Cooperative Contribution to Ukraine’s Recovery of Agri-Food and Energy Sector Towards EU Integration

online.

Thank you very much. So welcome and I

will open the floor for our event which

is one of the first for the site events

of the Ukrainian recovery conference. We

are very happy that this platform is

making us more and more stronger and we

can voice the needs to advocate for the

small producers for their cooperatives

in Europe. And for us it's very

important to flag that Ukrainian

cooperative movement exists. We

survived. We survived through the

occupation of the Soviet Union of our

country. We survived through a lot of

crisises and now most recently we

survived through the war which is

ruining our fields, ruining our farms

and still we are able to provide the

food not only to Ukraine but also to the

world and that means that more

partnership more stronger we can do in

cooperative mode can bring much more

efforts for the food supply and food

safety for the whole world. I'm uh very

happy to have you here offline and uh

have this nice weather in Dansk but as

well we have a lot of participants from

the online which I'm welcoming to listen

and to be participative as well because

at the end of our event we will have the

interaction for the declaration of uh

our Ninsk event and we would like to

have more and more cooperative Ives to

be included. Not only to support the

words but as well to participate in our

business ideas because business exchange

between the cooperatives which is one of

the principle of intercooperation

can bring the value and worse as well

not only for the nice conferences, nice

smiles but as well for business

cooperation for the export for the joint

events and joint projects and we can see

that in the cooperative world. That's

why I call today for this principle of

intercooperation

and we can make it work because it's

also people based decisions.

Uh I am Sophia Bhortak. I am president

of the rural women business network and

we founded as well our own cope. I am

cope member of the cope academy uh which

unites here you will see our members the

cope developers. We have been learning

about the cooperatives for many years.

Nice experiences,

great results. Especially in Canada, in

Europe, 100 years existence of the

corpse. We didn't have this luxury. We

had to break our nice history of

establishing the cooperatives.

But we have now the good opportunity to

reload, renew, restore and restructure

our business ideas for the cooperatives

of the future. And that is why we are

cooperating with Soo Devi which is

founded by the cooperatives with Mandaru

Foundation from Australia who are eager

to support small producers even though

uh they are very tiny and sometimes not

so easily seen by uh everyone in this

cycle of value chains in Ukraine. And

then we have the copes Europe uh who is

one of the uh our main partner to

develop the cooperative uh ideas and

cooperative networking across the

Europe. Um why we called from Rome to

dansk because in Rome we had the first

initial event for the cooperative to

voice the cooperative to discuss between

the cooperatives and Rome and Lia was

our main partner. finally for the first

time to launch this topic during the

Ukraine recovery conference and we are

very proud to bring other cooperative

members, presidents and managers of the

small Ukrainian cooperatives here and

they will speak today. They will voice

their needs, their achievements. Our

main topics as well late uh mo motive

topics are agriculture and energy.

Energy we were not able to voice last

year a lot because we didn't have any

achievements but this year we also proud

to say that our agriculture cooperatives

finally have the steps and projects

implemented on energy independence and

we don't have the energy cooperatives as

separate existence in Ukraine. There are

some but we need a lot of support as

well in uh this dimension to be

developed. That's why uh we have as well

additional our surprise speakers and

very uh deep with deep understanding of

the energy cooperation of the social

cooperation and as well we you've seen

in the program we will have a lot of new

insights how we can make our cooperative

movement more diverse and stronger and

what can be done together in cooperative

mode.

I am inviting to open our conference and

open our session uh to our best friend

of um our implementing projects

ambassador of Canada.

Yeah.

Good morning to everyone. It's uh it was

such an honor to be asked to open this

because as as uh you know that I am very

much a supporter of this initiative and

have been over actually even 10 years

ago when I was part of the development

team at the Canadian embassy. uh agro

business cooperatives is a very key and

we were just speaking Erin and I in

terms of um as Canada's transitioning to

sort of a trade dev nexus cooperatives

are actually the trade dev nexus in many

ways and projects like this because they

are important. Uh so today is really

about strengthening powerful

connections. uh we are bringing together

Ukrainian, Canadian and European

cooperatives

and we are showcasing why cooperatives

are the key to innovation and in a

sustainability model for going forward.

They are exactly what we need to rebuild

Ukraine's agra food and energy sectors

and it is absolutely a benefit to

Ukraine to Poland and to Europe and so I

think that today's discussion is going

to focus just on that where are the

benefits and uh why it makes sense to

work as partners.

Uh this event builts uh is building on a

great tradition. So last year Sovi in

Italy's uh LEGA KOA hosted a similar

event at URC in Rome and this year we

thank Poland's National Cooperative

Council KRS for their incredible

backing.

Cooperatives are unique participatory

businesses that drive resilient recovery

and this exactly what we need uh in the

world's economy. Because of this, this

workshop touches on every single

dimension including energy. They go hand

in hand.

We are addressing business investment

and local regional recovery and you are

looking closely at energy and

resilience. You are driving EU

integration and the critical human

dimension. So truly you are the nexus of

all of these very important factors.

As you see, Canada's commitment to this

is very strong. Uh we have supported

Ukrainian small holders and uh rural

women in particular for 15 years now and

we believe very strongly that women are

the backbone of community resilience and

food security.

This is why we need to put them in the

center and we need to uh empower them in

their cooperatives and in their

communities

which we are seeing in projects such as

honor. Honor is a new project, a 7-year

million-doll initiative implemented by

Soo Devi. They work handinhand with the

rural women business network and Nepro

agriculture advisory services

and honor empowers 5,000 women farmers

and 50 cooperatives across Ukraine. We

want these businesses to be profitable,

energy efficient, and climate resilient

almost as much as the cooperatives

themselves. They're working very very

hard and I see this. So I've had the

pleasure to visit many events that have

been organized and I see see the

seriousness in the discussion and I feel

it in the people who really believe in

this and believe in what they're doing

because at the end of the day without

dedicated people nothing works. We know

that and I see that dedication and I

hope that will just continue and I know

it will. So today, Canadian and European

experts will share vital best practices

uh discuss democratic ownership, energy

efficiency, and what does alignment with

EU standards mean? What does it really

mean? What really needs to change? What

is already being done well? Where could

maybe Europe learn from the Ukrainian

model? Because I have I believe they

have much to to share as well.

Crucially, the panel also focused on

supporting veterans and advancing

women's leadership. So, I spoke about

women's leadership and why that's

important, but equally important is

thinking how do we integrate veterans

now? Uh they will be coming back. Most

veterans that I have spoken with are not

interested in going back to what they

did previously. They're looking for new

ways to contribute to the country. This

is an opportunity for cooperatives. It's

an opportunity for cooperatives to bring

back uh in particular men into the rural

communities. So I know and I hope that

this is going to be a main topic here

and there there are ways to do this. Um

and again Canada is also working on

veterans issues and other countries as

well. So there's a pairing between other

initiatives here.

So Ukrainian cooperatives, I said have

many success stories to stories to

share. That's a lot of S's. I encourage

the Ukrainian cooperatives here to not

be shy.

This project perfectly aligns national

strategy, prepares Ukraine for the EU

common agriculture policy and we all

know that nothing is more important than

human personal interactions. So this is

why conferences in person are very good

because they bring people together in

ways that email chats cannot.

So it's a bridge

and it's a link and it's a foundation

for a stronger partnership between our

countries, between people and between

cooperatives.

Thank you very much uh to all the

partners to all the participants. I

inspire your I I I wish you a very and

inspiring uh conversation today.

Thank you. Yakuyo tinuyo.

>> Yes. And we have some um presents which

our cooperatives already produced. So

the uh only not only words but as well

something very tasty and very nutritious

can come today with you back home.

Yes.

Yes. Because uh we really believe that

uh our environment which are created by

us for us can be uh or very inspiring

and very supportive or else. So we

choose the cooperative way and we choose

to support uh those who really can

produce the great uh products great

results and that's why I invite for this

uh first session uh with uh kind of uh

statements we want to hear today our uh

manager of the project honor and we

called it honor not occasionally Um, we

were meaning about the honor because the

food for Ukrainians, it's our honor.

Uh, Edin Maki here and um,

and I actually in will invite more

people not to be so alone here.

um Katherine Green our partner from the

Mindaroo Foundation uh coming so long

way from Australia.

So uh we have both Erin and Katherine

make a lot of um personal and physical

efforts to come to the conference and to

be with us today. I am inviting uh WAR

Bros, vice president of the board of the

National Cooperative Council um who is

our host today. We are very thankful to

Poland for many years and Poland is our

best friend, first friend who uh

supported us for all those years and we

would like to have more and more

cooperation between our countries in

matter of cooperative way of uh making

this happen. That's why I am very happy

to have URC organized in Poland this

year and um I will be with you. I

inviting myself as well

but we need help with translation. So

that's why Bhdana come here closer and

uh we will be working this panel with

three languages. So be patient with us.

