Homeshores Direct: a Festival of World Cultures 365

"The concentration of wealth in a minority rich and the social exclusion of the majority poor constitute the greatest threats in the history of democracy and peace in industrialised countries as well as in developing countries.... Cooperativism is the only capable movement to counter these threats." Roberto Rodriquez - President, International Cooperative Alliance 

SM'ART CO-PROMOTION WITH DOTCOOP (.COOP): The VoxLabs® Model is dedicated to creation and building of Community Co-ops, of interactive E-Communities.Coop Outlets & Culture Brands, in a Co-Promotion with dotCoop (.Coop), the brand identity of Co-ops worldwide and through a Next Generation network of Sm'art World Model Franchisors at VoxLabs - In-House, Consulting, Co-ops and Retail. The VoxLabs® Model is operated exclusively through a system of Licence authorisation to ensure ongoing commitment to its goals, and in so doing commences its activities with Sm'art In-House Franchising Licensing. The model aims to collaboratively use the Co-op Movement Principles within the VoxLabs® Model, in a co-promotion designed to serve in the development of Under-served Communities all over the world, at so-called Bottom (or Base) of the Pyramid, BOP. Fundamentally we aim to achieve this through assisting in the introduction of Social Innovation for Communities to generate New Business as enabled by ICT within the Co-op Movement for international 24/7 trading in traded-services with their Diaspora and other Communities. The VoxLabs® Model is an exclusive application for the BOP Social Marketplace, specifically under E-Community.Co-op brands or private labels. In doing so, we also promote the Principles of the Co-op Movement at VoxWorld.Coop www.voxworld.coop in application of the model, as specified by its Apex Org, the ICA:

THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF THE CO-OP MOVEMENT (ICA.COOP)
http://www.ica.coop/coop/principles.html

1. Voluntary and open membership
2. Democratic member control
3. Member economic participationk                                                                                      
   
4. Autonomy and independence
   
5. Education, training and information
6. Cooperation among co-operatives
7. Concern for Community

CO-OP VALUES: Democracy, Equality, Self-Help, Self-Responsibility, Equity & Solidarity.

CO-OP ETHICAL VALUES: Social Responsibility, Openess, Honesty & Caring for Others.
COMMUNITY CO-OP DEFINED: A participating Community can be defined by whatever paramaters its members wish it to be. It may be defined by a global, country, state, region, city, town or village boundaries or be even borderless eg. Irish Diaspora, Irish American Diaspora, Irish Migrants, Irish Emigrants etc; or it maybedefined by a Community's constituent parts - such as great Irish Sports, Irish Music, Irish Books, Irish Dance, Irish Heritage etc;  or it may be defined by its Culture - like Celtic Culture in this example; or its constituent parts therein - such as Celtic Sports, Celtic Music, Celtic Books, Celtic Heritage; or then again, members may wish to follow borderless job/career or trade lines for engagement - so if we take 'Care' (from a over 100 Life-Work options) in this continuing example, it may range from Global, Regional to National....Carers, Nurses, Care-workers, Homecarers, Nursing Colleges, Nurses Alumni, Teaching Hospitals Alumni etc; or it may be simply drawn by Leisure pastimes, interests or activities like Flower arranging, Home Gardening, Fruit & Veg allotments, Homecrafts, Aran knitting, the Arts, or perhaps sharing a disability or philosophy; or other Affinity Group - Farmers, Gardeners, Fishermen, Artists, Singers, Writers, Readers, Students, Mums, Dads, Grandparents, Single Parents, Patients, etc.  Whatever E-Communities.Coop Org members decide to join with, its usefullness will ultimately be determined by its instant appeal to and subsequent participation of its borderless Diaspora Community, at least in the first instance (later we will address Social Causes & Movements too), and it will embrace your Culture. And to distinguish its goal from that of a local Community Centre or regular Co-op - it is primarily driven by Communities & Social Innovation, is borderless in nature as an E-Community, engaging with Home-workers and Co-op workers alike, and uniquely embraces local Culture & global Technology to foster Continuing Education specifically to provide new internationally traded-services to and through its Diaspora community programmes in filling global demand while satisfying local needs - through leveraging Social Purchasing & Money Transfers in funding creation of Local Community Hub Projects with support of Education, Trade & Finance from VoxLabs® O&O Services. The Hub's primary focus is on Traded-Services and generation of self-sufficeincy for that Community. All Structures of such Communities joining VoxWorld.Coop will then be that of Co-operatives, abiding by ICA Principles as set out above, and in a co-promotion with dotCoop (.Coop). Minimum Co-op membership levels will apply, to ensure commercial level of activity. A nominal membership fee will apply and applied to fund pre-trading E-Community.Coop operational disbursements. An overriding Corporate structure will be deployed to legally protect the Coop's assets - property, leases, cash-handling & project investment funds, trademarks & other intellectual property, goodwill, reputation, brand, licences etc. Hierarchies are not supported within the management & board structures. Individual membership will be through Community-based Orgs, to reflect the borderless E-Community nature intended. General Board members representations will rotate to involve all Orgs. Executive Board appointees will be made by the membership. Three non-executive Emeritus positions will also be appointed to oversee implementation of VoxLabs® model. With an open and voluntary membership - one member, one vote will apply; so no one section of a community can have disproportionate control. Each Co-op must remain under member control at all times. All profits will be reinvested in Community Hub Projects, often in co-funded projects for such as an ATM installation under common ownership rules, and specifically for benefit of local community. Optionally, Directors may choose to appoint an authorised VoxLabs® Consultant, on a daily fee or retainer basis, for implementation of Model's Hub & Outlets. Each Co-op will at all times retain its Independence.

