This is a CTP of initiative: ICA/CCVQ (Argentina)
This CTP marked a significant change in the trajectory of the CCVQ thanks to different acknowledgments received from different public bodies. The Cooperativa de Consumo y Vivienda de Quilmes began its activities in the mid-1980s based on the action of a group of neighbors who came together to resolve access to their own homes in the absence of an adequate response from the municipal government. During its first years, the cooperative decided to develop a management of its activities with total autonomy of any state administration (municipal, provincial, national). Thus, the CCVQ negotiated the acquisition of land where they built their first homes without intermediaries and agreeing on specific mechanisms such as the possibility of buying land of one hectare and paying it in annual installments.
However, from the 1990s, the CCVQ began a process of negotiations with different public bodies through which they achieved different acknowledgements: However, from the 1990s, the CCVQ began a process of negotiations with different public bodies through which they achieved different acknowledgements:
In the first place, efforts were made to ensure that the municipality recognized the cooperative as an experience of social interest, in order not to hinder the self-building works and social activities that were carried out in the neighborhood. This ordinance was dictated after several visits to the Municipality and of conversations with several councilors until the proposal arrived at the Deliberative Council that declared to the CCVQ like an activity of municipal interest.
Likewise, through a decree of the Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, the subdivision of each of the plots was validated, enabling 90% of the houses to be deeded through the management of the cooperative and privately, With Decree-Law 8912/77 (subdivision by Geodesy-Provincial Direction of Territorial Cadastre).
From these achievements, the CCVQ began to have more fluid relations with different state dependencies at provincial and national scale. Thus, in 2000, it was recognized with the INAES 2000 Award for its trajectory and performance and in 2004, the activity of the CCVQ was declared of parliamentary interest by the National Chamber of Deputies.
These recognitions were accompanied by concrete measures that favored the daily work of the cooperative as the financing of productive projects or tax benefits.
The co-production process developed in this CTP is associated with an inevitable relationship between the new needs generated by the consolidation and growth of the CCVQ project and the adaptation of different regulations or the promotion of concrete policies by the state (Municipal, provincial or national).
In terms of housing, the cooperative had close ties with the municipal state and the provincial state. As for the first, the CCVQ related to the Municipality to achieve an ordinance that recognizes it of social interest, and thus to advance in the works of self-buildig and social activities, without obstacles. The ordinance becomes effective given that councilors who occupy their position at that time knew the work that the members are doing and give their votes.
With the provincial state, the CCVQ was related by diverse topics, one of the most relevant is the regularization of the neighborhood, given that the respective regulations and reaching the cooperative is under this orbit. The first time CCVQ members submitted district plans for approval of building works, the provincial government did not approve the documentation since the size of the block and the number of houses per block did not correspond to what Established by Law 8912/77 (Decree Law of territorial ordenation and Land Use); The purpose of the cooperative's use was to be able to build as many homes as possible on the land they owned at the time. Given the perseverance of the members of the cooperative (and its links with social organizations of the territory) against the public officials of the then Ministry of Public Works and Services of the province, it was validated through a decree, the subdivision of each of the plots making possible the tittle deed of 90% of the houses.
The relationship with the national state was concentrated in the development of productive and social enterprises. The CCVQ has been linked to the national state through the Ministry of Social affairs, through various programs and subsidies (REDES Program - Regional Social Entrepreneurs, Local Development and Social Economy Plan "Manos a la obra", Training Courses for local leaders and the National Commission for Microcredit (CONAMI, in its spanish initials). These relationships materialized in concrete benefits for the CCVQ through specific legislation and funding. In this way, a direct relationship can be seen between the public recognition and the consolidation of the CCVQ project.
The recognition that the CCVQ received by the municipal, provincial and national state came through different measures and concrete actions.
In 1993, it obtained the sanction of a municipal ordinance that declared of municipal interest of the activities of the CCVQ and facilitated new efforts to allow that the dimension of the parcels was smaller than the conventional ones. With this legislation, the municipal plans were approved and the urban certificate was granted, so that the neighborhood was regularized.
In order for the latter to be possible, it was necessary for the government of the province of Buenos Aires to issue a decree in 1991 authorizing municipalities to approve housing projects, even if they do not satisfy the size of the housing plots established by the regulations in force. In this way, the regime established by Decree-Law 8912/77 (Decree Law on territorial ordenation and Land Use), dictated by the military government, was partially modified.
