Co-op News August 2022

AUGUST 2022
CO-OPS AND THE
HOPE FOR FUTURE
GENERATIONS
Plus … Reports from the
World Credit Union Conference
and Playground for the New
Economy Festival ... the Future
of Co-operative Banking ...
Interview with Woodcraft
Folk’s Debs McCahon
ISSN 0009-9821
770009 982010
01
£4.20
www.thenews.coop

The 2022 Co-operative Press
Annual General Meeting
We will be convening a virtual AGM in 2022.
Please note that the 2022 Co-op News AGM, originally scheduled for 6-7.30pm on
Monday 25 July has been postponed and will now take place on
Monday 22 August at 7-8.30pm.
This is due to covid-related delays to our auditing process, and the passing away
of our of our Treasurer.
The notice of the final Agenda and the Annual Accounts sent out to members
and made available online on Monday 8 August
For further updates on the AGM, please visit www.thenews.coop/AGM2022
If you have any queries regarding the AGM, please email
Richard Bickle: secretary@thenews.coop
Rebecca Harvey: rebecca@thenews.coop
The Secretary
Co-operative Press Ltd, Holyoake House,
Hanover Street, Manchester, M60 0AS
secretary@thenews.coop

Future generations and the quest
for the common good
CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND
CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP
MOVEMENT SINCE 1871
Holyoake House, Hanover Street,
Manchester M60 0AS
(00) 44 161 214 0870
www.thenews.coop
editorial@thenews.coop
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Rebecca Harvey | rebecca@thenews.coop
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR
Anca Voinea | anca@thenews.coop
DIGITAL EDITOR
Miles Hadfield | miles@thenews.coop
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Alice Toomer-McAlpine
alice@thenews.coop
DESIGN
Andy Bellis | andy@thenews.coop
DIRECTORS
Elaine Dean (chair); David Paterson
(vice-chair); Sofygil Crew; Victoria
Green; Tim Hartley; Phil Hartwell;
Gillian Lonergan; Beverley Perkins;
Shaz Rahman; Lesley Reznicek
Secretary: Richard Bickle
Established in 1871, Co-operative
News is published by Co-operative
Press Ltd, a registered society under
the Co-operative and Community
Benefit Society Act 2014. It is printed
every month by Buxton Press, Palace
Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE.
Membership of Co-operative Press is
open to individual readers as well as
to other co-operatives, corporate bodies
and unincorporated organisations.
The Co-operative News mission
statement is to connect, champion
and challenge the global co-operative
movement, through fair and objective
journalism and open and honest
comment and debate. Co-op News
is, on occasion, supported by co-ops,
but final editorial control remains with
Co-operative News unless specifically
labelled ‘advertorial’. The information
and views set out in opinion articles
and letters do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of Co-operative News.
@coopnews
cooperativenews
CBP013875
The UN’s International Youth Day 2022 is being celebrated on 12 August
under the theme Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages.
“To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world needs
to leverage the full potential of all generations,” says the UN. “Solidarity
across generations is key for sustainable development. We must
collaborate to foster successful and equitable intergenerational relations
and partnerships to ensure ‘no one is left behind’.”
Sustainability, collaboration and equity are all familiar terms to cooperatives,
and discussions around intergenerational activity are taking
place around the world as young people grapple with economic, social
and environmental challenges. At the end of last year, Co-operatives UK
looked further into these emerging issues – and last month
consolidated its research with a National Youth Summit in Manchester
(p26-27) and a report (p28-29) highlighting both the biggest challenges –
and how co-ops can offer hope.
This issue we also speak with Debs McCahon, CEO of the Woodcraft
Folk (p22-23) and Nick Crofts, CEO of the Co-op Foundation (p30-31)
about how their organisations are enabling young people through cooperation,
and Anca Voinea shares her experience of visiting youth cooperatives
in Andalusia (p32-33).
One of the many challenges right now is the economy – but co-ops
are active here, too. July saw the World Credit Union Conference (p36-39)
and the Playground for the New Economy Festival (p34-35) discus new
ways of working in global and local economies – and we also hear more
about the campaign to bring the union co-op model to the UK (p44-45),
efforts to building a co-operative banking system in the country (p40-41),
and why US credit unions are ramping up bank acquisitions (p42-43).
Creating a world for all ages, requires new ways of thinking and working
in the world, but as Tom Carman said at the Playground festival, the new
economy is also about trust: “It’s about building structures, processes and
a culture where we all trust one another. It’s about trust – and kindness.”
REBECCA HARVEY - EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Co-operative News is printed using vegetable oil-based inks
on 80% recycled paper (with 60% from post-consumer waste)
with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC certified
sources. It is made in a totally chlorine free process.
AUGUST 2022 | 3

ISSN 0009-9821
9 770009 982010
01
THIS ISSUE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
Tony Greenham at Co-op Congress
(p40-41); The Co-op Youth Summit
(p26-27); Elissa McCarter Laborde, CEO of
the World Council of Credit Unions
(p36-39); Playground for the New Economy
Festival (p34-35); Debs McCahon (p22-23)
AUGUST 2022
CO-OPS AND THE
HOPE FOR FUTURE
GENERATIONS
Plus … Reports from the
World Credit Union Conference
and Playground for the New
Economy Festival ... the Future
of Co-operative Banking ...
Interview with Woodcraft
Folk’s Debs McCahon
£4.20
www.thenews.coop
COVER: FUTURE GENERATIONS
Graphic design graduate Fabio Cawley
from Chapel Street Studio, a co-op of
freelance creatives based in Bradford
is one of the case studies presented
in a new report from Co-operatives UK
looking at how co-ops offer hope to
future generations
(Image: Co-operatives UK)
Read more: p28-29
22-23 MEET ... DEBS MCCAHON
CEO of the Woodcraft Folk
26-33 CO-OPS AND THE FUTURE
GENERATIONS
26-27 CO-OP YOUTH SUMMIT
Building better alternatives through
co-operation
28-29 FUTURE GENERATIONS REPORT
Co-ops UK’s new report look at values-led
solutions to modern challenges
30-31 INTERVIEW: NICK CROFTS
The CEO of the Co-op Foundation on how
it’s building support for young people
32-33 ANDALUSIAN CO-OPERATIVES
How is the region in southern Spain
shaping current and future leaders?
34-45 NEW THINKING FOR NEW
ECONOMICS
34-35 PLAYGROUND FOR THE NEW
ECONOMY
Report from Stir to Action’s festival of
ideas
36-39 WORLD CREDIT UNION
CONFERENCE
The annual event was hosted by the
Woccu and Abcul in Glasgow
40-41 THE CAPITAL CONUNDRUM The
efforts to build a co-operative banking
system in the UK
42-43 BUYING TO GET BIG
Why are US credit unions ramping up
bank acquisitions?
44-45 UNION CO-OPS Q&A
The campaign to bring the union co-op
model to the UK
46-47 GLOBAL INNOVATION SUMMIT The
2022 edition will look at the transitions
needed to tackle new challenges
REGULARS
5-13 UK news
14-21 Global news
22-23 Meet
24 Letters
25
50
Comment
Events
4 | AUGUST 2022