Erin,

>> thank you Sophia. Thank you and welcome

everyone. Uh I'm as Sophia mentioned,

I'm Marin Mackey. I'm the program

manager for the Honor Project. And I

would like to say thank you to Sophia

and her team at RWBN, the Rural Women's

Business Network, Leica Co-op,

Cooperatives Europe, and the Mindu

Foundation for for pulling this event

together.

uh at when we're at a conference at the

Ukraine Recovery Conference, one

question should be guiding us. Not only

what will be rebuilt, but who will shape

it, who will own it, and who will

benefit from recovery.

That is why today's discussion really

matters. Last year in Rome, Ukrainian

partners and international cooperative

movements began a political dialogue on

the role of cooperatives in Ukra in

recovery. This year in Gdansk, we must

move from recognition to concrete

commitments from various sectors.

Commitments for investments in

technologies, technical assistance,

training, market access, investments for

enabling environments, and the creation

of new partnerships.

I work with Soo Devi, a Canadian

international organization based in

Quebec and supported by Quebec's

cooperative movement.

Our mission is to improve living

conditions by supporting sustainable,

inclusive, locallyowned cooperatives.

We have worked in Ukraine for over 16

years alongside cooperatives, family

farms, and rural women. Since 2025, we

have been co-leading the Honor project.

Honor is a 13 million euro project

implement implemented over seven years

with Soo Devi and its long-standing

partners, the Rural Women's Business

Network and the NEPA Petro Agricultural

Advisory Services.

Together, we're strengthening uh climate

smart agriculture, the Ukrainian

cooperative movement, and women's

leadership in agra food systems.

Honor demonstrates what international

cooperation can truly look like. In

practice, Canada supports the financing

our Canadian government. Our cooperative

movement mobilizes expertise in

governance, management, and cooperative

development. And above all, our

Ukrainian partners provide the

leadership and the experience of keeping

cooperatives, family farms, and

communities functioning during the war.

This experience teaches us that

cooperatives are central in recovery.

They are businesses that pull risks,

consolidate production, and attract

investment.

They anchor economic activity in local

communities. Agriculture and energy

cooperatives can strengthen food and

energy resilience through local

processing and decentralized renewable

energy sources.

This is vital in Ukraine right now.

Cooperatives can also help Ukrainian

producers meet European standards and

reach new markets. And because they are

collectively owned and democratically

governed, they give women, veterans,

displaced people, and family farms a

meaningful role in shaping that

recovery.

But isolated projects cannot unlock all

of this potential.

Governments and financial institutions

must integrate cooperatives into

recovery policies and investment uh

instruments.

The cooperative movements across Europe,

Canada, and beyond must also mobilize

their expertise and build direct and

lasting partnerships with Ukrainian

cooperatives.

The Canadian Cooperative Movement has

begun doing this with the Honor Project.

We invite others to contribute their

financing, knowledge, markets, and

networks to this effort. The declaration

that we advance today must be more than

a statement of support because we should

establish together clear commitments and

weave new accountable partnerships.

Ukraine's recovery must be locally

rooted, inclusive, and resilient and

aligned with its future. Cooperatives

can help make that vision real. Thank

you.

Thank you so much for your um for your

comments. Um my name is Katherine Green.

I'm from Mindaroo Foundation. You might

not have heard of Mindaroo Foundation.

It's Australia's largest philanthropy.

Um and unlike my colleague here, we um

have have only been active in Ukraine um

since the scaleup of the invasion in

2022.

But Mindaroo Foundation was built on an

idea of forging a fair future, of

actively challenging inequalities and

campaigning for meaningful change both

in Australia and around the world. And

so it was a natural place for us to lean

into um although we are many many

thousands of miles away, it was natural

for our founder Dr. Andrew Forest and

Nicola Forest to be called to respond uh

to Ukraine. And while our support of

Ukraine started with humanitarian

response, it was very uh soon that we

saw that actually we needed to be

supporting the agricultural sector of

Ukraine because it was very clear to us

that this is where the recovery of

Ukraine will be driven from. And so we

have supported a number of different um

agricultural recovery initiatives from

largecale grain shipments to um grain

storage. We're working with some of our

partners up the back at TBI around

policy reform. Um but when we saw Rural

Women's Business Network um and the

event that you spoke about um at in

Italy last year at the Ukraine Recovery

Conference, it was a very natural

progression that we would gravitate to

support those very people that are

driving uh recovery um at a very um

ground level. Um because we know being

Australian, we we are also built on the

back of farmers. We know that it is the

human element um as as our colleague

mentioned it's the humans it's the the

women the men the communities in these

regional communities that will drive

recovery that are driving recovery. Um

so it was a very natural evolution to

invest more deeply in the small and

medium-siz entrepreneurs and farmers um

that rural women's business network

supports. So we are so proud to be able

to support rural women's business

network to implement co-op era project

which is working with the very small um

local producers so that they can be

supported on that pathway to have a

meaningful and real contribution to the

larger um recovery of the agricultural

sector that as you mentioned we all rely

on because Ukraine really is the bread

basket of the world. It's not just

something that we say. It is the

reality. And so without the recovery of

the agricultural sector in Ukraine, we

all lose. Um it's also not lost on me

that this year is the UN international

year of the woman farmer. Um so it's a

really great coincidence that we're

starting this project together with you

this year. And the question of who leads

the recovery, I think, is not a

peripheral one. We already know it's the

women who are leading the recovery in

Ukraine. And it's the women farmers in

particular.

I was reading some of the statistics

that Soph Sophia sent to me um the other

day about the impact of the ongoing

sustained attacks on energy

infrastructure. And I think when you're

in Australia and you read the headlines,

you know, you can see the the impact on

the infrastructure, but I think what we

don't really see is what impact it has

on our small holder farmers in Ukraine.

The one that are the ones that are

continuously getting up every day and

trying to sustain production for their

own recovery and resilience, but also

for the wider um agricultural recovery.

And I think that's why it's so important

that we're starting to talk about energy

resilience as part of agricultural

recovery. It's for me it's one of the

most key things that we can be focusing

on going forward.

Um

and co-ops are critical to that. Um we

know from Poland and the uh success that

the cooperatives in Poland have had um

that that this is possible that

cooperatives are the way to um

transition and transform the

agricultural sector. And while Australia

is very far away, we also see that in

Australia, some of our strongest, most

dominant um organizations are

cooperatives in Australia. And I I I

look forward to being able to connect

rural women's business network um with

some of our very strong agricultural

cooperatives and maybe a visit to

Australia one day um to to meet with

them. Um I think we have a really great

opportunity because the 2030

agricultural strategy of the ministry

sees a place for cooperatives. They are

very firmly in that strategy as a key

path for recovery. I think the challenge

now for all of us is to embed small

producers into Ukraine's EU integration

roadmap as a priority, not just words on

a page. Um, and I think one of the

things that I would like to leave people

with is we met Sophia and and were

really taken by the work that they did

and saw the impact of it when we came to

this session last year at URC. So I

would encourage anyone who's here or

online um who is in a position to

contribute to supporting this effort um

this is this is your opportunity to see

the work that rural women's business

network do with agricultural um

cooperatives um and continue to to join

in the collective uh support of of this

transition and transformation of the

agricultural sector. So thank you and

thank you for having us.

Thank you.

I am representing National Council of

Cooperatives in Warso. I would like to

speak Polish.

Chief

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Okay, thank you for attention.

Um,

Fore

infrastructure.

Thank you very much. I'm uh here with

you the whole day but my statement today

uh will be about uh the day of woman

farmers which UN already announced for

this year and last year it was UN year

of the cooperatives. both years are

matching very perfectly with the mission

which rural women business network which

co-op academy took on our shoulders. So

we voluntarily uh took the

responsibility to support and to

advocate for the small producers because

we are one of them. We are living in the

villages. We are having the strikes and

missile attacks every day from our enemy

and um mostly they want to destroy our

country, our infrastructure and uh

Russia is not the one who will negotiate

the peace for the future. It's very

obvious and we need to take this into

the basis of our next decision. So the

best choice for us was to sustain to be

uh strong and to fight for our

independence. Uh this is first and a lot

of our uh members of the cooperatives

they are serving in the army and our

head of the cooperatives had to leave

their homes. they have had to take

another kind of activities which they

never did in their previous life and

stand as defenders for their country and

our independence. So that's why I want

to dedicate this part um of the

statements to thanks to Ukrainian army

which is holding the whole uh

possibility for us to live in Ukraine to

still produce process and even think

about the EU integration pro process

about partnering uh to the in this way

and changing a lot of um legislations

which is now a lot of burden on our

ministries. But at the same time um we

understand that the limitation which

comes together with the war uh need the

very direct strategies. When we talk

about the cooperatives, we are not

talking about the romantic uh way of

understanding why people would love each

other. We talk about the very uh

concrete and very direct activities to

connect the producers with suppliers,

suppliers with buyers and how this

connection that how this uh added value

in all these value chains we will talk

today can work towards the well-being of

the rural people. Uh because we

understand that cities they are

attacked. You see a lot in the media

that there was attack on cave, there was

attack on some bigger cities and some

infrastructure was ruined. But very rar

rarely you would hear about what is

happening in the villages. How much

missiles are burning down the harvest.

