Welcome to CLARITY
The main goal of the Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative — CLARITY — is to help developing countries create a legal and regulatory environment that enables cooperative businesses to flourish.
This site provides the background, training and tools that cooperatives, cooperative development and non-governmental organizations, legal groups and other aid organizations need to address reform.
The Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative
CLARITY was created in 2005 by the members of the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
It grew from the shared experiences and convictions of OCDC’s members that outmoded legal systems were barriers to cooperative development in many parts of the world.
CLARITY’s efforts are based on nine principles key to successful cooperative development:
- Democratic member control
- Autonomy & independence
- Voluntary membership
- Member economic participation
- Equitable treatment of cooperatives
- Access to markets
- Coherent & efficient regulatory framework
- Due process
- Absence of conflicts of interest