NEWS
RETAIL
UK co-ops launch international trading development fund
Central England Co-op has launched an
international development fund to help
communities around the world develop
trading opportunities.
Announced on the International Day
of Co-operatives (2 July), the Co-operative
International Trading Development
Fund will be led by Central England
in collaboration with the Co-operative
College and will initially focus on Malawi.
A range of products from suppliers with
trading or product links to Malawi are now
available to buy from Central England’s
more than 260 stores. The fund will also
be supported from sales of the existing
Co-op Fairtrade range.
Central England’s in-store product
displays will feature Malawi-inspired
artwork produced by Creative Co-op,
and products will include tea sold under
the Revolver Co-op brand, sourced from
Msuwadzi – a smallholder tea association
in the south of Malawi; Kilombero rice,
supplied by JTS; and macadamia nuts
supplied by NutCellars – all sourced from
smallholder farms.
Funds from the product sales will
support work plans created from focus
groups carried out with Malawian co-ops
– which identified priorities including
climate change mitigation and help with
gaining Fairtrade certification.
And a programme of support on the
ground is being developed with the help
of the College and the Malawi Federation
of Co-operatives (Mafeco) to improve
trading capacity.
Central England CEO Debbie Robinson
said: “As we celebrate the International
Day of the Co-operatives it’s a perfect time
to launch the Co-operative International
Trading Development Fund and its very
first initiative – Our Malawi Partnership.
“I visited Malawi many years ago whilst
doing work on Fairtrade and promised the
people I met there that we’d do more.
“A co-operative principle has always
been to focus on developing sustainable
initiatives that strengthen community
livelihoods and we’re so excited to be
working with our partners, Co-op College
and Mafeco, to use this fund to make a
real difference on the ground in Malawi.
“By buying from the special range of
new products landing in our stores to
mark the launch, as well as our existing
Fairtrade range, contributions will be
made to a truly transformative initiative
that will help to move communities out
of poverty.”
Dr Sarah Alldred, head of International
Partnerships at Co-op College, said:
“I’ve always felt extremely welcome in
Malawi and the people I’ve met have been
keen to share their stories and hopes for
the future.
“The smallholder farmers I spoke
with are all at different stages of their
co-operative journey. Some are just now
joining a co-operative and others have
worked with Mafeco for years, but all of
them are enthusiastic about the benefits
that co-operative working can bring to
them, their families, and their wider
communities.
“The Malawi Partnership is a fantastic
working example of Principle Six –
co-operation among co-operatives. It
facilitates the sharing of knowledge and
resources and most importantly it will
allow smallholder farmers to improve
their livelihoods for generations to come.
“We’re excited that the College’s
long track record in international cooperative
development, and our unique
co-operative learning approach is helping
to facilitate such an impactful project.”
Paul Birch, CEO of Revolver Co-op, one
of the suppliers supporting the initiative,
said: “Malawi relies on tobacco for
70% of its farming cash crops. Moving
agriculture to a sustainable co-operative
model, promoting co-op values, reflecting
international Fairtrade standards and
switching production to crops that can
both be consumed locally and exported,
are at the centre of the alliance between
Central England Co-op, Co-op College and
Revolver Co-op.
“Only through refocusing Malawi
agriculture towards the sustainable
development goals can we help transform
Malawi’s economy and benefit its people.”
Tracy Mitchell, from JTS, suppliers
of Kilombero Rice, said: “We are really
pleased to be part of this exciting
project to support co-operatives and
farmers’ associations in Malawi – and
we are thrilled that our award-winning
Kilombero rice will be available to Central
England customers.
“Not only does the rice taste great
– and we’ve got Great Taste Awards to
prove it – but it also delivers a significant
difference to the growers, an association
of smallholder farmers in the northern
part of the country.
“Being part of this initiative will
enhance the farmer associations’ ability to
strengthen community livelihoods as they
seek to bring the poorest out of poverty.”
AUGUST 2022 | 5