uh how many today you will have the

possibility to ask our grain farmers

cooperative saksahan which is here about

how many drones they are dragging out of

the fields every day so um in our case

you see me I'm not complaining or crying

but we are ready to fight that's why the

uh innovations and uh kind of uh

creativity how to protect ourselves how

to still produce the and collect our

harvest process and even uh be

competitive in all world markets um is

the way how we would like to build our

strategies and how to make our mindset

and how to develop our mindset for the

future. Um for the small producers and

stories which you will hear today uh pay

attention to the uh resilience which the

small producer right now are developing

as part of their business process

because uh uh this is something which

need to be learned and um I'm very

thankful to uh Mr. Voldemar because he

was talking about the small children

youth. Last year rural women business

network took this challenge and we are

working with the young girls in the

villages. We created separate young

women in rural areas program because we

see how much challenges they have not

access no access to resources no support

sometimes not even from their families

and how much their leadership is one of

our asset for our future. So that's why

we are talking about the cooperatives in

business but we are talking as well

about the people and their real life

situation and how to make them more

stronger in the conditions which hits

them every day. So thank you inviting

you to the next panels and for

discussion and networking as well.

Thank you.

and you will have uh something

nutritious from the corporate.

>> Thank you.

Thank you very much for the uh

introductions and uh we are going to

couple of very deep topics which we are

voicing uh part particularly in this URC

conference because this can be also part

of our home tasks. We are taking not

only presentations to the conference but

very usually we are taking homework when

we come back from this kind of platforms

and conferences. I am inviting Agneska

Malishvka

to to have um some kind of sharing of

the knowledge and experience here. She

is the vice president of Copako Jeka and

she will tell you more. I am inviting as

well Marcelo Vieta from the University

of Toronto and our scientist team member

of the project honor.

I am inviting Peter Couchman from the

demos partners who is many years already

part of our cooperative resilience

concept building and I'm inviting as

well Lucash Palutski the president of

the national audit union of energy

cooperatives. I understand that all

other auditory are waiting um about

this topic to be said so many times in

each last speakers.

Um I am heading to you and um

thank you Sophia for uh floor. Uh my

name is Agneska Malishvka. I'm vice

president coeka

and in Poland president Polish chamber

of milk. This is a d ass association

especially we are cooperatives all of

the most important cooperatives they are

in my structure in my uh in my uh member

of my uh association.

Thanks for the invitation for this

extremely important uh conference and

topic which will be continue tomorrow

and Friday also because recover Ukraine

is very uh deep in our heart. Thanks for

uh

also Sophia uh for for this important

highlight topic about the woman because

when we are talking about agriculture

also in Poland and across the Europe we

thought that agriculture is very connect

with men it's a man hard work but

sometimes we forget that most of this

topics is in the women's shoulders

and especially in your country full of

respect for the army, full of respect

for all the citizen. But in my heart the

woman position in this moment, Ukraine

especially Ukrainian woman position is

unbelievable important because the men

most of the men they are on the front uh

in the army and when I have the many

discussion with my friend from Ukraine

because of course we are talking each

other about not only agriculture sector

but since the moment when Russia

attacked your country. We are talking

about also support and hers for uh

citizens uh and com companies also and

organization. I hear how extremely

important roles have a woman at the

moment and full of respect for you for

your colleague and uh and it's

unbelievable important to talk about

this all

possibilities when we have also so

coming back to Copa Cojeka and uh and my

my my my short five minute in

introduction this Copa coa they prepare

me speaking note for I think 50 minutes

minimum. Okay, let's let's let's go to

to to to to shortly first what is the

copa coeka because part of part of you

probably never hear this uh this name

copa and cojeka this is the biggest lobe

uh association uh in European uh union

we have uh

two uh two

type of uh point of view which is co

combine together because we are

representing farmers more than 22

millions farmers in across the European

Union and cooperatives which they are

working together because without farmers

you don't have cooperatives without

cooperatives we don't have a farmers and

in this in this goal that in this case

our goal is to be type of the voice

farmers and corporatives uh When we are

met with European Commission and estab

European Commission establish the law

and all of this is our voice goal to to

talk about farmers and cooperatives

not only problems but also we are

looking for solutions for all of the

problems. Okay. At the moment as you

know very well European farmers and

cooperatives we have a many challenges.

war and climate change. uh most of this

situation what that like uh like uh Iran

and uh war and uh close the uh trans

transport logistic through the but it's

not only

it's not it's only one of the part

discussion because among the uh the the

European uh association and among the

Europe cooperatives farmers we are

talking about also very important uh

goal talk uh and topic uh young

generation it's extremely important

because okay every people know that

climate is change every people know that

we have a war and fertilizer price

extremely important we have the many

challenges because uh you know uh animal

uh uh disasters and everything of it's

connect with agriculture sector our

effects, efforts and our uh to

work every every day step by step we we

see that

month by month it's more challenges for

agriculture sector and what is the end

of the way we need to looking for

solution we need to looking for solution

not only for farmers cooperatives but we

need to looking for also solution for

our citizens because

food production is not only part of the

hobby sometimes because when we see how

the cost production is now many farmers

said that this is the hobby at the

moment it's not only business yes

especially the small farmers and the

small farm we which we need to support

them especially because the big farms

the big companies they survive life

probably easier in this uh extremely

time. But uh we need to think also about

security because at this moment

especially you know very well at this

moment food production is also uh

security for European citizens and this

is our goal. Of course as a European

farmers and producer we have millions of

uh uh systems when which we need to

implement our production the primary

production processing all of this moment

also we have many problems with you uh

unfair trade practics in the you know

the retailers and this is also one of

the big challenge for for farmers and

for uh cooperatives and companies.

If we are talking with young farmers,

what is the most important for you at

the moment to develop your farm to

develop your company the small companies

and cooperatives. They said that in the

end of the way we want to see profit

because it's not only the huge profit.

We want to see the profit which help us

survive in this critical uh moment

because crisis as you know very well

sometimes is the big sometimes we have

the good uh salary sometimes we have

very uh low salary but my uh opinion is

in this critical situation

uh cooperative structure is a good

answer for this uh moment especially for

young people. Three days ago, no sorry,

last week in uh in Warso, it was a

fmpass conference organized by by uh the

the European Investment Bank, European

Commission and also Commissioner Hansen

was in this conference also. uh and we

were talking with young people because

the conference was dedicated for the

young people and it was a one question

how we need to support the young people

financial good tools and this good tools

and part of the financial was uh like uh

like um

the bank cooperatives also we have in

Poland and this is also answer for the

question the small steps by steps

support to survive this uh extremely

crisis situation

but for my because I don't I know my

time is uh is limited in I want to uh I

want to al also tell my colleague from

Ukraine um about accession

we had this process very long process

and in this process we are preparing our

uh companies, our farmers and markets.

It was very long, not easy uh process

but is possible. But we need to think

about the quality of the product. We

need to think about how we need to

concentrate not for the huge uh you know

the market but how we need to

concentrate step by step about the uh

quality for example about the uh some of

unique

uh

value of the products and also

no mother uh all system should be uh

should be implemented. This is extremely

important. Of course, in the long

process, we lost a lot of farmers

because farmers said that it's too

difficult to adapt this law. It's too

difficult to adapt uh the new point of

view about farming, agriculture. But

this farmers who decide to made this

step, who made this for and they

concentrate how to change our uh the the

farm and cooperatives they survive and

in Poland for example dairy sector we

have a fantastic topofthe-top

dairy cooperatives which is super good

um as a business model also full of

success. Farmers also very happy in this

case. It's not easy. It was not easy

also. But thanks for our very hard work

and farmers hard work, we have a full of

success in Polish dairy sector and I

wish you also the same.

Okay. Well, thank you very much. It's an

honor for me to be here and involved in

uh research uh in support of um of the

Ukrainian cooperative movement. So,

thank you for uh thank you to the

Ukrainian colleagues for for the invite

and it's it's a real honor. Um today I I

want to speak briefly about the role the

potential role of social cooperatives in

the recovery um uh and the

reconstruction and the continued um

development of uh of Ukraine and its um

and its people. So social cooperatives,

what is a social cooperative? It's a

democratic enterprise that pursues

economic activity and an explicit social

mission. So, it's owned and governed by

its members and the community. And it

has one person, one vote. So, it's a

cooperative with a strong social

mission. It's not a charity. It's not a

state agency. It's a democratic and

community centered enterprise with a

social purpose. It has a long history in

Europe. It gets its start in Italy. And

there's two types of social

cooperatives, type A and type B. This is

also European policy as well.

