The ICA Youth Network will be launching a scheme to replicate existing cooperatives and create new youth cooperatives worldwide.
Eight projects will be selected as part of this program, which is being funded by a donation from the International Summit of Cooperatives. Already existing youth coops or groups of young people who wish to create a youth cooperative can submit a project. For the later, there must be a minimum of three youth who sign the application together.
A youth cooperative is a cooperative led by youth and with a focus on youth activities. These include campus cooperatives, housing cooperatives dedicated to youth inclusion, youth health insurance cooperatives or agriculture cooperatives.
Sébastien Chaillou, president of the ICA Youth Network said the fund would help young people to drive change by setting up businesses with a social mission.
“This is the beginning of something, a new cooperative world. With what we learnt here, the connections we made, we are ready to act more than ever,” he added.
The call will be launched in March with a participant selection process and mentor recruitment due to take place in June. Each project will receive a maximum of €10,000. Sign up for the Youth Network mailing list to get notified when it is launched.