How does the Austrian Raiffeisen Association support young co-operators?

How does the Austrian Raiffeisen Association support young co-operators? An Interview with Deputy Secretary General Justus Reichl

Deputy General Secretary Justus Reichl from the Austrian Raiffeisen Association (ÖRV) talks to the IRU about the relevance of school cooperatives in Austria and with which initiatives the ÖRV promotes the “co-operators” of tomorrow.

Dear Mr. Reichl,
You have been Deputy General Secretary at the Austrian Raiffeisen Association (ÖRV) for 2 years and are responsible for the business areas of consulting and communication.
Can you briefly describe the tasks of the ÖRV for the Austrian cooperative sector?

J. Reichl: Of a total of around 1,800 cooperatives in Austria, 1,400 belong to the Raiffeisen sector. We distinguish between the four sectors of banking (350), commodities (80), milk (80) and others (900), plus numerous affiliated and associated companies at provincial and federal level. For this multiverse, the ÖRV is the only umbrella organisation that incorporates all sectors and federal states and sees itself as a platform, initiator, and service provider for its members.

Cooperatives worldwide, like other forms of enterprises, are struggling with the social and economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, cooperatives in Europe, for example, but also in other continents, have shown themselves to be surprisingly resilient to the effects of the pandemic. What do you think are the main reasons for this?

J. Reichl: The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have exposed many undesirable developments in our previously hardly questioned economic system: For example, global supply chains faltered while the advantages of regional, sustainable production, of security of supply in one’s own hands and of responsibility and local contacts became visible and appreciated anew. In short, it was about taking things into one’s own hands again – and that is typical for cooperatives!

Deputy Secretary General Justus Reichl Photo: Pia Morpurgo

Surveys show how modern the cooperative idea is regarded, especially among the younger generation.

IRU: For some time now, you are strongly committed to “young co-operators” and new forms of cooperatives such as school cooperatives. Do you consider this as a future task for the ÖRV?

J. Reichl: Definitely! Current surveys show how modern the cooperative idea is regarded, especially among the younger generation. But at the same time, I repeatedly experience that our own employees and cooperative owners are often too unaware of this USP – or they find it difficult to communicate it pointedly. Hence, we are currently conducting two projects of the ÖRV: “Bewusst: Raiffeisen.” (Conscious: Raiffeisen) and “Raiffeisen next”, for communicating the power of the Raiffeisen idea in a contemporary way.

IRU: Let’s get specific. How does the ÖRV provide concrete support here? What are your key findings so far? And what do you recommend to IRU members in other countries?

J. Reichl: We offer tangible, ready-made “service packages” with which our members can spice up the somewhat dusty topic of cooperatives to bring it back in discussion: Workshops, films, sample advertisements, speech modules, etc. After some hesitation at the beginning, the response we are today receiving is very positive about it because the experience shows: The topic is popular and brings a lot of positive feedback. Therefore, my recommendation is to consciously put seemingly “self-evident” things like our basic idea and our values in the shop window once again and talk about them in a new form. We don’t need to invent stories. We have them already – we just need to tell them anew!

IRU: You are focusing on the topic of youth and young co-operators in your latest project “Raiffeisen Next”. What exactly is this about?

J. Reichl: While “Bewusst: Raiffeisen.” (Conscious: Raiffeisen) is primarily aimed internally at our own colleagues, “Raiffeisen next” shall have an outward effect and addresses the next generation of co-operators. The focus, however, is not on the topic of future customers or employees (the marketing and HR departments are working intensively on this anyway). Rather, it is about attracting new cooperative members and ultimately a new generation of cooperative owner representatives who will lead our cooperatives into tomorrow.

Members of the school cooperative at the St. Florian Agricultural College with their mobile chicken cooperative. The cooperative purpose is to jointly conduct livestock farming and egg production in order to supply the school kitchen. Photo: HLBLA St. Florian (Upper Austria)

IRU: Is that also the reason why you are currently supporting two school cooperatives?

J. Reichl: Not just two of them – the pilot project for implementing school cooperatives in Austria based on the German model has four pilot locations. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and home-schooling, intensive preparatory work was done there and great progress was made. Two schools even managed to found their cooperatives before summer. What makes me particularly happy and speaks for the quality of the project is that the Austrian Ministry of Education has now given the go-ahead for other interested schools throughout Austria to initiate the founding of school cooperatives – and there is great interest in this.

IRU: What motivates schools and students to set up a school cooperative?

J. Reichl: Students particularly appreciate the practical relevance, group experience and independence in the project. The experiences gained are considered as very helpful for their future careers. Teachers, on the other hand, appreciate the gain in professional but also social and personal skills of their students. Like students, they further see great potential for the students’ vocational preparation. And – not to be forgotten – genuine partner cooperatives from the region (and there must be such in each case) position themselves as committed local companies and thus possibly also as exciting employers or business partners in future.

Board of Directors and Supervisory Board of the school cooperative of the Förster-School Bruck an der Mur (Styria). The cooperative purpose is the distribution of sustainably produced work and school clothing. Photo: Förster-School Bruck/Mur

IRU: Last but not least: The ÖRV is an active member of the IRU. What does membership mean to you and what added value do you see in being a member of the IRU?

J. Reichl: What I value most about the IRU is the ability to look beyond one’s own nose (which is often narrow in one’s own everyday life). Gaining new ideas, learning from the experiences of others and being able to exchange ideas openly even on sensitive issues – because we are in the same cooperative family – and to jointly advance one or the other project. These are essential benefits in my perspective. As I said at the beginning: the Austrian Raiffeisen Association is platform, impulse generator and service provider for its members in Austria. Exactly this added value the IRU offers us all at international level.

Would you like to know more about the Austrian Raiffeisen Association (ÖRV)?

ÖRV Website

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How does the Austrian Raiffeisen Association support young co-operators?

How does the Austrian Raiffeisen Association support young co-operators? An Interview with Deputy Secretary General Justus Reichl

Surveys show how modern the cooperative idea is regarded, especially among the younger generation.

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