Type A social cooperatives deliver

social and health services.

Type B social cooperatives are about

work integration. Right? So let me talk

briefly about type A. type A. It manages

things like nursing homes, nurseries,

disability centers, home care. They fill

in gaps that the market won't serve and

the state can't reach and they're driven

by social utility. For example, Italy,

65% of all social cooperatives in Italy,

the biggest social cooperative movement

are type A social cooperatives.

Type B social cooperatives create

employment for disadvantaged groups um

and workers in in any sectors. So people

with disabilities, ex- prisoners,

immigrants in Ukraine, IDPs, veterans,

etc. Reintegrates them back, helps them

reintegrate back into uh into the

workforce. Uh the EU standard is that

30% of employees of social cooperatives

have to come from otherwise excluded

groups. In Poland has a very strong

social cooperative movement and here

it's 50%. So that's a little bit of a

background of of what a social

cooperative is. They're proven at scale

across cultures, legal systems, and

recovery contexts. So let me give you

some quick statistics.

Italy 14,700

plus social cooperatives across Italy

employing 350,000

people.

France and its social and solidarity

economy sector annual turnover

contributed also by social cooperatives

10.3 billion euros 1,400

social cooperatives across France

workers in in French um uh so 1400 uh

social cooperatives in France Polish in

the Polish system almost 1,200 Polish

social cooperatives social cooperative

get their start in Italy. Um, in 1991,

the community begins social cooperatives

and then the state legalizes and

legislates social cooperatives. They

started in the 70s and 1980s in Italy

from local communities, families of

people with disabilities and

disadvantaged peoples organizing, coming

together and creating cooperatives to

fulfill these social needs. And then the

state recognizes that that these are

actually very effective and efficient

ways of reconstructing

um the disadvantaged communities and and

and disadvantaged people across Italy.

Um in France um there are

multistakeholder cooperatives. Um and

also there's a there's what's called in

France an isus enterprise solutation

system. Poland, I would like to suggest,

is a very good model for Ukraine to

adapt the social cooperative system. In

Poland, social cooperatives were part of

the postcommunist rebuild and its

integration into the EU. In Poland,

municipalities and NOS's can found

pathways to a social cooperative as well

as um individuals uh getting together

and founding this cooperative. In

Poland, they have a dual social mission,

public benefit and professional social

integration. Polish so social

cooperatives, 60% consist of women uh

worker members

and 50% of its workforce more than 30

the 30% that's the EU standard of its of

its workers have to be from

disadvantaged

uh communities.

And Romania is also an interesting case

that offers an accreditation system that

could be a good model for Ukraine to

use. So the social cooperative solution

for Ukraine's social recovery

challenges. So the question is not only

how to build Ukraine

uh but also how to seize on the social

capital and local assets it already has

while ensuring local Ukrainians have a

stake in and control rebuilding their

economies. I want to argue that social

cooperatives are one way of doing this.

Social cooperatives offer a proven

democratic instrument for community-led

recovery. 30 plus years of evidence

across Europe and beyond, including

places like Quebec. Social cooperatives

can help reintegrate IDPs,

uh, uh, internally displaced persons,

veterans, and people with disabilities.

They can help reconstruct a fractured

economy, reconnect communities cut off

from public services, assist overwhelmed

welfare systems, and reboot municipal

services. Social cooperatives can

support econ economic recovery above and

beyond just GDP measures and they can

help in the reconstruction in ways that

do not bypass communities. This is very

important. The communities, local people

can lead the way, both urban and rural

as well. and they directly address

dependency and inequality the build

local and social resilience. So to

conclude, let me say here three uh a

three-point policy proposal that Ukraine

could potentially pick up. First,

Ukraine already has lots of uh mention

of the social capacity of cooperatives

in its currently existing uh legislative

framework. Um this is the beginning

point. uh Ukraine can already does have

many social enterprises but can convert

them or create new social enterprises

through social cooperatives then we can

Ukraine can think about potentially

adapting a dedicated social cooperative

act as as some other countries have. So

short-term and medium-term um this is

the possibility and what I'd like to

suggest or what I'd like to uh uh

indicate or underscore is that Poland

actually provides and its social uh

cooperative act provides a very uh

important um model that Ukraine can

model. Um so second uh you uh to the

need to create uh the fiscal and

procurement framework uh that that is

necessary. So for example in other

European countries we see corporate

income tax exemptions for social

cooperatives. We see also asset lock and

indivisible reserves right that secure

the long-term sustainability

um and uh survivability of social

cooperatives. um social security relief

for hiring veterans uh IDPs and disabled

workers and also and this is very

important in in the broader

reconstruction um and uh resiliency of

the Ukraine economy reserved public

procurement for certified social

cooperatives. So social social

cooperatives can have um uh a unique

position in in public procurement of

services. This is what we see in um in

in European countries also in in Poland

as well. And finally, um there must be

investments in in in support in the

ecosystem with international partners

and and here's where international

partners can step up. Uh many already

have as we've heard today. Uh but also

there's connections to various sources

of funding in the EU for example

connected to the EU social economy

action plan of 2023 and the European

social fund. uh plus uh there could be

engagement with the A with Cooperatives

Europe um and and others. So there's

many opportunities for this avenue and

um uh really happy to be just uh

discussing it and introducing it to you

all today. So thank you very much.

Oh, good morning everybody. cooperative

have since their very earliest of days

played a key role in the journey from

war to peace. The great Canadian

cooperator professor in McFersonen says

peace building happens in communities

not on battlefields and it is in this

context that cooperatives can make their

greatest contribution to building a more

peaceful world. Our friends at Coptive

Europe have produced an excellent report

on the role that co-ops have played

around the world who contribute to peace

called copives and peace and you can

find that online.

But whilst many have looked generally at

the role of co-ops and peace, um we our

partners on the on the honor program and

our friends there have looked more

carefully at one issue. Namely, how

those who've defended Ukraine against

Russian imperialism deserve a better

future. They deserve a cooperative

future. We looked at how cooperatives

have been used to support veterans

explicitly in a range of countries

around the world, ranging from South and

Central America through to the Balkans

and back in time as well. There's a rich

long legacy of this. The experiences of

all those communities and of all those

veterans were very very different. But

there remain three main learnings we'd

argue for Ukraine from this learnings

that need to be put into place to unlock

that benefit.

The first of those was that government

needs to focus on the issue that in

particular they need to let veterans

know that they care about their future

and recognize that cooperatives could

play a role in shaping that future.

That means actually giving proper

recognition under law to the role of

veterans cooperatives, amending current

legislation to include reference. Not

that it's particularly always needed for

the change, but it sends the message

this matters. It sends that most vital

message of we care. It needs to be

included visibly within policy. Once

again, it's that conversation that

entices more to play a role.

It needs to be promoted to veterans

before the end of their service when

people are beginning to consider how

they want to rebuild their lives. Being

aware of the cooperative possibility at

that point is more effective than after

they've come outside and gone down the

path that many veterans will do around

the world of suffering and uncertainty

within it. and they need to make sure

that there is dedicated support

available for people that choose to take

that path.

Then the second element that we had on

there was to have that coordinated

support. It's no good expecting veterans

to navigate a complex and daunting world

out there alone. That we need to align

everything for them from business

advice, legal advice, finance, industry

knowledge, and family support.

The easier you make the path, the more

veterans will choose to walk it.

And the final learning that we had when

we looked around was to think in the

round. And the best example of this we

found in history um that in the before

the first world war in England um aided

by the great copive um pioneer Sir Horus

Plunkett from Ireland a new idea was

developed called land settlement

associations.

Here they didn't just promote the idea

of founding an individual enterprise,

but to build clustered communities for

those who would would be returning from

war that met all their needs of work, of

family support, housing, finance,

schooling, every aspect of community

life. And this idea had such a resonance

that it became a key policy not for

veterans but actually for dealing with

1930s mass unemployment.

And therefore these models were actually

built. It contains some of the

innovations of the day. It's one of the

first communities ever for instance to

have social workers available to support

all members of the community to take

that forward. So the idea was built and

by the 1970s those clustered communities

of cooperation accounted for over 40% of

UK horiculture sales. Um one of the most

successful copy forms ever seen within

the UK. In fact it was so successful

that by the 1970s Margaret Thatcher and

her government sold it off for profit

because it still retained government

connection. But that shows its value. it

was worth if it's worth having, it's

worth selling off sadly. And so that one

was lost. But the learning that this was

the ultimate veteran model still remains

and that could be adapted to modern

times bringing in new issues as well

such as energy that we're about to hear

from and so on. This idea if if we think

in the round we can give veterans the

support for the future that is in the

round as well. So in the report we

produced for our partners on there, what

we said of cooperatives that if they're

used well, their role in postconlict

reconstruction extends far beyond just

the significant economic benefit that

they bring. They're part of asserting

the identity of a people that conflict

has scarred in so many ways. They are

builders of a world beyond conflict. So

our message from looking at how others

have used this in their determination to

support veterans and thinking of how

Ukraine can support its own is think

ahead on this. Think visible. Think

coordinated and above all else think

cooperative. Thank you.

