Event to Build Capacities in Cooperatives
On May 17-20, 2016, CIFAL Atlanta, in collaboration with the Michael J. Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University (KSU), CENECOOP, Fundepos University, Cooperative of the Americas (COOP), Confederation of Cooperatives of the Caribbean and Central America and South America (CCC-CA) held a four-day learning event at Kennesaw State University on cooperative competitiveness and the digital economy. There were a total of 107 participants and presenters representing cooperatives, universities, financial institutions, cooperative associations/NGOS, and government agencies from the United States and 11 Latin American countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.
The event focused on the digital economy component model and aimed to propose a plan for cooperative use of a virtual platform. The virtual platform would be useful to cooperatives in the Americas in the establishment of processes for exchanging goods and services. Additionally, it would strengthen and take advantage of the benefits that come with the digital economy in order to achieve competitiveness of the companies involved in these processes.
Through the use of multiple panel sessions and presentations, the conference aimed to establish a process for the "adoption and implementation of digital platforms," from concrete experiences of integration (or underdevelopment) in different sectors of the digital economy. A plan was proposed for creating a virtual and universal information bank ("universal exchange") in which cooperatives, through the exchange of data, can access a variety of information that enables the integration and inter-polarity of platforms. In addition, an action plan to achieve universal inter-polarity of the various digital platforms (existing and future) was proposed.