ENVIRONMENT
Co-op Foundation’s Carbon Innovation Fund partners announced
A co-operative fishery and an
urban farming co-op are among the
environmental initiatives granted funding
from the Carbon Innovation Fund.
The fund, a partnership between
the Co-op Group and its charity, Co-op
Foundation, will shares £3m among
projects tackling carbon emissions over
the next three years.
So far, 14 projects have been awarded a
combined £1.3m. Recipients include Fal
Fishery Co-op, which produces carbonabsorbing
oyster larvae at its hatchery in
Cornwall, and Edinburgh Agroecology Coop,
which is creating a local community
farm to show how land in urban centres
can benefit people and the environment.
The Fairtrade Foundation in Mbarara
and Masaka has also been granted
funding for its work producing briquettes
from used coffee grounds, which can be
used as fuel for cooking stoves.
The Carbon Innovation Fund is part of
the Group’s plan, announced last year, to
become a Net Zero business by 2040.
Verity Warnecke, head of climate
change at the Group, said: “It’s this type of
co-operation which is needed across the
world to help accelerate our response to
the climate crisis if we are going to have a
natural environment which we are proud
to pass on to future generations.”
The fund is supported in part through
the sale of Co-op’s compostable carrier
bags, with the remainder coming from
the Co-op Foundation’s own funds. It is
the largest partnership of its kind between
the retailer and its charity.
The Co-op Foundation’s CEO, Nick
Crofts, said: “We created the fund to
encourage innovation and help tackle
emissions in the food and farming
industries – and what an incredible first
14 projects we’re funding. From Cornwall
to Malawi, we’re working with our new
partners to create sustainable change and
develop inventive solutions to complex
issues. We cannot wait to see what our
partners achieve as they co-operate to
make our world a better place to live.”
Interview with Nick Crofts, p30-31
POLITICS
Co-op Party welcomes Labour shift to community-led levelling up
The Co-op Party has given an enthusiastic
welcome to a “substantial shift” in
policy by its sister party Labour, with
shadow levelling up secretary Lisa
Nandy announcing a new emphasis on
community ownership.
In a speech on 18 July, Nandy said
a Labour government would bring
in a community right to buy, giving
“communities the opportunity to take
control of pubs, historic buildings and
football clubs that come up for sale or fall
into disrepair”.
She added that Mark Gregory, former
chief economist of Ernst & Young, will
lead a commission to explore how
community groups can best leverage
private investment to buy assets, how a
fund can best support communities and
what safeguards need to be put in place.
Co-op Party campaigns officer James
Butler said Nandy had proposed “a
p Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy
radical alternative to the Conservatives’
increasingly insipid-looking levelling
up agenda, and her vision is largely a
co-operative one”.
He added: “Through our campaigns
and policy work, we have highlighted the
great work that is going on around the
country by co-operators in communities
and on councils. Lisa Nandy is promising
that she will put rocket boosters under
what has been achieved.”
Butler noted that the plans would give
communities first refusal on assets of
community value, on long-term vacant
property, and the right to buy them without
competition. The current statutory six
months allowed to communities to raise
funds would be doubled to a year.
“A Labour and Co-operative government
would also reform compulsory purchase
orders to allow communities to bring
public buildings into use,” he said.
In her speech, given at the Forum,
a community-owned music venue in
Darlington, Nandy called for a “new
approach to government”, arguing that
“a centralised, remote, bureaucratic state
has turned devolution into a circus, with
mayors and council leaders competing for
crumbs and so often, people and places
cut out of the conversation”.
6 | AUGUST 2022

CREDIT UNIONS
Treasury minister and credit union reformer John
Glen resigns from government
The wave of ministerial resignations
prompted by the Chris Pincher scandal,
which ended Boris Johnson’s premiership,
includes John Glen who, as economic
secretary to the treasury, was working
closely with the credit union sector.
Glen had held the role since 2018, a
long tenure which meant his department
avoided the problem of ministerial
churn – where frequent changes at the
top prevents ministers from developing
expertise, hampers consistent long-term
policy making and makes it harder for
businesses and other stakeholders to build
relationships with department heads.
He had also been working on a series of
reforms which had been welcomed by the
sector, and announced his plans at May’s
annual conference by the Association
of British Credit Unions (Abcul). These
included governance reforms and a
lending shake-up that will allow credit
unions to offer automobile loans for the
first time.
In his resignation letter to Johnson,
Glen said: “I can no longer reconcile my
commitment to the role and to the financial
services sector with the complete lack
of confidence I have in your continuing
leadership of our country”.
His credit union plans are part of
a wider set of reforms for the finance
sector. “Those reforms are now ready
to be presented to parliament, and they
represent a fundamental reset of the
regulatory framework for the industry and
consumers,” Glen said in his letter.
Responding to the news of his
resignation, Abcul CEO Robert Kelly
said Glen’s reforms would “enable credit
unions to expand the range of affordable
products and services that they offer to
members across the country”.
He added: “John Glen has reiterated
earlier today in his resignation that
financial services reforms are ready to
be presented to parliament and we are
confident credit union content will form
part of that wide agenda.
“Abcul will continue to liaise with HM
Treasury in a pro-active basis to monitor
progress on the days and weeks ahead.
p John Glen announces a set of reforms at
this year’s Abcul conference
Abcul would like to sincerely thank John
Glen for his dedication to the credit union
sector during his tenure as EST and his
constant willingness to engage.
“Everyone at the association wishes
him well in his future endeavours.”
Kelly said communities across the
UK continue to struggle against “a
generational cost of living crisis”.
“Credit unions will continue to serve
communities and employers in these
testing times,” he added, “through the
provision of ethical and responsible
products and services – our mantra of
people helping people will continue to be
the bedrock of everything we do.”
AGRICULTURE
Dairy co-op Arla warns UK labour shortage will hit food production
UK dairy co-op Arla Foods warns that a
chronic shortage of farm workers is hitting
dairy production and forcing up prices.
It says the situation will worsen
unless action is taken and calls on the
government and agriculture industry to do
more to attract talent to the sector.
A survey in May of 541 of Arla’s 2,100 UK
farmer-owners found that 80% of farmers
looking for workers have received ‘very
few’ or ‘zero’ applications from people
with the right experience or qualifications.
Brexit ending the free movement of EU
workers and the aftermath of Covid-19
are among factors behind the problem,
says Arla, with more than three-fifths
(61.3%) of farmers finding it more difficult
to recruit now than in 2019. Production
is already affected, the co-op adds, with
volumes down 3% on last year.
The survey also finds that a small
but significant number of farmers have
already responded by cutting the number
Image: GettyImages
of milkings (4.3%) and/or reducing the
size of their herd (6.0%). Many more say
they will take these steps (6.9% and 6.8%
respectively) or leave farming altogether
(11.9%) in the next year if nothing changes.
Arla, which has called for specialist
roles like herd manager to be added to
the Shortage Occupation List, is engaging
with the new Institute of Agriculture and
Horticulture on the problem.
It has welcomed the focus on improved
skills and qualifications for farm workers,
as well as recruitment, but says more
government action is needed.
UK managing director Ash Amirahmadi
said: “Addressing the labour shortage
and the implications for food security
is vital. Now is the time for all of us,
across government and industry, to work
urgently and collaboratively.
“That’s why I’ve written to the secretary
of state calling on him to accelerate the
review of the labour market promised
in the Food Strategy White Paper and
to commit to a new cross-departmental
strategy to bring talent into food and
farming, making it a career of choice for
people from all backgrounds. This will
need to include on-farm training, but
also address teaching in schools, careers
advice, support for people wanting to
change career, and a marketing campaign
promoting careers in our industry.
“If we don’t act now the current
shortages of people will only get worse,
undermining our food security and further
fuelling higher prices for consumers.”
AUGUST 2022 | 7

