Cooperative structure 

We have created 'Cooperativa Ecoaldeia Guarda Rios' (Guarda Rios ecovillage cooperative) to own the land and manage the ecovillage project.

A cooperative is a type of organisation set in Portuguese law which includes a democratic structure, with one vote per member, regardless of the value of shares that they own. 
 

The functioning of the cooperative is set out in the Portuguese Cooperative Code, the Statutes and the Internal Regulations which we wrote with support from a consultant who works with cooperatives. 
 

To form the coop required a minimum of three people. The project initiator, Hari, started the cooperative with two local Portuguese friends who wanted to support the project. Once resident members join the project, they will take over the roles. 
 

 

Decision making and Sociocracy

 

An aim of the project is to use Sociocracy as a form of Governance and decision making. 

 

The Cooperative has the right to add extra rules as part of its internal regulations. 

A protocol will be written for how we use Sociocracy to structure and govern the cooperative in combination with the rules set out in the cooperative statutes. 

 

www.sociocracyforall.org/content

 

Statutes and Internal Regulations

The statues must define the core rules of the cooperative, based on a template. This includes things like the minimum share purchase when joining as a member, defining the sectors of the coop, rules for how people join and leave, the percentage of coop revenue that goes into a reserve account etc.

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The internal regulations can define additional structures and rules for the coop which work on top of the core rules of the statutes. For example, defining other roles, how meetings are conducted, how decisions are made, how elections work. 

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Coop Governing Bodies 

Cooperatives must work within the defined structure of ‘Cooperative Governing Bodies’ consisting of the General Assembly, the Administration and the Supervision Bodies.
The minimum Governing Roles which must be held by the membership are:

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President of the General Assembly - responsible for facilitating at least two meetings per year with all the members to agree on a plan for the year and to agree the completion of the accounts for the last year. 

 

Sole Administrator - Responsible for managing the implementation of the activities in the year plan, by recruiting others to specific roles if needed.
Responsible for creating the annual accounts and repot of activities

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Sole Supervisor - Responsible for reviewing the annual accounts and repot of activities.

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