The United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives to raise public awareness of the economic development potential of the cooperative business model. In line with U.N. aims, Paul Hazen with the Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC) has documented how co-ops reduce poverty, generate employment, and further socioeconomic development and social integration. The OCDC has partnered with other organizations to improve income equality through improved regulatory environments, legal assistance, international accounting standards, economic studies, and international cooperative information mapping. For example, their Cooperative Law and Regulation Initiative (CLARITY), created to addresses obstacles to cooperative development presented by outmoded legal systems, has produced data tools that have been effective in supporting partner countries' cooperative movements. Paul will share his personal experiences of international cooperation. He will focus on lessons learned and examples of cooperatives working together to build the cooperative ecosystem from a public policy, legal, accounting and regulatory perspective. He will discuss how cooperatives from around the world influenced international accounting standards, created a new cooperative statute in Mozambique and obtained the .coop Top Level Domain.
A Cooperative Hall of Fame member and Wisconsin native, Paul Hazen first engaged with cooperatives when he worked for Rep. Al Baldus (WI). After leaving his legislative post, he was named executive director of a shared services cooperative of nine municipalities, Kickapoo Valley Association. Next he became Executive Director of Rural Housing Inc. in Madison, WI where he developed co-ops and affordable housing projects. In 1987, he joined NCBA CLUSA where he tripled its international portfolio from $8 million to over $30 million. His public policy wins at NCBA CLUSA include securing the USDA Rural Cooperative Development Grant program, funding for research on the scope and impact of cooperatives in the U.S. and fending off many attempts to degrade the cooperative model and tax status. Paul spearheaded an effort to obtain a top-level domain for cooperatives - dotCoop - a valuable platform for raising public awareness about the cooperative identity and advantage.
In 2012, Paul became the Executive Director of the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC) where he created the International Cooperative Research Group, which has helped to measure the impact of and increase funding for international co-op development. At OCDC, Paul has fostered more collaboration among international cooperative developers, including networks of cooperatives in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Known throughout the cooperative community, Paul shares his cooperative expertise and leadership as a member of various boards. He is a past recipient of the CEO Communicator of the Year award from the Cooperative Communicators Association.
MCLE will be provided for California. CPG thanks the Sustainable Economies Law Center for being the MCLE sponsor.
