Young people attending the Alliance’s Global Conference and General Assembly in Malaysia have a wide range of events to choose from. The Youth Network Executive Committee is coordinating a series of activities aimed at those aged 35 and under.
On Tuesday, 14 November, the Youth Network will bring together all #coopyouth present to get to know one another and participate in warm-up games and peer-to-peer trainings. This will be followed by the Youth Network Assembly, featuring an informative session on its activities over the past two years, as well as a business meeting of the Network. Participants will have the opportunity to contribute to finalising a #CoopYouth manifesto and the Youth Network’s Strategic Plan. The Official Meeting Documents for the Assembly are available at www.globalyouth.coop.
On Wednesday, 15 November, using a participatory assembly format, the Youth Network will explore how youth can contribute to fostering a “Co-operative Spring” through information technology tools. Young co-operators will look at the concept of “co-operative IT” and ways in which they can use IT as entrepreneurs.
Later on the day, CICOPA, together with the Global Youth Network, will host a debate on young co-operators and the future of work. The debate forms part of their campaign WE OWN IT!, which aims to inspire the next generation to create more equal, fulfilling and caring workplaces through co-operatives.
Delegates will hear about the obstacles and opportunities young people encounter when creating a #cooperative workplace and how to best reach young people to bring them into the co-op movement. On this occasion, CICOPA will release some results of its study on youth entrepreneurship in worker co-operatives, social co-operatives, producers’/freelancers’ co-operatives that will be released by the end of 2017.
On Thursday, 16 November, the Youth Network will introduce themselves and their activities during the opening plenary, sharing stories about how they are using co-ops to solve some of the big issues facing the world. They will also present a Call to Action video for the movement.
In a later workshop young co-operators will engage in a discussion on housing co-operatives, looking at case studies and organisational models.
All Youth Network members can attend the Executive Committee’s meeting on Thursday, 14 November.
The Asia-Pacific Youth Network will also host a regional youth committee meeting where a new chair and two vice-chairs will be elected.
In addition, the ICA Asia and Pacific Committee on University/Campus Cooperatives will organise a thematic workshop on Monday, 13 November. The workshop is organised in collaboration with the ICA-EU Partnership on Cooperatives in Development #Coops4Dev and will look at the Sustainable Development Goals and the role of student-led co-operatives in helping to achieve these. Participants attending the workshop can visit the local Co-operative College of Malaysia.
The full #CoopYouth programme is available here. For more information on the youth programme for Malaysia or to get involved, contact Gretchen Hacquard, Youth Network coordinator, at hacquard@ica.coop.