Thank you for your invitation. I don't

have any speech so I will speak from my

mind. like Donald Trump. I hope better.

Uh I'm not sure I'm not sure do you know

but uh cooperativism is a Polish

invention. This year we have an

anniversary 210 years ago in Polish city

Kubashov is on the Polish lit Polish

Ukrainian border. There was a guy

stashitz and he had some land and he had

some peasants when in fact they were

slaves. And once he go out and say this

land is yours now you're free men now

you can be a farmers but I have idea we

can have a cooperative for farmers and

you can join some of them joined and

Kubeshov from small town became second

biggest city in Lublin area Lublin

region bigger than Zamos for example and

this is uh our history of cooperativism.

We are proud about this. 210 years ago,

uh the cooperativism started in this

country and I think it's the oldest

cooperative in the world. So I need to

tell that it's important for us. And

about energy cooperatives,

uh you know we Polish we love uh

rebellion uh Banana in Polish. Yes.

Yeah. I think Ukrainian love rebellion

do. I remember orange revolution in

2004. I was there. Uh and even if we

don't have a war,

we need rebellion again because it's

power part of our soul in 2022 when the

war started. I was in Kubesho by the way

on the border and we had another

rebellion, humanitarian rebellion. the

whole nation united for something

against something evil bad against

Russia against Putin to help Ukrainians

and it this is very important for us why

I'm talking about this because I think

energy cooperatives are kind of

rebellion

um we want to change our energy sector

because we have one of the most

expensive energy in European Union now

yes and it's because of the domination

of state big monopolists.

They are our pujin. They are our uh

evil. And we know that we know why this

energy is so expensive and why they have

so big profits.

And do we believe in this opportunity?

Do we believe that it's possible? Yes,

we believe because we have hope. We have

hope because in Poland we are after one

revolution in another se sector in

telecommunication.

20 years ago the Polish government

agreed that there there can be something

else than just a monopolist in

telecommunication.

And now in Poland we have 3,600

telecommunication operators.

It's more than in all other European

countries together. And we have the

cheapest and the fastest internet in

Europe now. So if you will go to small

village and you will ask for internet,

you will get free offers. Yeah. So we

believe that it's possible.

Do we have agreement? Uh do we have uh

agreement with the government? Do they

agree to do that? I'm not sure. Some of

them say yes. Some of some of them they

are not happy with energy cooperative.

But it's good. We like to struggle. We

like revolution. It's no problem for us.

We have something to fight really. And

there is another thing two another

things. First it's rur rural areas and

this is how electricity work there. If

you want to be a farmer in Poland,

especially if you produce milk for

example, you need to have power

generator.

>> Yeah. Yeah. If you don't have you cannot

be a farmer in Poland. Yes. Why the

state the state companies does not

deliver energy to rural areas?

There are few reasons. One of them is

objective like war for example. But

sometimes they just don't care. there is

no enough consumers there. The cost of

the network is very big. Even if they

have European money, they don't care.

Yeah. So this what we do as energy

cooperative and the the the roots of

energy cooperative in Poland is in the

uh the ministry of rural areas. Yes. The

the the farming and rural areas and they

invented energy cooperatives to support

people in small villages. And this is

our this are our roots of this

initiative. Yes. And first to help

ourselves. It's not for ideas. It's not

for emotions. It's for goals. We want to

produce milk, produce food to have. We

pay for energy like people in the

cities, but we don't get the quality of

service. Yeah. So and another thing um

energy transition

if we want to produce our energy from

renew renewable renewable sources

all of them this installation will be on

the rural areas not in the city there

will be no I don't know biogas in the

city uh there will be no um wine

tarabines in the city yes so the this

area the river areas is the most

important in this transition and

sometimes we forgot about this that it's

it will not happen in the city

and one thing I want to say again well

another thing I I love that we have so

many women here it's this is very funny

in energy sector

because if you will go to the conference

energy conference in Poland there will

be lots of men and no women

and in energy cooperative we have lots

of women what lots of women leaders who

who really work on the small level and

they do that you know uh in our union

it's in in in in the board we have women

in the

audition committee we have women so the

and this what I like I'm according to my

education I'm social psychologist I'm

sometimes on

on this energy energy conferences and

there are men men men and one female

came and they watch her what she's doing

here and and and I want to say to this

guys

be ready for the new time

that there will be a women there will be

simple people who will ask you about

your goals about your targets about

about what are are you doing with our

sector? And there were there will be

people who will ask questions

about for example uh atomic power plant

we want to build in Poland, the most

expensive atomic power plant in the

world and when when we will finish it,

it will produce the most expensive

energy in the world. Guinness book of

records. Yes. And we as a citizens, we

will ask these questions. Yeah. So

I'm talking about revolution. It's

because revolution because we need

emotions. Yeah. To have motivation.

But we need to focus what we want to do

and why we want to do it. Yes. I think

energy cooperative can be can be a good

solution for Ukraine.

Uh I was after the war I was on the

behind the border on the west part of

Ukraine. I saw people without

electricity, without gas and how how

they try to survive this this time and

if they could produce energy for

themselves.

Uh it will help them. Yeah. And but and

the the last question is can we produce

energy for ourselves?

I think it's a human right. It's a human

right.

And but did any human rights

was a presence present from somebody?

No. All humans rights were a goal in a

fight. We have to fight for it. Um yeah,

we have to fight and we will do that.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. And uh we will have

something good for you to take back home

and remember about um most inspirational

speeches about the cooperatives I've

heard for last half of year frankly

because um here about the fights and

about um this spirit which drives us and

motivate us uh to take what is not

granted and very often the cooperatives

are not something to be as a present as

well. It's it's not something one comes

and say why you want don't want to be

more independent more self-reliable.

uh usually people have to make a lot of

efforts to become uh self-motivated to

fight against those challenges and maybe

some uh institutions some people around

and then finally uh as it was mentioned

a lot of um legislation need to be

changed and this is also not very easy

to convince as uh Agneska also said

about most comfortable way how to make

this legislation environment the state

demands um more uh con like comfortable

for our well-being

um because another system taxation

regulations and other systems are uh

more obvious for the state to regulate

our life but cooperation as we see and

as we've heard can be very different can

be can go from social to energy some

very high infrastructure level and build

better conditions for us to operate and

to be sustainable and to be happy in

this life. And actually this is I like

the most and thank you for the story

about the Polish cooperatives because um

my family comes from the border between

Poland and now it's Poland from the

small village Hudna by Senoke. So I have

the this blood. I have this Polish

origin and I feel it when you have uh

something to be uh fighting for. It

makes your efforts more um let's say

focused and resources more accessible

even if there was no before any will any

resources. So thank you very much for

this panel and I think our online

offline participants enjoyed. I am um

very happy as well to shift to another

part of our uh today's program and uh to

present the Ukrainian experience and

what we already have on our uh

achievements but as well what challenges

us and what help and support we still

need. So about the Ukrainian

cooperative's experience in wartime

resilience in our steel production which

we do uh and continue to process even

more. I would say that our experience

tells that if before we had a lot of raw

materials, raw products production

during the war time we were without

electricity, without markets, a lot of

our consumers just fleeted Ukraine. But

we start even deeper processing and even

more um sophisticated way how we can

market including

e-commerization

including very high level technologies

we would like to use because for us

right now technology is not something

out of the rocket science right now for

us technology is the way how we can

continue our life. So I am inviting Oena

Valichko

our communication lead advisor and uh

she's managing the energy project Tresco

which is already one and a half year

implementing the resilience energy

initiatives and Alexander Suprun the

president of the cooperative Sakahine

which is the grain producers

cooperative. I'm inviting Arena Wovik

who is our program manager for the

economy support for the cooperatives

and specialist on business planning and

advisor for the business process

development. Uh I'm inviting Marina Dush

who is our manager and um accounting

genius for the dairy cooperative who

survived so many challenges. I am

inviting Salomia Brat who is the

president of the craft producers uh

cooperative which is marketing

cooperative farmers

and um giving the floors to them

and you can uh use your translators to

hear uh information about uh cases from

our cooperatives. Yes.

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think about their membership

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product and service quality.

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members and what you guys need

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applications

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cooperative development. But I'm so

proud anyways that in a world in this

very difficult time we still find

initiative

to support cooperatives.