RETAIL
Co-op Group launches social mobility impact report
The UK’s Co-op Group has launched a
Levelling Up Impact Report to assess its
impact on levelling up across the country
and recommend future action.
The report was developed in
partnership with the Purpose Coalition
and benchmarks the organisation’s work
against the UK’s Levelling Up Goals.
The goals were established by former
government minister Justine Greening
in 2021, with input from businesses,
universities and policymakers. Developed
from the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goals, they are designed to tackle the
challenges facing the UK after Covid-19 by
providing a framework for organisations
to identify gaps in access to opportunity
(covering key life stages from early years
to adulthood) and the main areas where
barriers exist that prevent people from
achieving their potential.
The report, presented at the House
of Commons on 5 July by the Group’s
CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq and public
affairs director Paul Gerrard, highlights
the retailer’s commitment to delivering
opportunity countrywide.
“It is vital that business and government
work in partnership to unlock the talent
that exists everywhere,” said Khoury-
Haq. “We must ensure everyone, whatever
their background, has the opportunity to
succeed in a way that is right for them.
I’m delighted that the impact the Co-op
is already having in communities has
been recognised in this report but we also
know there is much more [we] and other
businesses, should do.”
The report explores the Group’s
work across all 14 goals, but highlights
particular achievements against Goal 2
(Successful school years), Goal 3 (Positive
destinations post-16+), Goal 4 (Right
advice and experiences), Goal 8 (Good
health and wellbeing), Goal 10 (Closing the
digital divide) and Goal 11 (Infrastructure
for opportunity).
Examples of best practices include
the schools in the organisation’s multiacademy
trust, which are all guided by the
same set of principles but are tailored to the
needs of pupils in specific areas; its Local
Community Fund supporting community
projects chosen by the co-operative’s
members; and its Apprenticeship Levy
Share service, which enables businesses
across England to pledge their unspent
levy, which would have otherwise expired.
The report makes a number of
recommendations for further action where
the Group can extend its work, building on
its existing reputation and countrywide
reach. This includes setting higher
standards on issues such as diversity and
p The report benchmarks the Co-op Group’s
work against the UK’s Levelling Up Goals
socio-economic reporting which could
also be extended to its supply chain;
enabling a more effective transition from
education to work; supporting schools in
social mobility cold spots; and promoting
positive mental health and wellbeing and
better physical health through healthier
and sustainable diets.
“I want the Co-op to be part of a
movement for change and a catalyst for
that change,” added Khoury-Haq. “That’s
why we’re delighted to be working with
Co-op Group partners
with UK Youth for social
action in Scotland and
Northern Ireland
A new partnership between the Co-op
Group and UK Youth will offer young
people in Scotland and Northern Ireland
opportunities to make a difference through
social action in local communities through
the #iwill movement.
The #iwill movement is a collaboration
of over 1,000 organisations and 700 young
#iwill ambassadors & champions from
across the UK, supported by charities UK
Youth and Volunteering Matters.
The Group is partnering with UK Youth
to grow the #IWillScotland and the #iwill
movement in Northern Ireland, working
with YouthLink Scotland and Volunteer
Now in Northern Ireland. Its £250,000
investment, funded by members through
the Co-op Community Partnerships
Fund, will be used to recruit, train and
support new #iwill ambassadors across
the nations. The 10-25 year-olds will work
together to make a difference in their
communities through social action.
Ambassadors will receive training and
mentoring, enabling them to drive change
at a local, national and UK-wide level.
In addition, 150 new #iwill champions
will be recruited, who will help spread
the word and develop their own social
action initiatives. More than 2,000 young
people in Scotland and Northern Ireland
are expected to benefit from the Group’s
investment in #iwill.
The Group says social action can have a
life changing impact on young people and
their communities, helping them develop
essential personal and social skills such
as self-confidence, resilience, leadership
and motivation. Director of community
and membership Rebecca Birkbeck said:
“Creating fairer opportunities for young
people to take action on the issues they
care about is crucial in empowering
8 | AUGUST 2022

This is Purpose, to lead by example and
show how purpose-led businesses can
pave the way. I’m pleased to announce
that the Co-op will join the new Equality of
Opportunity Coalition and we’ve already
started work to explore what we can do to
promote socio-economic diversity within
the Co-op. We commit to share our insight
and next steps in early 2023.”
Jim McMahon MP, chair of the Cooperative
Party and shadow secretary
of state for environment, food and
rural affairs, acknowledged the role the
Group has played in tackling inequality,
supporting aspiration and promoting
opportunity across the country.
“I am delighted to welcome this report
from the Purpose Coalition, measuring the
Co-op’s activity against the 14 Levelling
Up Goals and setting out how it can go
even further to boost social mobility and
improve equality of opportunity,” he said.
Chair of the Purpose Coalition, Justine
Greening, said that making a positive
impact and creating a fairer society “is in
[the Co-op Group’s] DNA”.
She added: “[The Group] is already
doing outstanding work across the
country but its extensive reach and brand
recognition means that it has the potential
to do even more and, crucially, set a
gold standard for what it means to be a
purpose-led business.
“The economic and social challenges
that the country is currently facing –
p Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury Haq (2nd left) and public affairs director Paul Gerrard (right)
launched the report at the House of Commons with colleagues Lorna Jones and Ali Scowen
(Image: Co-op Group)
our recovery from the pandemic and the
growing pressures of the cost of living
crisis – means that the role it can play on
delivering social good has never been more
important. The Co-op gets to the heart of
what matters most in a community. Its
deep knowledge of those it serves enables
it to understand what they really need to
thrive and their local partnerships help to
deliver it. The synergy between business
and community is mutually beneficial
– the Co-op can focus its efforts on
those who need the most help and,
in return, communities receive welltargeted
and tailored support that is
better placed to make a difference.
“Measuring an organisation’s progress
on how it is levelling up is key. It’s how
things get done. As a leading member of
the Equality of Opportunity Coalition, the
Co-op has committed to measuring and
reporting the socio-economic background
of their employees as part of its wider
efforts to ensure that everyone has access
to opportunity, regardless of background
or where they are from. It is setting an
example that I hope other businesses
will follow and I am looking forward to
working with its leadership team to help
shape the levelling up agenda.”
them to make a real difference in local
communities throughout Scotland and
Northern Ireland.
“We are delighted to be partnering with
UK Youth to grow the #iwill movement
so that even more young people can
access support and make positive
change, whether that’s supporting
fairer access to food, improving mental
wellbeing services, or creating even more
opportunities for young people to get
involved in their communities.”
Denise Hayward, CEO of Volunteer Now,
said: “Volunteer Now is delighted to have
the support of the Co-op to develop a peer
network of young people who are taking
action in their communities”
“We know that peer encouragement
to become involved in social action is
important for young people. We also
know that volunteering and social action
makes a difference to the lives of others
and themselves. Our present ambassadors
are a diverse range of amazing young
people and we look forward to supporting
more ambassadors and champions
within Northern Ireland and witnessing
the positive change that they will make
through the Co-op’s support.”
Tim Hancock, #iwill ambassador in
Northern Ireland, said: “I’m thrilled with
the support of the Co-op! As one of the
1st #iwill ambassadors in NI I know how
important it is to have peer support, to be
part of something local but also to have
the network and opportunities that come
from being part of a UK movement. I’m
looking forward to volunteering alongside
the local Co-op branches and being part of
the journey for the year ahead.”
Cian Gullen, co-chair of the Scottish
#iwill Advisory Group & 2016 #iwill
Scotland ambassador, said: “This funding
from the Co-op is so valuable to the #Iwill
movement in Scotland. It really helps us,
as young #Iwill Ambassadors, to grow
the #PowerOfYouth across the nation and
reach even more young people who want
to create change in their communities.”
Tim Frew, CEO, YouthLink Scotland,
added: “We are delighted with this new
funding from the Co-op and to work
alongside UK Youth and our partners in
Northern Ireland and Scotland on this
exciting new chapter for #iwill.
“It’s vital we do all we can to channel
the talent and energy of our young people,
and encouraging them to volunteer is
a great way to do this. Not only does
it benefit their local communities, it
empowers young people to make lasting
change in their lives and the lives of others
and develop skills for life.”
AUGUST 2022 | 9