The primary application of VoxLabs® will be under the generic banner of VoxWorld.Coop for private-labelled Virtual Communities, within the rapidly growing Social Marketplace. It is being implemented in a (.Coop) Co-Promotion into 800 million member Co-op Movement, dotCoop being the prestigious top level domain of the Co-op Communities movement. Organisations who are already registered with a Co-op domain can join with us immediately on this Co-op path, and Tell their Story as they do so. Then we can all learn and appreciate more about each others values, as we generate huge work opportunities together - and watch One World at Work become a reality. For a pen picture of the Co-op Movement you should browse through the following or follow the links to their websites for further details:

1. About dotCoop (.Coop)

2. Definition of Co-operative & Co-op Facts, by International Co-operative Alliance (Apex Org)

3. Top Global 300 Co-ops - Statistics & Leading Industries worldwide
   

1. About .Coop:
http://www.coop/pages/aboutus

"Since 2002, .coop has been the way to locate and identify cooperatives on the Internet. .Coop is the only domain that is reserved for cooperatives and cooperative organizations that are guided by cooperative values and principles as defined in the Cooperative Principles of the International Cooperative Alliance (

DotCooperation LLC (dotCoop), the sponsor of the .coop domain, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and defines and implements eligibility and verification policies for use of the exclusive cooperative domain.  Midcounties Cooperative Domains Ltd (MCD), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Midcounties Cooperative, Ltd and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of .coop's technical environment."

And Cooperatives Europe, the European Division of ICA says:
http://www.coopseurope.coop/spip.php?article809
" .Coop is the de facto verifiable brand identity for cooperatives worldwide. With its primary focus online it is perfectly suited to supporting and promoting cooperative identity in the fastest developing business environment that is revolutionizing the way we all live and work.

Each website visit and each email sent reinforces the distinctive and trusted nature of our cooperatives, building recognition amongst consumers and delivering a new cultural awareness of the scale, diversity and values of cooperative enterprise.

.coop is also highly effective offline, subtly and effectively stating your cooperative difference on every piece of communication your organisation produces.

.coop is a “social brand”, a powerful mark that sits quietly and comfortably alongside your cooperative’s business branding, and which is shared with many thousands of other cooperative enterprises around the globe, building a worldwide network of trust." 

2. DEFINITION OF CO-OPERATIVE - International Co-operative Alliance (Apex Org)

http://www.ica.coop/coop/index.html

"What is a co-operative?