The main goal of the Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative (CLARITY)
Is to help national cooperative movements in developing countries create a legal and regulatory environment that enables cooperative businesses to flourish.
CLARITY was created in 2005 by the members of the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
It 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.
CLARITY Initiatives focus on developing a cooperative-led process for cooperative legal reform, including: principles for reform, assessment, analysis and outreach, and ways the principles can be applied.
Since its beginning, the CLARITY Initiative has published three reports:
The reports are supported by workshops, lectures and additional tools and materials for cooperative movements as they work toward legal reform.
For in-depth information about CLARITY, visit http://www.clarity.coop.
METRICS
Measuring Cooperative Success is the result of an OCDC project called Measurements for Tracking Indicators of Cooperative Success or METRICS. It identifies four essential indicators for cooperative success:
- Sound business practices
- Strong membership participation
- Support of cooperative apex organizations
- Facilitating economic environment
The METRICS survey process is designed for use by cooperative boards and managers, apex organizations, agencies and government departments concerned with cooperative development and foreign governments providing aid for co-op development. Results are intended to help them assess how cooperatives in low- and middle income countries are performing in regard to the indicators of success. This analysis can pinpoint strengths and weakness and help cooperatives achieve their purposes in lasting and sustainable ways.
