International year of cooperatives: an approach to challenges of the sector through the Delphi method

Abstract

The cooperative movement in 2012 experienced a renewed impulse with the celebration of the International Year of Cooperatives of the United Nations (UN), being its aim to promote and to give visibility to the role of cooperatives in development. Qualitative results are presented in this paper collected from the interviews with experts in the sector from different countries following the Delphi methodology, allowing to gather their assessments of the situation and challenges of the cooperative movement in their respective countries, starting from the achievements of the celebration and the possibility to achieve the objectives set for the next decade by international organizations representing the sector.