François Rancourt

Marketing Advisor

2010-2011

Partner: Environment Development Society (DES)

The Cause I Support

I am appalled by the inability of nations to work together to distribute the wealth generated by our planet in an equal fashion. The needs are so great. In Canada, we don’t get up in the morning and ask ourselves if we’ll have water, electricity, our daily dollar, or food. And yet current natural resources and technology could produce harmonious development and the eradication of poverty right now.

My Volunteer Experience

I am making a commitment because I sincerely believe that cooperatives can offer an alternative to the perpetual crisis of inequality. They are a tool for the creation and distribution of collective and democratic wealth. They can become an economic and democratic driving force in society. They bring food security and empowerment. They foster social inclusion and plant the seeds of humanist values while putting down strong roots in their communities. I discovered agricultural cooperatives in Cuba while studying for a semester at the Universidad de la Habana (University of Havana). In Quebec and in the rest of the world, agricultural cooperatives have enabled rural communities to organize and liberate themselves. In Nepal, I helped truck-farming cooperatives define and organize their market collectively. I am currently working for the largest cooperative employer in Quebec, Desjardins; I am now working in a rural environment with and for farmers.

I am making a commitment and taking action to raise awareness in my rural, academic community. I have the good fortune to take part in projects in which I am attempting to stimulate development. I am using my position as a corporate accounts manager and an adjunct faculty member in an Master in Coops management and governance program to make international cooperation stand out. I am taking advantage of the situation to raise awareness in my networks about the inequalities that eat away at countries in the South. I am trying to influence the opinions of people about the lot of farmers in rural areas in underdeveloped countries.