It was a big reminder that this is our

this is our solidarity. This is our

inclusion. This is our everything. That

is why we're turning a new page to start

a program

for those eager to do something

and we are awaiting a new cooperative

cohort and that's been supported by

so we also continuing

honor project

but we have so many challenges so many

problems to fixy

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the rest of the corporate with all the

organizations

to get involved and help our

crucial

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ask

cooperative leaders to share their

experience

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to

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morning

region as well with our service.

Beginning of 2022

when everything had started.

It just happened that that facility

where we brought our project, it was

bombed heavily.

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and

we lost

one buyer

has members 20 female

and one associated with

family

and vegetable farm.

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vegetable dimension not only milk. No

not only

with the financial support

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we had no transportation of ourselves. I

mean our own wasn't enough and there was

nothing we had available. protection.

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uh so we have the possibility to

communicate and uh before I will uh let

cooperative members go to the auditory

uh we can have some discussion and

questions and then I will handle the

microphone to Erin and uh Gabriela for

the commitments and ideas how we really

can build this partnership and what we

will do as the home task next. So, uh if

you have any comments, any statements,

any questions. Yep.

>> Uh thank you very much. I'm Mandra Novak

um head of agriculture education

committee at the youth council min

economy um and I'm also doing

international projects with Jaika with

World Bank and um um I have one comment

and one question one comment is what

Miss Sophia was speaking about this u

idea of setting tours and trying to

actually catch the visitor. So to have a

visitor to come not not to go to the

client and um it is very good um

experience because u I have been to

Japan twice and we discussed the

opportunities uh for actually

uh for developing um um and creating

opportunities for women for uh young

farmers and also for vulnerable

categories IDPS and the idea of um farms

like uh customers coming to the farms to

see the process uh is very common in

Japan specifically in Tokyo uh they very

much uh uh develop and appreciate like

city farms as they call. So when uh

clients come to directly to the

greenhouse and see all the process and

then they are so eager to buy uh quite a

lot of uh products more than expected so

to say because they see how it is done.

Um and uh my second question is about um

generally uh what is lacking in our

education system I would say today uh in

order to get youth more involved uh

because this is the issue we are we are

thinking now of and uh we will be glad

to hear. Of course, we understand when

there are some war circumstances, but uh

just thinking what can be improved

because

for me it seems that cooperative culture

is not so actively promoted. So uh it is

now of course a trend but uh um maybe

you have ideas what what can be done

better. Thank you.

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samia

>> okay so I supposed to ask questions but

I will translate what samia says says

that it's very important to develop the

culture of local farming and to promote

the idea among young people as well that

it is very cool to eat local products.

It's very important to support local

farmers. They produce the healthy food

the food let's say from field to to

table how we say and

experience in this promotion campasion

in leiv obless is very successful and

now they recognizable uh recognized in

the local markets as farmers local

farmers with very high quality uh and

healthy food and uh it's very important

to develop such tradition let's say in

different region

uh from my side I would like to add that

to promote the local products and

farmers products very important to

develop the partnership with retails

it's so

very much difficult to explain retails

to ask them to uh to give some shelves

for local farmers producers we haven't

such legislation in Ukraine to support

these shelves

And now we are negotiating from the name

of our cooperatives, organic farmers,

veteran cooperative from a colliv. They

have green houses. They have all

certificates that they produce organic

cucumbers etc. And they have this mark

from the ministry of veteran that

produced by veterans. They have

everything to to go to negotiate with

the retails and retail say oh we love

you tasty very tasty foods cucumbers

wonderful everything wonderful but

business is business so it's very

important from the government to support

this part of sales in all retail system

um to to uh encourage them to oblige

them to find the good local producers

small farmers who had the highest

standards of quality etc. we ready to to

prepare these products by these

standards and to say you need to give

maybe 1% of your shelves or maybe I

don't know 2% of your shelves but the

the more the better to farmers and this

is the first step children will see

people will will see this products that

this product understand the importance

and as far as I'm from the university

environment I had the 20 plus years of

experience as a teacher it's really true

our students very far from different u

cooperative values ideas because it is

too late at the university to encourage

them to feel this cooperative values. We

need to start as our Polish partner says

from schools from teenagers and maybe

even early and if we can communicate

with ministry of education and develop

some I don't know some courses small

courses micro credit courses for

children in schools to develop these

join cooperative projects because people

need to be learned uh so teached yes

excuse me teached to cooperate and not

just to do something occasionally from

time to time but to develop economic

model because it's it's the challenge.

We can cooperate we can clean

environment help pets but to develop

something in economic point it is a

challenge.

Thank you.

>> Thank you. Any questions?

Yeah, mikola kas Ukraine and really

thank you being part of this because

it's so interesting and so many ideas

came in and totally agree with all

previously said and some ideas really

struck my attention especially with

working with the kids with the social

cooperatives

with the anyway uniting and etc. And we

as a caritus we do provide also lots of

agricultural grants, agricultural

education and etc. And one of the main

problem we also see besides all been

said here is uh human power you know and

especially in an agricultural um level

we lose lots of men and mobilized

people. So for me is interesting how you

do answer these questions you know in

your daily life and what else can be

supported in order to you know to

facilitate your work and make it more

easier.

translation. Yes. So the grain

cooperative Alexandra mentioned the

experience of grain cooperative to cope

this challenge because you are really

very right. It's a problem for all of

Ukraine and especially for rural areas

the lack of u power, human power and

they invited young people, students and

uh without experience but just if they

want to to be included in these

cooperative activities as employee. uh

and also they have a very welcome

veterans uh men and women who return

from the battlefields and they are ready

to uh develop the strategies for them to

be inclusive for the adaptation at the

enterprise at the cooperative level and

the other uh direction is the innovation

and automatization of processes. So to

use more modern equipment to um to to

rebuild to transform the production

facilities uh and uh it is um going

process because it never end. We need to

to be adaptive flexible for all the

challenges. So this is experience and I

would like to say that from our

experience uh agriculture and farming

small farming can be very good um uh

rehabilitation place for veterans

because a lot of veterans never never

before the war never thought about the

agriculture at all. We had very many

cases where small farmers involved in

cooperatives not involved cooperatives

hosted for some days or some weeks

veterans and they start the

understanding that it is good place for

them. No people around just animals and

fields. It's it's good strategy for

people who had this stress um issues. So

now we are very much uh looking for

partnership and uh invest our energy and

resources to advocate the uh

cooperatives and agricultural farming uh

let's say possibilities for veterans in

Ukraine for men and women but it's very

important to demonstrate them cases and

in our network we have some cooperatives

uh uh who are just veterans

like the cooperative members and who are

who have the part of members as veterans

and we demonstrate we organize study

tours we support them uh and this

process will never end because even the

war will stop tomorrow we will have some

generations ahead with all this trauma

of the war and we will need to be ready

to support them.

Yes. And I will add that uh when we are

talking about our experience, it means

that we went to the field, we did this

job and we understand how to do that.

And a lot of uh our failures and

successes are based on something we

already earned by our with our uh sweat

and and blood because uh the working

with veterans doesn't mean just to

distribute the resources. Working with

youth doesn't mean just distribute the

knowledge. Working with women doesn't

mean just distribute the self-confidence

because uh uh out of that there is a

very cruel world uh which is not so

favorable to um be so soft and the

competition in the market and the

requirements for the food quality is

high. Um that's why uh we we see a lot

of organizations who distribute just the

resources

uh just the means for the production and

it's not enough. So that's why uh our

team we create the environment and this

is what uh is doing the associations we

are talking today cops Europe legal coop

as federation that's why we created cop

academy as the environment for creating

this knowledge and sensitability

because the cope model which you've seen

right now uh they didn't grow as the

mushrooms in the forest just because we

pouring the resources as the rain on

them and they grew up. No, they have the

challenges which they need to be

supported to go through like Machinera

was shutting down the cooperative twice

and they needed to restore and rebuild

again the trust about Solomia which was

talking about and for that uh you need

people who are um morally sustainable

and believe into cooperatives and

believe into this model and are ready to

fight all the challenges on the way. Um

just simple business development trainer

will not sustain believe me because if

you want just to show the Canva model

how to create the business plan and then

it fails because people collectively

gathered have much more work to do

around. they have to have the coping

mechanism among themselves. Um there are

a lot of tensions coming and Smia knows

a lot how because in her case she has a

lot of very proud small producers who

create their own product with their own

labeling with their own proudness and

and to combine all of them together and

say okay we are going together to the

market it's a challenge because they

have to lower down a little bit their

self-esteem team expectations and uh

they need to be together to open more

markets to go to the different kind of

markets as they establish this um um

shop on the wheels the car which brings

the products of the producers to the IT

specialists for example they are unique

and uh there is no experience before

them that's why they needed to build

this path from the beginning and

convincing and attracting and so on. And

when you have just the business

developer and uh very traditional one

academic maybe one you will not have the

result uh through all the challenges

when people just scream on each other

during each meeting. So and this is true

and they have to scream on each other.

