Initiative
The Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative
CLARITY’s main goal is to help national cooperative movements in developing countries create a legal and regulatory environment that enables cooperative businesses to flourish.
Initiative
CLARITY’s main goal is to help national cooperative movements in developing countries create a legal and regulatory environment that enables cooperative businesses to flourish.
The Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative, CLARITY, was created by the members of the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development. CLARITY grew from the shared experiences and convictions of OCDC’s members that outmoded legal systems were barriers to cooperative development in many parts of the world.
The goal of CLARITY is to support cooperative movements as they analyze and change legal and regulatory environments. The result? To create an environment that enables cooperative businesses to flourish.
This site provides the background, training and tools that cooperatives, cooperative development and non- governmental organizations, legal groups and other aid organizations need to address reform.
The U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC) has been a strong supporter of the Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative (CLARITY) since its inception in 2005 by its member international cooperative development organizations. To adapt to changing times and challenges, the OCDC’s International Cooperative Research Group partnered with NCBA CLUSA to review CLARITY’s components and processes. This resulted in the creation of the CLARITY 2.0 Global Working Group, a group of 17 cooperative law experts from around the world who identified new and emerging issues in cooperative legal reform and evaluated current resources under the leadership of Dr. Willy Tadjudje and Edward Potter. The CLARITY International Fellowship was created in recognition and honor of the working group’s contributions.
Policy and Legislative Affairs Officer – USAID/ CLEAR Program, Global Communities, Kenya
NCBA CLUSA Country Representative and CDP Director, Peru
Professor, Popular and Solidarity Economics and Finance Master’s Program, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar
Max Weber Fellow, European University Institute; Researcher, BlockchainGov, Italy
Gutierrez Fiori, Executive Director, National Institute of Cooperativism (INACOOP)
Director, Gaudio Advocacia; Professor of Law, Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Minas Gerais
Titular Magistrate Judge, Court of Appeals of the Judicial Branch, Guatemala
Corporate Attorney III, National Transmission Corporation, Philippines
former Head-Legal Service Unit of the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission, Tanzania
Former Vice-Rector, and Professor, University of Yaounde Faculty of Law, Cameroon
Director of Legislation, ICA Global Office
Attorney, Law School Faculty, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Professor of Solidarity Economy, Cooperativism and Labor Relations, Argentina