The effective application of this normative change to the case of the CCVQ, occurred thanks to the intervention of provincial officials who urged the Quilmes Deliberative Council to deal with neighborhood regularization.
On the other hand, the provincial chamber of deputies in 2007 declared the CCVQ activity of parliamentary interest and in 2009, the provincial congress approved the exemption of tax payment to the cooperative.
In December of 2000, the National Institute of Cooperative and Mutual Action (INAES, in its spanish initials) recognized the CCVQ with the INAES 2000 award, along with other Cooperatives from different sectors. However, this recognition didn't mean an approach of the cooperative with the national government.
The most fluid link with the national state came after the year 2004 when the national Chamber of Deputies declared the parliamentary interest of the activities carried out by the CCVQ. Since that year, the relationship was intensified especially with the Ministry of Social Affairs:
a) In 2004, they were linked to the national plan "Manos a la obra" for the Social Economy and Local Development. They presented projects for the purchase of equipment for the bakery, sewing workshop and blacksmith shop.
b) In 2005, they received a subsidy for the training of social leaders to generate democratic processes of participation in the matter of solving needs in the communities involved.
c) In 2006, they received a subsidy for the production of concrete slabs.
d) In 2009, the Cooperative received subsidies by the National Microcredit Commission (CONAMI) with which they constituted a revolving fund for entrepreneurships.
From its origins, the CCVQ presented different processes of contestation in its relation with the state (municipal, provincial and national).
The CCVQ emerged from the experience of a group of neighbors who enrolled in a municipal program for families that lacked housing. When the group was formed and organized, the Municipality proposed the legal constitution of the cooperative. However, this proposal generated conflicts between the original associates because the municipal government wanted to lead the organization to obtain political benefits. For this reason, it is decided to form a cooperative with absolute autonomy of the state.
This autonomy was challenged when the construction of the first houses of the cooperative began. The project developed was not adapted to the current regulations and it was necessary to open an instance of negotiation with the municipality and the province to solve this problem. This situation generated a small crisis within the cooperative between the autonomy that was defended and the need to negotiate with the political power.
However, the strategy developed by the referents of the CCVQ allowed to overcome these tensions since it was possible to negotiate without losing autonomy or betraying values and principles.
A complementary tension manifested in this CTP is between this type of innovative initiatives and the current legislation. This situation occurred in relation to the rules of building and land use, but also in relation to the legal framework in which cooperatives operate.
One of the clearest examples of the problem is observed with the productive projects developed by the CCVQ. For this it was necessary, to form a multi-task labor Cooperative, format invalidated by a law of 1994.
Anticipation is a fairly visible aspect of this CTP. The strategy implemented by the CCVQ shows a succession of planned actions that are repeated at different times in the organization's trajectory. Especially from the need to obtain changes in the current regulatory framework.
The strategy consisted in establishing negotiations with officials and legislators to obtain a public recognition of their activities. Thus, the cooperative obtained that the deliberative council of Quilmes, the provincial chamber of deputies and the National Chamber of deputies declared of public interest to the CCVQ. After obtaining this recognition, the corresponding legislative changes were advanced.
What is observed is that in all three cases the same modus operandi was applied. Thus, the municipal ordinance that enabled the building of their first homes was achieved, participation in national programs was facilitated and the exemption of the payment of provincial taxes was achieved.
Likewise, the CCVQ proved to have excellent timing to take advantage of the opportunities offered by changes in political circumstances. In this sense, it may not be possible to speak of anticipatory capacity (since they were made difficult to predict), but of a great capacity of adaptation and reading of the political and social scene.
This CTP reflects a long learning process developed by members of the CCVQ. This learning was linked to generating strategies to related to the state (municipal, provincial and national) without losing their autonomy. The strategy developed took shape over time in practice. Thus they managed to develop a modus operandi that were applied in each case.
The main learning that developed the CCVQ during this CTP was to generate negotiation capacities and mechanisms to obtain benefits of the state without losing autonomy. The members of the cooperative recognize as capacities the main generated capacities the identification of suitable interlocutors in different state institutions and the correct reading of the political conjuncture in each case.
When relations with national state began to be more fluid, new capacities were developed associated with the design and execution of projects adapted to the lines of financing of the ministry of social affairs. The implementation of these projects required new learning in project management and negotiation with the civil servants to adapt them to the concrete reality of the CCVQ.
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