Chile

Responding to challenges and existing knowledge gaps facing the cooperative movement, this mapping research seeks to provide exhaustive information on cooperatives around the world.

This is achieved through a process jointly conducted by the ICA and its four regional offices – Cooperatives of the Americas, Cooperatives Europe, ICA Africa, and ICA Asia-Pacific – using a common methodology, designed with the support of external experts from the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse).

Each office collected the input of ICA members present in the countries within its geographic area, by using a common questionnaire, and completing it with relevant national statistics, in order to obtain a picture of the national situation. As a result, the data above is collected following two strategies: 1) a survey targeting ICA cooperative members 2) collecting national statistics already available in the country. The numbers above provide aggregated data from ICA members on the number of cooperatives, as well as the number of cooperative employees and memberships in the country. More methodological information is available in the full report. In Chile, the data is collected for the reference year 2014 and 2017.

Mapping out cooperatives in each country provides a more precise picture of the cooperative context at national and regional levels, enhances the movement's visibility, networking, partnerships opportunities, as well as advocacy, and empowers cooperators by providing tools for positive change.

This webpage presents a snapshot of the research results for Chile. For more information and the full research results, you can download the report by clicking on the links above.

The cooperative movement in Chile arises as in most Latin American countries, as a manifestation of the labor or union movement, having as reference the European model. Thus, cooperativism was not born only to meet the specific needs of its members, but also constituted a response to the existing exclusionary and inequitable system.

The initial stream brought to the continent by European immigrants had different origins depending on the country. In Chile, the main influence was English, while in Argentina or Brazil it was Italian, French and German. In addition to European immigrants, the Catholic Church was also a relevant agent in promoting modern Latin American cooperativism, as well as local governments helped channel and disseminate public services and assistance to the most vulnerable.

In 1887, the first consumer cooperatives called "La Valparaíso" and "La Esmeralda" emerged in Valparaíso, based on the Mutual Aid Society of the Union of Typographers, an institution created in 1853 by the labor movement. Later, in 1904, the State Railroad Workers' Consumer Cooperative emerged, promoted by the State and driven by the workers. Between 1904 and 1924, 40 cooperative societies were registered in different sectors, prioritizing consumer ones

Chile counts 2 ICA member organisations:

- Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Chilena (COOPEUCH), is a full member in the finance sector.

- Cooperativa Abierta de Vivienda Limitada (CONAVICOOP), is a full member in the housing sector.

In Chile the research questionnaire was distributed to and completed by 1 ICA member organisation. The data collected was for the reference year 2014 and 2017.