p CEO Don Morris at the soon-to-be-demolished Radco site and (left) architects’ images of the proposed new development
RETAIL
Radstock Co-op makes progress on town centre development plans
Somerset-based retailer Radstock Cooperative
has announced updates on its
ambitious plans to redevelop the site of its
former Radco Superstore, which closed in
August 2020.
Since then, the society has been working
closely with Bath & North East Somerset
(Banes) Council planners to complete all
pre-planning commencement conditions
–with progress slowed by the pandemic.
CEO Don Morris said: “It’s been a longtime
coming, but I’m truly delighted to
announce the last pre-commencement
condition has been passed.”
He said this meant the society could
move ahead with the demolition of the
site, which is scheduled to take place this
summer. “It’s not only great news for the
society but also fantastic news for the
town,” he added.
The approved plans for the site, which
the co-op has drawn up alongside
planning,urban design and development
consultants Origin 3, include a modern
store and other retail units, offices and 28
apartments in two mixed-use buildings. In
addition, outline planning has also been
approved for the construction of 26 new
homes on part of the existing car park.
Nikki D’Ovidio, PR and communications
specialist at the society, said co-op
members and the local community “have
been an integral part of the planning
process – included in every step from
conception to the final plans.
“Their feedback has been incorporated
and changed the original plans from
an uber-modern building to a more
traditional design, with the new building
gently integrated into the surrounding
hillside and mirroring similar design
elements to that of the surrounding
buildings.
“Along with Origin 3, we received
high praise from Banes Council for our
approach to the redevelopment – referring
to our process as the model for how to
plan and include the local community.”
D’Ovidio said the site “will bring
numerous new jobs to the area – we are
already using local contractors in all
aspects of the build.
“Working with Bath College, we
have set up a committee to provide
apprenticeships to young adults looking
to begin a career in the industry.”
Sustainability is also a crucial aspect to
the plans, she said. “It will be built to the
latest environmental standards, ensuring
all wildlife and riverscape are protected,
along with solar panels, shared energy
groups and effective drainage.”
Radstock Co-op is also working
with partners “to create an affordable
housing scheme available to the
society’s employees, old and new, along
with anyone who has a connection to
Radstock,” she added.
The retail units will be open to major
food chains to enhance the local economy,
while Radstock Co-op will have its office
on the site, along with further office space
to rent.
“We hope to be joined by Co-operative
Funeral in a purpose-built unit along with
other local businesses,” said D’Ovidio.
“We want the redevelopment to serve the
community for the future, bring the town
together and create quality public realm
where people can gather with friends
and family.”
10 | AUGUST 2022

