Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, septiembre-diciembre 2020; 8(3), 362-366
Translated from the original in Spanish

El sector cooperativo y su articulación con la gestión gubernamental

O setor cooperativo e a sua articulação com a gestão governamental

Iriadna Marín de León¹

¹ Doctora en Ciencias Económicas. Directora de la Revista Cooperativismo y Desarrollo. Profesora Auxiliar del Centro de Estudios de Dirección, Desarrollo Local, Turismo y Cooperativismo (CE-GESTA). Universidad de Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". Pinar del Río, Cuba. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9043-4782. Email: iriadi@upr.edu.cu

The world today faces an unprecedented crisis, the United Nations has shown concern about the effects caused by the COVID-19 and recognizes that it is experiencing the worst recession in generations. Although the most advanced and developed countries are struggling to cope with the health, social and economic consequences of the pandemic, the poorest and most disadvantaged will inevitably be the most affected (ONU, 2020).

"The pandemic exacerbates the pressing problems of a planet plagued by deep inequalities, where 600 million people live in extreme poverty and where almost half of the population has no access to basic health services, in the management of which the market prevails over the noble purpose of saving lives" (Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, 2020).

Government agendas are called upon to seek solutions and alternatives to the different effects caused by COVID-19, above all because it should not be considered a fortuitous, isolated, exclusively sanitary event with no future repercussions (Díaz-Canel Bermúdez & Núñez Jover, 2020).

In these circumstances, where new impressions are required, Cuba faces new challenges, starting from promoting the improvement of its Cuban Economic and Social Development Model based on the strengthening of municipal autonomy and its contribution to the efficient management of local development.

Cuba's Report to the United Nations (2019) recognizes that provincial and municipal development strategies are the fundamental ways in which the country will implement the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals at the territorial level, as well as an ideal link to promote participation and integration processes among the different local actors (government, academic and scientific research institutions, state, private and cooperative business system, professional, mass and social organizations, among others).

The management of the Cuban government in recent times and imposed by the Pandemic, has relied on the pillar of science and innovation (...), where the quality multiactor, interactive and systemic benefits from a governance mechanism that promotes the conjunction and integration of efforts at the level of society as a whole (Díaz-Canel Bermúdez et al., 2020).

The relations of the State and the government, with the enterprises in general and with the cooperatives in particular, occupy an essential place, since they influence in a decisive way the socioeconomic activity of these entities and of the whole society. It is necessary to offer new approaches from the public management, which are based on the territorial perspective, with the appropriate strategic administration, in order to guarantee the efficient management of local development (Marín de León & Rivera Rodríguez, 2015).

In this context, it is worth mentioning the role of cooperatives as a generator of development. Although this is an element discreetly treated, it is appreciated that the contribution of cooperatives, in this aspect, from its conception and operation and based on its particularities in the administration, is distinguished from the rest of the actors of the economy, in the realization of its nature and essence (economic and social) and in the fulfillment of the cooperative values and principles.

It is unquestionable the validity of the criterion that, in the business character that guarantees the growth of the satisfaction of social needs, should be incorporated, in a particular way, to the cooperative enterprises, taking into account that, for the weight that they represent in the production of goods and services, as well as for their social commitment that determines their identity, they constitute indispensable actors of development.

It is then a matter of offering a different vision from the public management, which stimulates the development of the forms of enterprise management, in particular the cooperatives, so that the human, innovative and strategic component in the management processes is strengthened, which constitutes a starting point for the theoretical definition of the public management for the cooperative sector, seen "as a dynamic, participative and interest-reconciliation process, aimed at developing and increasing the population's standard of living and quality of life, based on the implementation of public policies that enhance the particularities of management and consolidate the role of the cooperative enterprise as a direct actor in such development" (Marín de León, 2016).

The cooperative is considered a possibility to generate income and jobs in certain activities and conditions, as well as a form of social organization that allows to satisfy needs, among them, public services, housing, food, education and training, etc. in the local areas. For these reasons, it is betting on a social economy that favors social inclusion and that is also proposed as a way to build collective actors and socioeconomic networks, inserted in productive networks and value chains, local and regional (Torres Paez, 2018).

The cooperative enterprise constitutes a dynamic entity of the economic and social development of the municipality, which has as a premise the coordination and conciliation of interests with the government and the rest of the actors present in the community, from the optimal use of the endogenous and exogenous resources. It is the ideal space to work for the contribution and the favorable achievement of the objectives, programs and projects of development of the territories.

