CSPs (Community Support Providers)

• CSPs (Community Support Providers)
  • What's a Community Support Provider?
  • More about CSPs
  • The Open Co-op and CSPs
    • 1. Communications Infrastructure
    • 2. Tools for Change
    • 3. Brokered Deals

What's a Community Support Provider?

The Open Co-op will set-up Community Support Providers (CSPs) in communities across the globe.

Every CSP will network together existing social enterprises, green businesses and co-ops in their area, getting them aware of each others activities, communicating and trading.

We envisage that many of the existing 'social centers' and autonomous spaces will develop into 'hubs' of the Open Co-op network, hosting PlaNet Software and co-ordinating all the local co-ops in a community.

CSPs will be the best place to search for local food, child care, gigs and even jobs, or to find information to help you set up or improve an ethical business.

By 2010 The Open Co-op will have set up many CSPs to strengthen communities, especially in deprived inner-city areas and in the developing world.

More about CSPs

CSPs are local community groups who work to build a sustainable business network in their area. Many CSPs are already in existence taking the form of social networks of those running sustainable businesses?.

However the associations in these networks tend to be loose and collaboration is far below its optimal level. Businesses tend to be inward focussed due to immediate pressures, however there are great gains to be made in sustainable business through the sharing of infrastructure which is currently duplicated many times over.

While this process of bringing together networks of sustainable businesses is of value, harnessing some of that value for the networker has not proved easy, and hence it has not been made a business priority.

The CSP model aims to change that by creating a revenue generating model for such networkers operating to catalyse sustainability in a specific locality.

The Open Co-op and CSPs

The Open Co-op project will provide CSPs with enabling tools in three areas:
1. Communications Infrastructure
2. Resource Pack
3. Brokered deals (with national sustainable businesses)

1. Communications Infrastructure

Groupware solution to rival that of large multinationals

• E-commerce solution.
• Project management and decision-making solution.
• Payment solution.
• Online community system.
• Contact database and geographical map of the sustainable economy.

These tools will be developed in conjunction with pilot CSP projects from around the world, which will work with their communities to test usability, assess demand for specific features, and give feedback.

2. Tools for Change

The Tools for Change resource pack will contain information aimed at both CSPs and the pioneer groups they support.

Information targetted at CSPs will include:

• Tool and techniques for building sustainable communities.
• Training on how to administer and develop a CSP (PlaNet) website and communications infrastructure.
• Conference organising tools and techniques.

Information targetted at pioneer groups will include:

• Training on how to use the communications infrastructure (PlaNet)
• Case studies of successful projects including business plans, top-tips and lessons learnt, (e.g. food, energy, transport, wireless etc.).
• Information on general business practices including accounting, business plan writing, and how to set up cooperatives and social enterprises.
• Database of potential funding sources and project support organisations.
• Training on ethical audit for SMEs

Partner organisations will be recruited to provide materials for the resource pack:

• Fair Trade organisations
• Co-operative agencies
• Development agencies and social economy finance
• Sustainable businesses
• Think-tanks

3. Brokered Deals

We will work with larger sustainable businesses to negotiate mutually beneficial terms for the reselling of services by CSPs. Thus allowing CSPs to launch their marketing agencies on a financially sustainable basis.