[Interview] Why He Emphasizes “Education” in Cooperatives (Part 1)

 [Editor’s Note🖉]

Korea’s cooperative movement and social and solidarity economy have grown rapidly over a relatively short period of time, supported by legal and institutional frameworks. Since the enactment of the Framework Act on Cooperatives in 2012, cooperatives have expanded steadily across various sectors, evolving beyond a single organizational form.

 

Today, however, the central question is shifting—from “How many cooperatives have been created?” to “How well are they actually functioning?” The focus is moving away from quantitative growth toward qualitative maturity.

 

This interview captures the perspective of Kim Wang-young, CEO of CoopBiz Cooperative, who has long engaged with cooperatives and the social and solidarity economy through the lens of education. As both a young practitioner and a long-time participant in the field, he offers candid reflections from on-the-ground experience. Rather than focusing solely on institutional outcomes or business models, he discusses how cooperatives shape people and organizations—and why learning and reflection are essential foundations in this sector.

 

The interview also explores how younger generations perceive cooperatives today, and what kinds of alternative possibilities cooperatives may hold within a highly competitive society. Rather than idealizing cooperatives, this piece serves as a reference point for understanding the transitional moment currently facing Korea’s social and solidarity economy.

 

Kim Wang-young, CEO of CoopBiz Cooperative.(Photo by Milly) 

Q: Thank you for joining us. Could you briefly introduce yourself?

 

A: I am currently the Chair of CoopBiz Cooperative and also serve as Head of Education at the Social and Solidarity Economy Education Institute. In the past, I have worked as a board member of the Seoul Cooperative Council, served as President of the Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and participated as an operating committee member of SE-ACT.

🐧Note: CoopBiz Cooperative supports cooperatives in becoming self-sustaining organizations by developing training programs and educational content, and by providing practice-oriented consulting and support—from establishment and operation to organizational transition and crisis management.

 

Q: You have been involved in the social and solidarity economy for quite some time. How did you first encounter it, and what kinds of work have you done?

 

A: I encountered the social and solidarity economy as a form of educational movement. I majored in Christian Education at a progressive theological university, where I was exposed to critical educational thinkers such as Paulo Freire and Saul Alinsky. Through this, I naturally became interested in social participation and practical engagement.

 

In 2013, as an undergraduate student, I attempted to establish an educational and cultural cooperative near my university—an experiment aimed at connecting the university and the local community through a cooperative created by professors and students together. Unfortunately, that attempt ended in failure(^^;).

 

Later, while studying Lifelong Education and Human Resource Development in graduate school, I came to understand cooperatives not merely as organizational forms, but as spaces for lifelong learning—places where people become owners of their own lives and work, and where human development takes place simultaneously.

 

Although my academic background is in education, I completed my master’s thesis with cooperatives as its focus. I then worked as an education officer at the Seoul Cooperative Support Center, an intermediary organization, where I gained a deeper understanding of both the institutional and practical meanings of cooperative education. From there, I joined CoopBiz Cooperative as a staff member and eventually became its chair. Throughout my twenties and thirties, my life has been closely intertwined with cooperatives and the social and solidarity economy.

 

Q: Since the enactment of the Framework Act on Cooperatives in 2012, cooperatives in Korea have grown steadily. What do you think is the most important issue in this growth process?

 

A: It’s true that cooperatives in Korea have grown rapidly in quantitative terms since 2012. However, the core challenge today is no longer how many cooperatives exist, but how cooperatively they actually operate.

 

Cooperatives have diversified across sectors and industries, accumulating experiences of cooperation in their respective fields—and this process itself is a valuable asset. Yet now that the initial expansion phase has passed, what matters most is qualitative growth and internal maturity.

 

This means governance where member democracy genuinely functions, the accumulation of self-reliant management capacity, continuous capacity-building through education and learning, and the formation of internal learning ecosystems that go beyond reliance on external experts. In other words, the next stage of growth for Korean cooperatives may not lie in introducing new systems, but in deeply learning from and reflecting on existing cooperative principles and experiences—so that each cooperative can develop the capacity to question, adapt, and grow on its own.

 

Q: You consistently emphasize “education” within cooperatives and the social and solidarity economy. Why is education so important in this field?

 

A: Education is crucial because cooperatives and the social and solidarity economy are not sustained solely by institutions or business models. They are economies that can endure only through people’s awareness, relationships, and learning. As Korean cooperatives move from quantitative expansion toward qualitative maturity, education becomes the key driving force of that transition.

 

Since cooperative members are simultaneously owners, users, and responsible actors, cooperatives cannot function through technical management skills alone. Democratic decision-making, the value of solidarity, principles of self-help, and the balance between social purpose and economic sustainability can easily become formalized or distorted unless they are continuously learned, discussed, and reflected upon through experience.

 

Moreover, social and solidarity economy organizations must constantly explain and renegotiate their identity amid policy changes, market pressures, and public expectations. Education enables members to grow beyond being mere “policy beneficiaries” or “project implementers,” and instead become autonomous decision-makers. Organizations that rely heavily on external experts may appear efficient in the short term, but they tend to be fragile in the long run. In contrast, organizations that cultivate internal learning cultures and the capacity to ask questions are far more resilient in times of crisis.

 

For this reason, education within cooperatives and the social and solidarity economy is not an optional add-on—it is core infrastructure that sustains organizational survival, democracy, and the continuity of social value.

 

Q: As someone who belongs to the younger generation, how do you think young people view cooperatives today? What efforts are needed to increase their interest?

 

A: For many young people today, cooperatives still feel unfamiliar and, at times, unattractive as a career or life choice. Growing up in a society dominated by competition, elitism, performance metrics, and meritocracy, cooperatives do not appear to guarantee rapid achievement or individual distinction. They tend to be slower, their outcomes are not easily quantified, and they prioritize relationships, consensus, and responsibility over efficiency and credentials—creating a certain distance from mainstream youth culture.

 

That said, cooperatives can also be spaces that pose alternative questions to the unstable labor conditions, isolated competition, and meaningless performance pressures that many young people face today. However, cooperatives have often been framed merely as “good organizations” or abstract alternatives, and have not sufficiently demonstrated their role as learning spaces where people reclaim agency over their lives and work. There is still a long way to go in providing convincing evidence of this.

 

To engage young people more meaningfully, cooperatives need to show—through education and lived experience—what kinds of skills they cultivate as democratic workplaces, what kinds of failures and growth they allow, and why this path can be meaningful not only for individuals but for society in the long term. Rather than promising short-term success, cooperatives should be presented as experimental spaces for working and learning differently, beyond competition-driven norms. Only then can cooperatives begin to appear to young people as a viable future choice.

 

Kim Wang-young’s interview continues in Part 2.

 

❓❔ Do you have questions for Kim Wang-young?😎

If you have further questions after reading this interview, please send them to [email address].

Selected questions will be addressed in a follow-up interview.