EDUCATION
Co-op College unveils three-year strategy at its AGM
The Co-op College has unveiled a threeyear
strategy to “streamline its focus” on
areas where it says it has most impact.
Presented by CEO Neil Calvert at its
AGM on 30 June, the strategy sets out the
“aims and aspirations” of the College,
“developed over a number of months by
staff and trustees, [incorporating] member
feedback and ideas”.
A statement on its website adds: “While
in no way a radical departure from the cooperative
values and work you’ve come to
expect from the College – what the new
strategy does is clearly articulate the who,
why, what, and how of our organisation.
We’re clear about our guiding principles,
aims for the future, and the actions we’ll
take to help get us there.“
It adds that strategy has been broken
down into four key themes – co-operative
learning, thought leadership, international
co-operative development and youth
empowerment – and within those will
cover the curriculum areas of co-operative
leadership, co-operative values and
behaviours, and concern for community.
“By streamlining our focus,” it says,
“we can concentrate on the areas where
our distinctive learning approach can
make the most impact. The strategy also
recognises the importance of working
in partnerships – with co-operators,
educators and others who share our
values and objectives.
“With ongoing inequality and social
injustice in our society, the world needs
co-operation now more than ever. Our
new strategy aims to put co-operative
learning at the heart of our communities
and workplaces both in the UK and abroad
to help tackle these issues.”
Specific measures in the plan include
advocating for the creation of new co-ops,
the formation of strategic partnerships,
facilitating “transformative international
co-operative projects”, delivering flexible
services to suit diverse needs, and working
with disadvantaged youth.
HOUSING
Cwmpas gets £540k
from Welsh government
for housing co-ops
Development agency Cwmpas has been
awarded £540,000 from the Welsh
government, and £408,539 from the
Nationwide Foundation, to continue its
work growing the country’s co-op and
community-led housing sectors.
The money will help Cwmpas –
formerly the Wales Co-operative Centre
– to scale up its Communities Creating
Homes programme, whose new five-year
strategy aims to double the number of
groups taking forward co-operative and
community-led housing (CCLH) in Wales.
This includes 150 new low-carbon homes
completed, and a development pipeline
for a further 250 homes.
The government money will be
phased over the next three years, while
Nationwide’s funding – a continuation of
previous support – runs until 2025.
Jocelle Lovell, director of inclusive
communities at Cwmpas, said: “CCLH
plays an essential role alongside councils,
developers and investors to create
affordable homes in Wales which meet
local community needs and support
future generations. The funding from the
Welsh government and the Nationwide
Foundation is critical to building on the
excellent progress that has already been
made in this area.
p Members of Tir Cyffredin co-op
“We know that every project is different
– so our support is tailored to the needs of
each community. Whether you’re new to
co-operative and community-led housing,
have already formed a group or want to
join an existing group, we want to help.”
Climate change minister Julie James
said: “Community-led housing must
remain a part of the housing solution
in Wales. Our support is as strong as it
was 10 years ago and our Programme for
Government reaffirms this.”
Gary Hartin, Nationwide Foundation’s
programme manager, said: “Communityled
housing can be a workable alternative
method for genuinely affordable housing.
It can create homes that local people need,
where they want them. The conditions for
this to happen are strong in Wales.”
Projects supported by the Communities
Creating Homes team include: Tir
Cyffredin Housing Co-op in Machynlleth,
teaching the group to set up a housing coop,
raise capital through a mortgage and
community funding and buy their house.
None of the residents had any previous
experience of home ownership, setting up
a co-op or raising funds.
And Gwyr Community Land Trust CiC,
near Swansea, is in an area where secondhome
ownership has inflated property
prices and decimated the rental market.
The CCH team is helping a group of locals
toward their goal of building “sustainable,
zero carbon, low impact, stylish, healthy
community-led homes” – including
the establishment of a legal structure,
developing plans and finding land.
AUGUST 2022 | 11

RETAIL
Co-op Group expands
its robot delivery
service to Bedford
The Co-op Group has expanded its
partnership with Starship Technologies to
roll out robot deliveries to neighbourhoods
in Bedford.
Working with Bedford Council, the
collaboration will see up to 45,000
residents across 20,000 households
offered deliveries from three local Co-op
stores – Goldington, Queens Drive and
Kempston.
The Group already operates robot
deliveries with Starship in communities
across Milton Keynes, Northampton and
Cambridgeshire.
Chris Conway, ecommerce director at
the Group, said: “Co-op is committed to
exploring new and innovative ways to serve
our members and customers – they lead
busy lives so ease, speed and convenience
are at the heart of our approach.
“We are delighted to be able to expand
our partnership to areas of Bedford –
as a convenience retailer, the ability to
come into stores will always be important
to customers, but we also know that
shoppers want flexible and convenient
options online, and so we are focused on
providing what our customers want and
need, however and wherever they choose
to shop with us.”
Starship was created by the co-founders
of Skype in 2014. Since launching
commercial deliveries in 2018, Starship’s
robots have travelled more than 4 million
miles and completed more than 3.5 million
deliveries. It says the robots are powered
by zero carbon electricity, with an average
delivery for a Starship robot consuming as
little energy as boiling a kettle to make a
cup of tea.
The robots are lightweight and travel
at the speed of a pedestrian (no faster
than 4mph). They use a combination
of sensors, artificial intelligence and
machine learning to travel on pavements
and navigate around any obstacles,
while computer vision-based navigation
helps them map their environment to the
nearest inch.
Scotmid launches Menopause Café for its colleagues
Scotmid retail society has become the first
co-operative to launch a Menopause Café
for its colleagues.
The staff-led initiative aims to open up
conversations around menopause and
create a safe and inclusive environment to
share experiences and discuss challenges.
The member-owned retail society,
which has around 4,000 employees
located across Scotland, Northern Ireland
and the north of England, held its first
online Café on 28 June during Coop
Fortnight, an annual celebration of cooperation.
“Co-op Fortnight feels like a fitting
time to launch the initiative,” said Shirley
MacGillivray, head of membership and
community.
The launch of the cafe follows Scotmid
sponsoring the world’s only menopause
festival, #FlushFest2022, organised by
Perth-based charity, Menopause Café.
Scotmid’s membership, community and
society press liaison manager, Lynne Ogg,
said that meeting the festival organisers
had left her excited about the idea of
setting a Menopause Café at Scotmid, so
she began to take the idea forward.
“The response was positive and
supportive so, as part of our new Wellbeing
initiative, we officially launched the Café
on Tuesday,” she added.
“As well as positive feedback from
Tuesday’s Café, we are hearing that
conversation has opened up between
colleagues across the society. Tuesday’s
group decided they would like to meet
monthly, so plans are under way for the
next Café and we look forward to welcoming
more colleagues to the conversation.
One Scotmid colleague named Gillian,
who attended the Café, said: “I had no
idea what to expect, the Menopause Café
concept was completely new to me. I
thought I would go along to just observe
but I found myself relaxed and happy to
share my own story. It was reassuring to
hear from others, I don’t feel so alone. I felt
uplifted and more positive after only one
meeting so am already looking forward to
the next.”
12 | AUGUST 2022

