Peru

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 Peru, the data is collected for the reference year 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 Peru. For more information and the full research results, you can download the report by clicking on the links above.

In modern Peru, cooperativism emerged at the end of the 19th century and the second decade of the 20th century with the first Peruvian cooperatives within the incipient labor movement together with artisan mutualism, becoming the first cooperative movement in Peru.

Through historical facts, it has been identified that the first Peruvian cooperatives emerged in the 19th century promoted by the labor movement, as well as artisan mutualism. The first cooperative demonstrations take place in the context of workers' mutualism and are influenced by Rochdali through Fernando Garrido. However, Cooperativism could not prosper due to the lack of capital, organization, union discipline and adequate political environment.

According to Confenacoop, the first cooperative formed as such in Peru was a consumer cooperative, organized by the Confederación de Artesanos Unión Universal in 1866. The first cooperative proposals and manifestations that respond to European influence occurred in Peru from the second half of the last century, within the craft industry and the nascent labor movement, along with the mutual movement. These manifestations occurred in isolation and without much significance until 1930. It was only in the 1930s that cooperativism was established in Peru with some effectiveness, under the influence of models from Europe and North America.

Peru counts 4 ICA member organisations:

- Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Crl. "Francisco Bolognesi" Ltda., is a full member in the finance sector.

- Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito del Centro - COOPAC CENTROCOOP, is a full member and an intersectoral national organization.

- Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Santa María Magdalena, Ltda. (CACSMM), is a full member in the finance sector.

- Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito San Martín de Porres Ltda. (C.A.C. San Martín de Porres Ltda.), is a full member in the finance sector.

The data collected was for the reference year 2017.