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| DGRV Background First Contact More about Cooperatives Company Profile DGRV Presentation DGRV Brochure |
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DGRV Background
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The Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband e. V. (DGRV – German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation – reg. assoc.) is both the apex and auditing association of the German cooperative organisation. We work in the tradition of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen and Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch.
The cooperative link-up group is by far the largest economic organisation in Germany in terms of members, with over 20 million members. Of these, 3.8 million are members of housing cooperatives which are not organised under the umbrella of the DGRV.
Cooperatives are widespread in Germany. Almost every farmer is a member of one or more cooperatives. 60% of all craftsmen, 75% of all retail traders, 90% of all bakers and butchers and over 65% of all self-employed tax advisors are members of a cooperative. The cooperative organisation employs around 600,000 people throughout Germany and provides extensive training programmes for approximately 35,000 people. |
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The Confederation's purpose is to promote and represent the mutual interests of its members and their affiliated cooperative institutions. As a legally registered auditing association, the DGRV can carry out all audits of its regional and national centres, special institutes and federations.
As a cooperating partner of other institutions at home and abroad, it promotes cooperative development primarily in third world countries, but also in Central and Eastern Europe .
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First Contact
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In the Republic of South Africa , first contacts date back to 1995. It is our aim to assist in the development of cooperative organisations, on local and regional/national levels.
Modern industrial companies and service providers, countless small and medium-sized traders and crafts companies, as well as a strong agricultural sector, mark the South African (first) economy. However, the majority of the population especially in the second economy still lack adequate access to support and services for sustainable livelihoods and enterprise development, as well as sustainable access to financial services (savings, credit, insurance, housing).
This situation calls for a much stronger emphasis on mutual self-help and reliance on own resources of people especially in rural and semi-urban areas and a reduced expectation that Government intervenes to assist them. People who form a co-operative or a self-help group have recognised that it is more successful to join hands with others and to start together an initiative from the ”bottom” than to wait for help from the ”top”. |
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The basic idea of this kind of a cooperative is that people such as farmers, craftsmen, traders and other SMMEs decide to join forces for specific economic purposes and to run a business jointly, solving problems fairly and effectively as required by the market situation. Activities, previously performed individually by each member unit are transferred to the cooperative, thus cutting costs and increasing productivity of each member.
Traditionally, it is the medium-sized enterprises which guarantee competitiveness and economic stability. The progress of internationalisation and an increasing market concentration is putting these under great pressure. Cooperations into alliances or link-up groups are a response to this. In this context, the cooperative form is a model of forward thinking cooperation.
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More about Cooperatives
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Cooperatives are voluntary cooperations of members into a joint enterprise with the legally defined goal of promoting the economic activity and the earnings of its members: through achieving favourable joint purchasing and sales conditions, through reducing costs by providing joint services or through guaranteeing the necessary minimum size of an enterprise or access to the market. Economically, the cooperative is a system of outsourcing of functions, within which the members retain their individual independence and the joint enterprise is organised according to the principles of self-help, self-administration and self-responsibility. Cooperatives as part of the small and medium-sized businesses are a vitalising factor for the market in many lines of business.
The significance of self and co-determination and of individual initiative is constantly growing, while state welfare and heteronomy is diminishing. This trend is raising the level of interest in the founding of new cooperatives.
In return, work in areas of considerable scope, such as business administration consulting, IT business, accounting, laboratory business, quality assurance, training and human resource development and activities in the fields of waste disposal, recycling and environmental protection, has emerged. |
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Moreover, cooperatives are no longer being founded only in traditional sectors. Today, cooperatives are also present in growth sectors such as the services industry, in data processing and new media industries and in the education and health sectors. This shows not only that cooperatives are in tune with current developments in society but also that their core concept can be flexibly applied to the most diverse industry structures.
Experts agree that, in the process of globalisation, flexible link-up groups like cooperations are better positioned than the large centrally controlled corporate groups.
Significant factors for success in this process of structural change are flexibility, quick decision making, fast reactions and unbureaucratic structure. Globalisation could thus lead to an intensification of the range of services on offer and member networking in cooperatives.
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