuba 

Background

Larry Haiven — Director, Masters Management-Cooperatives / Credit Unions program, SMU

2:15pm–3:30pm Cooperatives as an agency of  social transformationModerator: Errol Sharpe Speakers: Sonja Novković Isaac Saney

11:00pm–12:30pm The public policy framework and social impacts of economic reformsModerator: Gavin Fridell Speakers: Beatriz Diáz Olga Fernández Ríos

1:00pm–2:15pm New cooperativismModerator: Milford Bateman Speakers: Marcelo Vieta Wendy Holm

1:30pm–3:15pm Cooperatives and cooperativism in the Cuban modelModerator: Cliff DuRand Speakers: Grizel Donestevez Sanchez Camila Piñeiro Harnecker

AGENDA

Loyola Building, Room 296

3:15pm–4:30pm The importance of local institutional support for cooperative development in Cuba: policies, programs and pitfallsModerator: Sonja Novkovic Speakers: Milford Bateman Dean Sinković

9:15pm–10:15am Cooperativism and the challenges facing Cuba todayModerator: Joseph Tharamangalam Speaker: Hugo Pons

3:30pm–5:00pm Closing panel Whither cooperativism? Where does Cuba go from here? Moderator: Sonja Novkovic

Thursday - April 28 Cuban cooperativism today – developments and challenges 9:00pm–9:15amWelcome / Introduction

10:15pm–11:00am Cooperativism and development in the current conjuncture Moderator: Isaac Saney Speaker: Henry Veltmeyer

Friday – APRIL 29 Cooperative practice 9:00am–10: 30am Cooperativism, social innovation and local development  Moderator: Marcelo Vieta Speakers: Cliff DuRand Marie-J. Bouchard

10:30am–12:00pm Co-operative government and management challenges Moderator: Karen Miner Speakers: Larry Haiven Tom Webb

BACKGROUND PAPERS

The cooperative movement in Latin America and the current contextHenry Veltmeyer 

Solidarity coops as a model of socialist developmentSonja Novković

Cooperativism as a model of socialist development: Contradictions and prospectsIsaac Saney

Descargar el PDF (Lineamientos 2011)

Cooperatives and globalizationTom Webb

Cooperatives and local development in Latin AmericaMilford Bateman 

View all background papers & reports

The Human Development Nexus in Cuba: The role of the UNDPErnan Sarmiento Vento

Solidarity economics and cooperativism in CubaBeatriz Díaz

Auditorías evidencian problemas en aplicación de Lineamientos en empresas cubanas CubaDebate.cu

Cooperative management issuesLarry Haiven

El cooperativismo agropecuario en el nuevo modelo agrario  Grizel Donestevez Sanchez

Quebec’s social economy model – a social innovation systemMarie J. Bouchard

Resolution on the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution (April 2011) Cuba.cu

The new non-agricultural cooperativesCamila Piñeiro Harnecker

Local development and participatory democracy in CubaCliff DuRand

The workshop presentations (from 20 to 30 minutes) will make reference to a series of background and working papers prepared for the event. Subsequently these papers, each with a maximum word count of 8-9,000 words will be reworked and formatted into chapters edited for inclusion in a book on the workshop theme. The book will be published as a part of a Critical Development Studies series with Routledge (UK).

The Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, scheduled April 16-19, will discuss six important documents, including an evaluation of progress in the updating of the country’s socio-economic model Granma.cu

The ‘new cooperativism’ as a viable alternative for CubaMarcelo Vieta 

Agricultural coops and ANAPWendy Holm

Lineamientos de la política económica y social del Partido y la Revolución EcuRed

Following the Special period in the 1990s the Cuban government in 2011 issued a series of Lineamientos, highlighting the key policy directions for transformation of Cuba’s socialist economic model and the decentralization of decision-making.   Co-operatives are taking centre stage in this transformation, although Lineamientos envision a mixed economy with state enterprises, foreign direct investment, franchises, small private enterprises, and self-employment among the enterprise forms. The challenge in this vision is to preserve the unprecedented advances in human development granted by the socialist model, curb income inequality that is on the rise with market liberalization, and maintain socialist values as the base of Cuba’s socio-economic model. What is the role of cooperatives and cooperativism in both capitalist and socialist development? What role can cooperatives play in the current conjuncture of Cuba’s socialist development? What is the impact of cooperativism on Cuba’s new economic model and on other forms of economic enterprise? What policy initiatives and frameworks relate to co-operative practice in the Cuban economy five years after the release of Lineamientos? Do co-operative values and principles play a role?   

A SSHRC-Connection Workshop Halifax, N.S. 28–29 April 2016