They have to have this time they have to

be uh going through this uh challenges

and then come up with something which

works for them which combines their

interests. Um second uh about the

veterans and uh for you to know uh they

don't ex accept into their community

outsiders and thank you Peter for the

great research because uh Peter Couchman

was doing and continues to help us with

the whole research and all the data sets

uh because um to have outsider in the

community which was created based on

proper set of uh values, experiences,

traumas. Um it's something very unique

and you have to be also very sensitive

to this situation because we are working

with veterans but at the same time uh

three of my trainers they are serving in

the army and they are working inside of

this environment. So we can talk in

peer. I am officer in reserve. I

understand what what I'm talking and to

whom I'm talking about. So I dedicated

part of my life to understand and to be

not only very sensitive but to be inside

and to understand really what what

matters and it's not um easy for all the

society but if you're building the

community and you want to have the

business out of that it's also the

responsibility about which we were

talking the whole this panel because If

you want to lead people to the market,

they can lost money. If you want to

create some production, they can lost

product or money again. If you want to

lead people and to make out of that

fairy tale just to pouring the

resources, it doesn't work. If you are

not uh inside and you are not supporting

that's why the cooperative academy model

which we created was based on our hands

on and our uh really sensitivity to the

uh question of business development in

cooperative way. So that's why we stick

to this um youth people, young people. I

understand that um it's a challenge for

all the world, not only unique for

Ukraine at all. Uh but we see that our

youth network right now is growing and

if we are speaking today uh in Gdansk,

part of our team is working right now in

the field with the young women in the

communities. they just send the photos

from the villages and they are working

with them to create this environment by

the local leaders. So uh what I'm trying

to say about all these points not to

impose not to hang out on the people not

to pour some resources to some poor

people this attitude ruins everything.

So uh our approach is go from the ground

from the grassroots to be with this

people because we are part of the

society. We are not some jackets and uh

high level I don't know educated

outsiders. We are inside of this system

and we work with this system and we have

leaders inside growing themselves

uh to become the good leaders around

their communities. So this is my message

and if any questions

still uh in the room in the air

please go on or we can continue during

our next session as well. So thank you

very much

and I'm inviting

and I'm inviting Erin Maki and Gabriel

here.

>> Thank you.

>> Okay. Uh thanks uh thanks everybody

dreden

and uh thanks for uh for inviting me

here uh as was mentioned I'm the uh I'm

from legal the cooperative and uh we

have been cooperating with uh with the

cooperative academy in the rural women

business network so Davyi and all the

partners here since since a while um my

task today is to try to look a little

bit um to make a step forward to look at

the the future. And to do that we step

back to last year because last year in

Rome as it was mentioned we started

trying to understand how all the

cooperative movement together starting

from uh Canada for sure with soi but

also Italy where the first URC took

place and other cooperative actors of

course with the support of cooperatives

Europe who supported also this meeting

could work together. uh in particular

starting from the agricultural sector

where the work of cops academy and women

business network started to this scope

um we uh last year during the event in

Rome.

We uh

created the sort of a commitment chart

where each of us started to um look at

the strategy 20 2030 for agricultural

drug development of Ukraine which is

still in place and try to understand

over there in that strategy as first

what is the role of Ukrainian

cooperative in reaching the goal of the

strategy and on the other side

understand what is the support that

international cooperatives but of course

we enlarged the vision also to all other

partners. I'm so glad that Mindu joined

this this partnership. I know that there

are also some important NGO here and I'm

happy they they joined us today uh to

understand how all together we can work.

So now to uh briefly check at what was

the the commitment chart I'll ask the

help of Erin here with me to to see

exactly for each of the goal of the

strategy what has been the the action

taken so now or already planned into the

inside the the owner owner um project uh

the strategies composed of seven goal

and the relative tasks. So the first two

columns are from the uh strategy

directly while we simply tried this is a

very short simplified version uh we

simply try to start uh brainstorming on

the role of Ukrainian cooperatives and

the international support. Um and for

what concern the rule of Korean

cooperatives uh we already learned a lot

from the experience we we had today from

the Korean cooperative and they are

always so inspiring also for our uh

daily work. Uh by the way for the

international host who miss some part of

the international translation I was told

that the uh YouTube streaming work very

well with the interpretation. So that

will be possible then to share also some

parts who were not so crit for some

overlapping. Um so the first goal is

inclusive policy institutional capacity.

So it works very um institutional level

and the task set by the strategies to

streng institution for fair inclusive

and agricultural development. And of

course the role of Korean cooperative is

so critical to make producer closer to

institution make producer able to make

use of internet of uh tools um defined

at policy level and Arie from the side

of owner which activities have been

taken or are about to be taken on this

side.

>> Thank you Gabrielle. Um yes. So when we

designed the honor project, we were we

we built it with our Ukrainian partners

of course and we built it with um

looking at the strategy as well in terms

of what had already been defined by the

Ukrainian government making sure that

we're aligned with their desires and and

priorities. And so with honor project

it's a much bigger initiative. We have a

longer uh runway. we have till 2032 that

we'll be working in the country with

these resources. So we see the honor

project as a foundational piece for

building out more support for Ukraine.

What we have, you know, 13 million euro,

this is small small amount to do uh when

there's the needs are so great. Um and

so we're hoping to leverage more support

internationally from the cooperative

movement in Canada and in Europe and

around the globe. Um, but with honor, we

do have dedicated support for the legal

legislative work that needs to be done.

We have experience doing this in

Ukraine, but we know that it takes a

long time. It's a long process, lots of

relationship building, lot of advocacy,

and this can be an entire project all on

its own. So with honor we have uh a

dedicated legal advisor who's

legislative expert Valeri Bonderchuk who

will be speaking a little later in the

session and with his help with his

expertise and background with the EU and

uh working with Ukrainian government. We

feel like there's a a very strong

momentum that we can push through and

make the changes that need to be

changed. the legal ramifications of some

of the legislation in Ukraine impacts

farmers in a real way and it's a

burdensome uh issue for small farmers

who are not used to doing this kind of

uh registration

uh all of the administrative work that

goes into reporting to government all of

these things and with the EU integration

we know that more of this is going to

come up in the future so this is a uh

one step that we're taking with the

honor project.

>> Thanks Sarin. So let's keep looking at

all the other goal. This work is to try

to inspire you to uh try to place

yourself on your potential contribution

to this overall strategy. So please

later I think we can open for your

inputs on all those on your potential

contribution for all those goals. The

second goal concern nutrition, safe food

and food security where the task is to

deliver high quality safe food uh and

enhance food security and of course we

heard so much from the cooperatives

about uh the work you they are already

doing for improving the standards from

their producer. Uh what about the

international uh intervention on this?

>> Yes. So, this is one uh part of the

project that I'm very excited about

because it actively gets cooperatives

involved and we talk a lot about private

sector investment in Ukraine. In the

cooperative movement, we work with some

of the largest consumer cooperatives and

agricultural cooperatives in the world.

So what we've motivated through uh

through we prosper our previous project

and now with the honor project is we

have uh cooperatives from Canada from

the UK and from Italy who are involved

in helping our cooperatives to meet

standards to be able to do export. So

this is a co-op to co-op support and we

have demos partners Peter Coachman who's

helping to lead this process and we've

had sessions in our previous project

where the uh people who are doing the

buying for these three of the largest

consumer co-ops in the world are working

with our Ukrainian cooperatives to help

them meet the standards to be able to

export. So this is huge. I come from

Western Canada and co-op grocery stores

are everywhere in Western Canada and my

dream is to have Ukrainian products on

the shelves of those co-ops and

hopefully by the end of 30 32 or 2032

we'll do that

>> and of course as Arena was mentioning

working with retailers is not so easy

even if they are consumer cooperatives

still they are retailers so it's a long

process but we must start uh goal Number

three, sustainable income and

competitiveness where the task is to

boost income for producer and make

agriculture more competitive. Well, here

the the connection with cooperatives is

quite clear that that's one of the main

goal of each cooperative to increase the

income of their of their member. Uh

could you give us some more on this?

>> Sure. So cooperative academy does a lot

of work on training with marketing with

governance. that is the foundational

support that is provided to all the

cooperatives that participate in the

project. Uh but I'll just speak to you

know Gabrielle was saying try to find

yourself in where you could support

where we are uh just starting to explore

opportunities is around financing. So,

we have worked with the credit union

sector in Ukraine as well in previous

projects, but we're looking for ways to

bring in more financing, more um uh

reliable

and a more

uh enabling financing for our

cooperatives. So, this is one area where

we're going to start to do exploration.

But if you have experience in this, I

would love to hear from you.