RETAIL
Southern hopes to save
£220k a year through
electronic shelf labels
Southern Co-op is to roll out electronic
shelf labels (ESELs) across its stores after
a successful trial period.
The retail society has been testing
two types of ESEL since December 2020,
gradually widening the trial to 15 stores
over the past 12 months. It says it has
“astoundingly positive feedback” from
staff who say they could not stand to go
back to paper labelling, and is investing in
a roll out across its estate towards the end
of 2022 and throughout 2023.
Adam Skiller, manager of Southern’s
Stockbridge Road, Chichester, store,
which has had the ESELs for 19 months,
said: “We are able to save so much time
and I have got the confidence that all the
prices are accurate.
“We used to get through around 40
packs of paper for shelf edge labels a
year so that is a huge saving in paper
and financially. All the colleagues love
it. Replacing all the paper labels – the
job always fell to the same people and it
is incredibly monotonous. So it does help
with morale and it looks clean and tidy.”
The society hopes to save £220,000 a
year in paper and consumable costs such
as printing with the tech, manufactured
by SoluM, a Samsung-invested company.
The rollout is being carried out with
Cambridge tech integrator Herbert Retail.
The installation programme was
delivered in partnership with Scotmid
Co-op, which hopes to complete its ESEL
installation to all its stores later this year.
Southern is also the latest independent
retail society to link up with Too Good To
Go to offer Magic Bags of food past its bestbefore
date.
Too Good To Go’s app allows customers
to buy surplus food and drink products
from local Southern Co-op sites which are
near to their expiry date.
Co-op Group to axe 400 jobs at Manchester head office
The Co-op Group announced plans to axe
400 jobs as Co-op News was going to press,
pointing to a “tough trading environment”
as the cost-of-living crisis bites. Most roles
will be cut from its Angel Square HQ in
Manchester. A spokeswoman the changes
came “with a heavy heart” but were the
“right thing to do for the long-term health”
of the business.
MPs name Globe co-op the Jazz Venue of the Year
Newcastle’s community-owned music
venue The Globe has won a Parliamentary
Jazz Award for the second year running.
The award means the Globe is now
officially the UK Jazz Venue of the Year as
voted by an independent panel of experts
following a public vote. The announcement
was made at the All Party Parliamentary
Jazz Appreciation Group awards ceremony.
Nisa reports healthy 2021 as sales level from pandemic peak
Convenience retail chain Nisa, owned by
the Co-op Group, reported profits of £7.5m
for the year to 2 January 2022. This is down
from £10.9m in 2020, when trade was
inflated by Covid lockdown measures, but
way ahead of the £9.4m loss for 2019. Sales
fell back to £1.38bn from £1.6bn in 2020,
which last year fell back to £1.38bn.
Central England Co-op to fit Smartcool energy saving tech
Central England Co-op has signed a deal
to install Smartcool technology at 68 of its
sites, as part of its efforts to cut energy use
and reduce its carbon footprint.
The project, which includes the addition
of Smartcool’s optimisation technology
on 120 heat pumps, follows a six months
of tests at four of the co-op’s sites, which
achieved savings of over 25% in kWh.
Midcounties Co-op offers Fairtrade discount to members
Midcounties Co-operative is offering its
members a 10% discount on all Fairtrade
products across its 230 food stores.
The savings, on goods including
bananas, tea, coffee, flowers and wine,
will be in place until the end of the year
at least, and is funded by the society,
meaning there will be no impact on
payments to the producers.
AUGUST 2022 | 13

GLOBAL UPDATES
GLOBAL
World marks 100th International Day of Co-operatives
The 100th edition of the International Day
of Co-operatives, celebrated on 2 July, took
the theme “Co-operatives build a better
world”, in a bid to promote awareness of
the model.
In a video message, Ariel Guarco,
president of the International Cooperative
Alliance (ICA) said: “As co-operatives,
we always show that a different world
is possible, one with social justice, in
perfect harmony with nature, a world at
peace. That is why we are celebrating this
day with the certainty that every day we
are transforming our planet into a place
where we can live with dignity, and where
future generations will be able to do this
too. Let’s continue doing what we are
doing to build a better world.”
Iñigo Albizuri, president of the
International Organisation of Industrial
and Service Cooperatives (Cicopa) noted
that the date also marked the 20th
anniversary of the International Labour
Organisation’s recommendation No.193
on the Promotion of Cooperatives.
“This historical recommendation
acknowledges that ‘co-operatives in
their various forms promote the fullest
participation in the economic and social
development of all people’,” he said.
“Indeed, over the years our worker and
social co-operatives – employing four
million persons across the world – have
consistently built a better world through
creating quality jobs, empowering
disadvantaged groups of the population,
and providing affordable, much-needed
goods and services.”
But it is also important to look forward,
he added. “Policymakers across the
globe increasingly pay more attention
to the benefits of the co-operative model
because we have answers to many of the
challenges modern societies are facing.”
Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives
UK, published a blog post highlighting
the international impact of the UK’s coops,
“from disaster relief projects which
help those in desperate need to uplifting
international projects which improve
people’s livelihoods each and every day”.
In the United Arab Emirates, retailer
Union Coop published a statement
reaffirming its commitment to corporate
social responsibility.
Dr Suhail Al Bastaki, happiness and
marketing director, said: “Being the
largest consumer co-operative in the UAE,
Union Coop plays a vital role in regulating
the market prices and thus benefits the
hard-working consumer with justified
prices and premium quality.
“The sales volume of local, organic and
hydroponic fresh vegetables and fruits has
always been on a steady rise, as supporting
and encouraging local agriculture comes
at the top of our priorities, to achieve
sustainable agricultural goals and
enhance stocks and food security in the
country. Moreover, we have been working
closely with local farms to ensure healthy
agricultural practices and help them in
multiple ways.
“Recently, in line with the directives
of the Executive Council of Dubai, we
decided to limit single-use plastic bags
jointly with other retailers from July, which
is a very important step towards gradually
establishing a sustainable environment.
So yes, we can easily establish that cooperatives
are already playing a crucial
role in building a better world for the
current and next generations.”
US apex body NCBA CLUSA runs the
International Cooperative Development
Program (CDP), funded by the US Agency
for International Development (USAID),
which celebrated in several countries.
In Madagascar, NCBA CLUSA joined
the Ministry of Industry, Commerce
and Consumption to host the country’s
third National Forum on Co-operatives,
alongside an expo for co-ops to showcase
and sell their products on 1-2 July.
In Kenya, Meru Dairy Union, a key
CDP partner and pillar of Meru County’s
co-operative sector, held a celebration
which drew more than 20,000 co-op
members, families and community
members from Meru and neighbouring
Tharaka Nithi County. Local government
officials, the governor of Meru, and
the principal secretary from the State
Department of Agriculture also attended.
Many co-operatives and service providers
showcased their products and services.
In Peru, NCBA CLUSA co-sponsored a
virtual event with the Peruvian Leadership
School, “NEURO-COOP: The future of
co-operatives and co-operatives of the
future”.
Panellists included prominent leaders
from Peru, Ecuador and Mexico, and
NCBA CLUSA’s CDP director in Peru,
Oscar Inocente. Discussion focused on
how co-operatives can be better prepared
to tackle future challenges and achieve
sustainability.
14 | AUGUST 2022