In the issue of Cooperativismo y Desarrollo that is presented, readers will be able to find various theoretical-methodological concepts and practical contributions associated with the cooperative sector and government management. Renowned national and international authors participate in it, offering their results from science with an integral and sustainable approach.

There are outstanding contributions associated with: science and innovation as pillars of government management; potentialities of agricultural cooperativism in terms of food sovereignty and nutritional education; assessment of government management in Cuba; measurement of business competitiveness for territorial development; sustainable local tourism: contribution to territorial development in Cuba; sustainable local development in vocational training; main characteristics that should be considered in the construction of a Territorial Observatory that supports Food and Nutritional Sovereignty; the foundations of labor policies, based on public-private partnerships; the Municipal Development Strategy proposed for its improvement from the cultural point of view.

These researches deal with problems of strategic importance for Cuba, based on the priorities defined in the National Plan of Economic and Social Development until 2030 and the Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution for the period 2016-2021. The scientific conceptions and practical contributions that are generated are also relevant from the validity of their contributions to the development of the theory of local public management, as well as from the implementation of the Economic and Social Strategy of the country for the impulse of economy and the confrontation to the world crisis caused by the COVID-19.

In the current conditions of the Cuban economic and social model of socialist development, it is necessary the instruments or tools that are offered and achieve their practical materialization according to the development of the territories. In this issue, there are also articles that deal with: the evaluation of the impact of the Economic Zone in Mariel Enterprise of Construction and Assembly; the theoretical analysis of the influence of inverse logistics and cost systems in the sustainable management of industrial enterprises; prediction model of temporary series for tourist demand; an instrument for the evaluation of the quality perceived in city hotels; the behavior of the protection cost for the conservation of corn seed, from natural alternatives in the local agricultural production; the application of learning methods in the formation of cooperative members, challenges and perspectives.

COODES, in this issue, aims to show, from different perspectives, a vision about the main issues that are being discussed today and are national priorities around the role of local governments and territorial development, cooperatives as key actors in this process and sustainable local tourism, which shows practical progress, economic contributions and the main challenges.

REFERENCES

Cuba. (2019). Informe Nacional sobre la Implementación de la Agenda 2030 [Informe voluntario de Cuba 2019]. Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe. https://foroalc2030.cepal.org/2019/sites/foro2019/files /informe_nacional_voluntario_de_cuba_sobre_implementacion_de_la_agenda_2030.pdf

Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, M. (2020, mayo 4). Discurso pronunciado en la Cumbre Virtual del Movimiento de Países No Alineados "Unidos contra la COVID-19", en el formato del Grupo de Contacto. Presidencia de Cuba. https://www.presidencia.gob.cu/es/presidencia/intervenciones/discurso-pronunciado-en-la-cumbre-virtual-del-movimiento-de-paises-no-alineados-unidos-contra-la-covid-19-en-el-formato-del-grupo-de-contacto-el-dia-4-de-mayo-de-2020/

Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, M., & Núñez Jover, J. (2020). Gestión gubernamental y ciencia cubana en el enfrentamiento a la COVID-19. Anales de la Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, 10(2), e881. http://www.revistaccuba.cu/index.php/revacc/article/view/881

Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, M., Núñez Jover, J., & Torres Páez, C. C. (2020). Ciencia e innovación como pilar de la gestión de gobierno: Un camino hacia los sistemas alimentarios locales. Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, 8(3), 367-387. http://coodes.upr.edu.cu/index.php/coodes/article/view/372

Marín de León, I. (2016). Modelo de gestión pública para el sector cooperativo a escala municipal [Doctorado en Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de Pinar del Río «Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca»]. http://eduniv.reduniv.edu.cu/index.php?page=13&id=252&db=1

Marín de León, I., & Rivera Rodríguez, C. A. (2015). La gestión pública y el desarrollo del sector cooperativo en Cuba. Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, 3(2), 117-125. http://coodes.upr.edu.cu/index.php/coodes/article/view/97

ONU. (2020). Informe de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible 2020. Organización de Naciones Unidas. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/

Torres Páez, C. C. (2018). Desarrollo local y cooperativismo: Apuntes para un debate. Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, 6(2), 120-124. http://coodes.upr.edu.cu/index.php/coodes/article/view/207