>> Absolutely. And also from our side the

connection with some of our experience

of financing within the cooperative

world like cop fund and other tools we

are ready to pro be provide to provide

them. Uh goal number four effective land

use and reform where the task again is

just support land reform sustainable

resource and the mining of course uh of

the role of cooperatives here is one of

them of course is a shorten version. It

could be to to promote the sustainable

use of water and soil. We heard about

organic production from some of our from

some of our speaker uh where of course

also Italy we have a quite a long

experience but what what are the action

in this part for honor. So you've

already heard from Arena and Sophia

about the renewable energy cooperative

model and what they're doing around

solar panels and development at some of

our co-ops like Saskahine. Um but this

work is also being done by uh the

agricultural advisory services of Nepa

Petrosk. They are leading the family

farm on farm training for individual

farmers. So they have extension workers

across the country that are going out

and working directly with farmers.

>> Nice. You mentioned also renewable

energy. Um it can be very strongly

connected also to the goal number five

which is climate smart agriculture where

the task is to mitigate and adapt always

they are very different path to to

undertake and where from one side the

role of Ukrainian cooperatives is to be

able to organize member to have

collective action especially for

mitigation on the other side this is a

very interesting entry point for the

energy cooperative that on which in

Canada is a good experience and in

Europe are recent especially in Italy

they are recently blooming while in

other countries already well established

uh what's your activities on the you

mentioned that you're already supporting

energy transition

>> so again we have we have started making

these connections we have support from

the Canadian uh renewable energy

cooperative sector but we are looking

for additional partners so the

experience of Poland in this regard it

was very interesting to hear uh from our

colleague in with the Polish renewable

energy co-ops. We would love to hear

from more people who are actively

involved in this and uh and also on

technology side. We are looking for

partnerships um for private sector

businesses that might be doing work

around land reclamation around um

demining. We are actively looking for

partnerships.

>> Perfectly. And on this side we also have

the support of RSCOP the network of

European energy cooperative that also

facilitated the participation today of

our uh Polish energy cooperative

colleague Lucas. Uh coming to goal

number six and we are close to the end

because then we want to see the next

action with uh our colleague Valerie.

The goal six is on is on innovation

processing and digitalization where the

task is to modernize agriculture through

innovation and knowledge uh knowledge

sharing.

Uh of course on this side there is much

to do about joint investment for

innovation processing by cooperative but

no process is one of the key word for

the strategy of Ukraine agriculture. We

are ready to support with some of

experience you already have with the

digitalization of our cooperatives in

Italy and um and also we are working on

AI could be an a point to try to to

explore more of course is everywhere now

but we know how to we need to know how

to manage uh what is forcing on this

side for inside owner. So in Canada we

work with some of the largest uh

agricultural cooperatives, Agraore,

Solio um and others. And so what we have

we we're going to be drawing from that

network but with honor we're also

looking for data and for research and to

be able to support and provide evidence.

So we've partnered with the University

of Toronto. We have an entire research

stream in our new project and this will

feed into the innovation side of of

things and again we're connected

globally. So with the cooperatives

Europe with um the Europe the UK

cooperative connection we're drawing

from as many cooperatives as possible.

>> Thanks so much. And last but not least,

we have the goal number seven which is

more broadly on rural development, youth

and gen gender equality. Uh here the

task is to revitalize the rural areas

with inclusive growth. we uh consider

that inside here. Of course, there is

the big point of the big theme on the on

gender that was many time uh mentioned

today and the role uh also of women in

relaunching the the agriculture but at

the same time there is much room also

for what was already mentioned with the

social cooperative that often are

connected also to agriculture as social

agriculture. Um what are the next step

also on this for the project?

>> Yes. So I think everyone's heard from uh

Marcelo today. I was talking about the

social cooperatives. Peter referenced

what we're doing in terms of researching

veteran integration in cooperatives and

also so Sophia and the panel talked

about daycare cooperatives and other uh

ways of integrating rural women into the

model. So I think it's this is going to

be a foundational piece for our project

and we're already well underway in terms

of these this work. So this is the

general uh framework in which we are

trying to to operate. Of course there

can be many initiative we try to

coordinate by pushing the same direction

all together and of course contributing

to the national strategy from the uh

from the ministry. uh I would stop uh uh

I would stop here so that we can also

have room for some uh for some

exchanges. We'll have also opportunity

during the networking moment for further

chatting uh chatting on this. But of

course if you have any any question any

point we can also start uh debating.

>> Thanks so much.

>> Thank you.

So it's really starting moment because

um uh last year this uh table and

commitment chart was created by Gabriel

uh in Liga Coop.

So we have already cooperatives from

Italy committed and sometimes they

already give us um a lot of

opportunities to learn about the export

and what kind of the um challenges on

our way we have to expect uh because we

started the with Peter the export

pioneers program

uh where cooperatives from LIA cop

network were participating.

So this commitment chat was um one of

the way how we can bring more

understanding of the cooperative world

and practical experiences which can even

lead to the business partnerships.

Uh so the next point of this work will

be handled into your hands into hands of

our participants here and participants

from online and we will share with you

the possibility to

um read the declaration of our today's

meeting and give your input or your

question or your suggestion or your

maybe next idea for the commitment to

cooperate.

um why we took our national Ukrainian

strategy and the goals which you have

seen they are from our national strategy

for agriculture and rural development

2030 because um we would like our

government to have a benefit as well

even though our main um

team with whom we cooperate they are the

task team leaders into organizing the

whole event so they are super busy

uh but they are holding right now the

steps into the rural development um

innovations which will be connected with

our EU accession. Um that's why I my

intention right now and I hope yours as

well is not to leave cooperatives

behind. So cooperatives supposed to be

one of the in the forward of the this

process of rural development and

integrating

some um policies which already we have

to tackle as our uh commitments to the

European Union. Uh so everything is

connected and um that's why we would

like cooperatives around the world to be

very active and to have the say and have

as well their participation

and uh have the leadership actually in

some um kind of dimensions as in

agriculture for small producers and this

is obvious for me uh in energy which

Lucash today voiced very clearly very

strongly and um this fight uh which

Poland took Ukraine can support because

we also have the monopolists and we also

have this issue of um ruining some

empire empires but as this at the same

time

you are now in the first rows. So you

hear from us what we are going to do and

uh due to our achievements you can

understand that we are very capable team

to to do this results and to implement

this results. Uh so I inviting Valeri

Bunduk who will uh give us the bullet

points for the

the bullet points for the future

declaration of uh URC 2026 for the

cooperative development and maybe you

can be our supporters very soon when we

announce publish and include all of you

into this.

>> Thank you very much Sophia. Uh dear

participants, my name is Valeri

Bonderchuk. I'm a u lead legal expert of

honor project and uh uh first of all I'd

like to uh thank all the participants

for their active participations in this

uh event and uh I'd like to thank my

colleagues for their hard work uh in the

cooperative development in Ukraine. uh

and uh um we are prepared uh a draft of

declaration of today's event and uh uh

I'd like to

um

read this and uh as Sophia said uh we

will place it online and everyone can uh

um amend or um provide their suggestions

regarding this. So uh declaration

sorry declaration of the international

site event from Rome to dansk. We the

participants of international site event

from Rome to dansk. Uh the contribution

of cooperatives to the sustainable

recovery of Ukraine agree food and

energy sector of the path toward EU

integration.

um uh representing cooperative

organizations, unions and movements from

Ukraine, Canada, Poland, Belgium,

Australia and Italy as well as

international partners supporting this

uh sustainable development of recovery

in Ukraine inspired by the values and

principles of the international

cooperative alliance. uh taking into

account uh the outcomes of the URC 2025

and um noting that uh 2025 was uh

proclaimed by the United National

General Assembly as the international

year of cooperatives and uh uh that 2026

has been designed as a international

year of woman farmers recognizing

cooperatives as a key democratic

instrument for the sustainable and

inclusive

recovery of Ukraine. Harry de declares

the following. Cooperatives are

strategic, effective and uh

indispensable partner of Ukraine's

sustainable recovery. They contribute to

local security, support small farmers,

strengthen resil resilient rural

communities and play a key role in

restoring infrastructure damaged by the

war war while enhanc enhancing community

resilience. We recognize that

agricultural cooperatives have have

demonstrated exceptional adaptability

during wartime but uh by s uh sustaining

production, supporting internally

displaced persons and farmers,

introducing innovative solutions,

ensuring uh continuity of food supply

chains and contributing to the

comprehensive development development of

rural areas. uh we recognize the special

contribution of woman cooper cooperators

who play a critical role in the agri

food sector and in ensuring the

sustainability and compre uh

tetiveness of Ukrainian agriculture. We

acknowledge the significant potential of

energy cooperatives in decentralizing

energy generation, promoting renewable

energy development including bio gas,

solar and wind energy and improving

energy efficiency in rural areas. Uh uh

we reaffirm the commitments undertakes