HarmonyVote

Initiative Title: Global Cooperative Ownership Promotion Act

Description:

1. Legal Recognition and Frameworks:
   Encourage all countries to adopt or modernize legal frameworks that formally recognize cooperative business models, including worker-owned cooperatives, producer co-ops, platform co-ops, and consumer-owned enterprises.

2. International Cooperative Development Fund:
   Establish a global fund to provide seed capital, low-interest loans, and technical assistance for starting and scaling cooperatives, with special focus on underserved areas and marginalized communities.

3. Tax and Procurement Incentives:
   Offer tax benefits and preferential access to public procurement opportunities for certified cooperative businesses that demonstrate democratic governance and equitable profit-sharing.

4. Cooperative Education and Leadership Training:
   Integrate cooperative economics and governance into national education systems and vocational training programs. Create global exchange programs for co-op leaders and youth.

5. Digital Platform Cooperative Support:
   Support the creation of fair, democratically owned alternatives to gig economy platforms through regulatory sandboxes, open-source infrastructure grants, and equitable algorithm policies.

6. Land and Infrastructure Access for Co-ops:
   Facilitate land, facilities, and digital infrastructure access for cooperative businesses through local government partnerships, land trusts, and low-rent community-owned spaces.

7. Monitoring and Cooperative Certification:
   Create a global certification and reporting standard for cooperatives, ensuring transparency, democratic member control, and equitable surplus distribution.

8. Global Cooperative Knowledge Hub:
   Build a multilingual, open-access repository of cooperative case studies, legal tools, business plans, and training materials to support new and existing cooperatives worldwide.

Possible Outcomes and Implications:

• Shared Prosperity: Enables more equitable distribution of profits and power in workplaces and communities.
• Stronger Local Economies: Builds locally rooted enterprises that reinvest in their communities.
• Democratic Economic Participation: Empowers workers and members to participate in decision-making and own their economic futures.
• Resilience to Economic Shocks: Co-ops have been shown to be more resilient in crises due to long-term thinking and collective ownership.
• Innovation in Governance Models: Encourages experimentation with democratic governance, solidarity finance, and ethical enterprise design.

Votes: