vol. 22 núm. 104 (2014)

Tiene el lector en sus manos el número 104 de la revista Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, editada por el Instituto de Economía Social y Cooperativismo (Indesco) de la Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. En este número, se entrelazan diversas temáticas, todas y cada una de gran impacto para el sector cooperativo.

Organizations dedicated to social services provision acquire increasingly greater importance in all countries. Such entities propose alternative models for society with innovative proposals aimed at reducing social gaps in the cause of peace. They are promoted by governments and adapted for enterprises, using values supported by management theories based on responsibility. This work reviews the character of social enterprises along with their good practices in organizations with social activities while comparing them with the dimensions of social responsibility. It involves a study of multiple cases at nonprofit organizations with respect to academic indicators that were also proposed by experts or social agents, specifically looking at three cases: associations, special centers for employment, and insertion companies in the Region of Murcia (Spain). The research deals with the organizations while analyzing hypotheses about dependent associations and providing statistical results for their characterization.

This article is the result of extensive field work fundamentally focused on the organization of small family producers through agrarian cooperatives in the Baixo Tocantins region (Pará State, Brazil). This type of socioeconomic structure in progressive expansion in the territory under study implies real improvement, not only in its social but also material and cultural aspects, both for the partners–farmers and their families and for the communities where the cooperatives are located and carry out their activities. This substantial improvement has been verified in the territory under study and is reflected in a significant increase in family income, the introduction of new practices and techniques that try to be respectful of the environment and sustainable over time, greater sovereignty in farming practices and decision-making, a noteworthy independence from traditional commercial circuits (intermediation) and the feasibility of rural life for future generations through cooperative territorialisation.

The development of efficient rural cooperatives with staying power over the long term is a fundamental element for agricultural development in Colombia. This research therefore looks at internal and external factors associated with such organizations, which affect their permanence and efficiency in the national rural context. The internal factors refer to the management capacity of these organizations to better handle organization, jointly with their associates. The external factors involve levels of institutional stability and interpersonal trust in the communities where the organizations operate. The document also reflects on the situation of three rural associations in the municipality of Viotá (Cundinamarca) in accordance with some of the referred-to factors.

The line of research that supports this article aims to clarify the following fundamental axes: first of all, to identify which types of cooperatives have arisen in Colombia, along with their characterization, and secondly to establish the milestones that have marked and defined historic periods. The research focuses on addressing the feasibility, usefulness and correspondence of cooperative organizations with the philosophical doctrine of the sector; analyzing the contribution of cooperatives, according to their practices, to development and to boosting their social dimension, along with the influence of their behaviors on consolidation of such organizations with respect to local and national communities; and finally, to establish historical periods of development of cooperative organizations in Colombia.

This study presents an overview of the leadership at Colombian artisanal fishing solidarity organizations, along with the problems they face in their social and entrepreneurial strengthening. The qualitative approach analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with leaders from diverse organizations and associative forms of artisanal fishing in particular. The findings indicate that solidarity leaderships face an ethical and operative dilemma with respect to the democratic management formula and progress in their entrepreneurial structure. In the specific case of artisanal fishing, the socio-environmental context poses a challenge to its competitive position. The conclusion is that there is a need to generate a balanced entrepreneurial vision that would provide sustainability for this economic activity in accordance with the challenges in the context, and that cooperative principles must be applied in harmony with this effort, which signifies recognizing personal and collective interests, differentiated levels of participation and the development of technical-operative capacities for managing associative enterprises.