Sustainable Community Owned Enterprises

Sustainable community-owned enterprises are owned by members of the community with no individual owning more than five percent of the enterprise. All members have equal voting rights—and everyone benefits. John Makilya, a native of Kenya who has implemented numerous sustainable community-owned enterprises, shares examples of successful initiatives in this book. He explains how they distributed benefits to members without depleting resources for future generations. He also highlights models that have not helped everyday people, such as Kenya’s sugar industry, which relies on small-scale producers. Even with government subsidies, the country continues to import most of its sugar from neighboring countries that rely on plantation-style models. Likewise, the beef cattle industry—as a result of mismanagement and other problems—has failed to live up to its promise. Join the author as he explores how selected projects in water, savings and credit, coffee, horticulture, and other sectors qualify as sustainable community-owned enterprises—and how they help everyday people, the world, and future generations.

Sustainable community-owned enterprises are owned by members of the community with no individual owning more than five percent of the enterprise. All members have equal voting rights--and everyone benefits. John Makilya, a native of Kenya who has implemented numerous sustainable community-owned enterprises, shares examples of successful initiatives in this book. He explains how they distributed benefits to members without depleting resources for future generations. He also highlights models that have not helped everyday people, such as Kenya's sugar industry, which relies on small-scale producers. Even with government subsidies, the country continues to import most of its sugar from neighboring countries that rely on plantation-style models. Likewise, the beef cattle industry--as a result of mismanagement and other problems--has failed to live up to its promise. Join the author as he explores how selected projects in water, savings and credit, coffee, horticulture, and other sectors qualify as sustainable community-owned enterprises--and how they help everyday people, the world, and future generations.

Ordinary people, community leaders, and even organizations and corporations still do not fully comprehend the interconnected, “big picture” dynamics of sustainability theory and action. In exploring means to become more sustainable, individuals and groups need a reference in which to frame discussions so they will be relevant, educational, and successful when implemented. This book puts ideas on sustainable communities into a conceptual framework that will promote striking, transformational effects on decision-making. In this book practitioners and community leaders will find effective, comprehensive tools and resources at their finger-tips to facilitate sustainable community development (SCD). The book content examines a diverse range of SCD methods; assessing community needs and resources; creating community visions; promoting stakeholder interest and participation; analyzing community problems; designing and facilitating strategic planning; carrying out interventions to improve

In this book, we explore the economic wellbeing of Indigenous peoples globally through case studies that provide practical examples of how Indigenous wellbeing is premised on sustainable self- determination that is in turn dependent on a community's evolving model for economic development, its cultural traditions, its relationship to its traditional territories and its particular spiritual practices. Adding to the richness, geographically these chapters cover North, Central and South America, Northern Europe, the Circumpolar Arctic, Southern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania and a resulting diverse set of Indigenous peoples. The book addresses key issues related to economic, environmental, social and cultural value creation activities and provides numerous examples and case studies of Indigenous communities globally which have successfully used entrepreneurship in the pursuit of sustainable development and wellbeing. Readers will gain practical understandings of the nature of sustainable economic development from a cross- section of case studies of Indigenous perspectives globally. The chapters map out the international development of Indigenous rights and the influence that this has had on Indigenous communities globally in asserting their sovereignty and acting on their rights to develop sustainable governance and economic development practices. Readers will develop insights into the intersection of Indigenous governance with sustainable practice and community wellbeing through practical case studies that explain the need for Indigenous- led economic development and governance strategies, which are responsive to local, regional, national and international realities in developing sustainable Indigenous economies focused on economic, environmental, social and cultural value creation. This book will be useful for Indigenous and non- Indigenous business students studying undergraduate business or MBA programs who seek to understand the global context and the varied experiences of Indigenous peoples in developing sustainable economic development strategies that promote community wellbeing.

Sustainable development - Yes! But how do we actually do it? This completely updated and revised edition of Mark Roseland's classic text is the best resource available for citizens and their governments on how to apply the concept of sustainable development in their communities.

The concept of sustainability holds that the social, economic, and environmental factors within human communities must be viewed interactively and systematically. Sustainable development cannot be understood apart from a community, its ethos, and ways of life. Although broadly conceived, the pursuit of sustainable development is a local practice because every community has different needs and quality of life concerns. Within this framework, contributors representing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, geography, economics, law, public policy, architecture, and urban studies explore sustainability in communities in the Pacific, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and North America. Contributors: Janet E. Benson, Karla Caser, Snjezana Colic, Angela Ferreira, Johanna Gibson, Krista Harper, Paulo Lana, Barbara Yablon Maida, Carl A. Maida, Kenneth A. Meter, Dario Novellino, Deborah Pellow, Claude Raynaut, Thomas F. Thornton, Richard Westra, Magda Zanoni

John Makilya reveals an in-depth look of Kenya, its people, and its traditions in this memoir about growing up there and starting a family before immigrating to the United States of America. He traces his roots, including how his father became a pioneer educator and was selected to lead a Kenyan delegation on a pilgrimage to Rome during the 1950 Catholic Jubilee. Upon his return to Kenya, he acquired land for the establishment of a Catholic church and later ventured into parliamentary politics. Makilya also recalls his own career in various sectors, including savings and credit cooperatives, ranching and the beef industry, sustainable community-owned water projects, horticultural production and marketing, community-owned fishing enterprises, and wildlife conservation. In doing so, he shares an intimate account of his work as a consultant making socioeconomic assessments of the World Bankfunded El Nio Emergency Project, his role in the enterprise development component of a USAID COBRA project, and his work as chairman of the board of governors of the Misyani Girls Schoolwhere he insisted girls were as talented in math and science as boys. Join the author on an inspiring journey from Kenya to the United States in Life Lessons of an Immigrant.

A shift in US bank policy. A demonstration in Greece. A tsunami in Japan. In recent times, these kinds of events have had profound effects on the economic well-being of Canadians. In such a heavily globalized environment, it may seem that only large corporations with access to transnational resources can operate successfully, but Co-operative Canada demonstrates that this is not the case. Despite economic pressures following the 2008 recession, co-operatives in Canada are thriving. In fact, there are approximately nine thousand co-ops across the nation with a combined membership of about 18 million members – more than half the population of Canada. Drawing on the results of a large research project that examined co-operatives in communities from coast to coast to coast, Co-operative Canada reveals how Canadians are using the co-operative model to collectively respond to the forces of globalization through local, community-owned enterprises. It does this through specific examples that vividly describe the pragmatic realities of the communities these co-ops serve.