Cooperatives provide a set of principles upon which new self-help cooperative initiatives can emerge to autonomously and indirectly implement government policies. Such cooperatives, operating according to the principles of democracy and autonomy, can enable the poor and the downtrodden to take control and ownership of the process towards fighting poverty and causes attributed to it. While all cooperatives do not necessarily have a direct responsibility for the goal to combat poverty and social and economic marginalization, the long-established practice of promoting cooperatives to address these issues remains still a powerful and effective model. In the pursuit of a sustainable environment for cooperatives, government at all levels would need to encourage cooperatives activities undertaken by the local primary level cooperatives to the regional, national, and international levels.