EUROPE / NEW ZEALAND
Trade deal draws different criticisms from EU and NZ co-ops
The EU and New Zealand concluded
negotiations for a trade agreement on
30 June, which is expected to increase
bilateral trade between the two by 30%.
The deal, which has sparked concern
from farmers on both sides, for different
reasons, includes the elimination of all
tariffs on EU exports to New Zealand and
guarantee duty-free access on 97% of New
Zealand’s current exports to the EU.
Is the first deal struck by the EU to
include potential sanctions for violations
of environmental or labour standards –as
announced by the block last week.
The deal has a dedicated sustainable
food systems chapter, a dedicated
trade and gender equality article and a
dedicated provision on trade and fossil
fuel subsidies reform.
The agricultural package was among
the most contested, with farmers on
both sides expressing disappointment,
including agricultural co-ops.
Asked about the agricultural package,
New Zealand trade minister Damien
O’Connor: “It’s probably fair to say that no
one likes it, so we must have got it about
right,” reported Reuters.
Responding to the deal, Copa and
Cogeca, the European voice of agri farmers
and their co-operatives, raised concerns
about its members’ ability to cope with
market pressures. The apex argued that
additional market access to NZ exporters
would impact European farmers at a
time when they are trying to invest in
sustainability.
Copa and Cogeca secretary-general
Pekka Pesonen said: “Copa and Cogeca
welcome the fact that EU production
safety standard and geographical
indications have been recognised under
the agreement with New Zealand. We
acknowledge the commitments that both
the EU and New Zealand have agreed
upon with regards to incorporating the
principles of the Paris agreement and
sustainability in international trade.
“However, we know that for key sectors
such as dairy, sheep and beef production
this agreement is painful. Therefore,
we call for a proper management and
monitoring of tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on
imports of agricultural products to avoid
market failure.”
p NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern with
European Commission president Ursula von
der Leyen (Image: European Commission)
The agreement will protect the full list of
EU wines and spirits and – by recognising
geographical indications – 163 renowned
traditional EU products, such as Asiago,
Feta, Comté or Queso Manchego cheeses,
Istarski pršut ham, Lübecker Marzipan,
and Elia Kalamatas olives.
This has sparked concern from farmers
in New Zealand. Dairy giant Fonterra –a
co-operative owned by around 10,500
farmers – said the deal was disappointing
for NZ’s dairy sector and reflected a degree
of protectionism in the EU dairy industry.
Simon Tucker, Fonterra’s director for
global sustainability, stakeholder affairs
and trade, said: “The agreement provides
some small pockets of access for certain
products over time, but overall commercial
opportunities for products such as butter,
cheese, milk powder and key proteins
are constrained relative to the size of the
EU market by a combination of small
permanent quotas, in-quota tariff rates,
and quota administration requirements.
“At the same time, the outcomes for
the EU on geographical indications (GIs)
mean that Fonterra, alongside other
New Zealand cheese producers, will no
longer be able to use the term ‘feta’ after
a transition period of nine years. Fonterra
has, however, retained the ability to use
the terms parmesan and gruyere.
“Access to markets and the elimination
of barriers to trade is critical at a time
of growing geopolitical uncertainty
to provide optionality for exporters,
particularly into markets where
customers and consumers value New
Zealand sustainability and provenance
credentials.”
He added: “New Zealand’s future export
success, and the jobs that this creates
across regional New Zealand, depend
on addressing the large trade barriers
remaining across many markets as part
of New Zealand’s future trade agenda,
including through any upgrades or
reviews of the NZ-EU FTA.”
By contrast, politicians on both
sides have praised the deal. European
Commission president, Ursula von der
Leyen, said the deal was crucial because
New Zealand is a key partner for the EU in
the Indo-Pacific region.
“This trade agreement brings major
opportunities for our companies, our
farmers and our consumers, on both
sides,” she said.
“It can help increase trade between us by
30%. It includes unprecedented social and
climate commitments. This new agreement
between the EU and New Zealand comes
at an important geopolitical moment.
Democracies – like ours – work together
and deliver for people.”
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda
Ardern said: “Our EU-NZ FTA is expected
to increase the value of New Zealand’s
exports to the EU by up to NZ$1.8bn
(£0.9bn) per year from 2035; that’s more
lucrative than the benefits derived from
our recent UK FTA.
“It’s a strategically important and
economically beneficial deal that comes
at a crucial time in our export led Covid-19
recovery.
“It delivers tangible gains for exporters
into a restrictive agricultural market. It cuts
costs and red tape for exporters and opens
up new high value market opportunities
and increases our economic resilience
through diversifying the markets that we
can more freely export into.
“The complete removal of duties on
the majority of products New Zealand
exports to the EU is a major achievement
in a deal that covers market access into 27
European countries.
Negotiations between the EU and New
Zealand started in 2018. The deal will
require approval by trade ministers of all
27 EU member states and the European
Parliament and ratification by New
Zealand, all of which could take between
18 and 24 months.
AUGUST 2022 | 15

AUSTRALIA
Business schools’ neglect of co-op
education ‘costs us all’, warns leading academic
Australian business schools’ neglect of
co-operative education is “costing us
all”, says Greg Patmore of the University
of Sydney.
Writing in The Conversation, Prof
Patmore said the positive contribution
made by co-ops in Australia is not reflected
in the country’s business education.
“Australia has a rich history of
communities forming co-operatives
to provide services where for-profit
businesses or the state have been
unwilling or unable,” he wrote. “They
run shops and schools, offer banking and
mortgage services, and provide housing
and health services.
“Though co-operatives exist throughout
Australian society, making a hugely
valuable economic contribution, their
distinctive nature and management
requirements are largely ignored by
university business schools. This neglect
is costing us all.”
In 2016 a Senate committee inquiry
found neglect of co-op and mutual
businesses in education was holding the
sector back.
Prof Patmore suggests in the article
that this neglect has actively damaged the
sector, highlighting the demutualisation
of large member-owned organisations
such as AMP and the St George Bank in
the 1980s and 1990s.
There are over 1,700 co-ops in Australia,
with around eight in ten Australians being
members of a co-op or mutual. However,
only three in ten Australians could
name a co-operative or mutually owned
enterprise and only 16% of Australians
are aware they are a member of one,
according to a survey conducted by The
Australia Institute.
Prof Patmore points to Tranby
Indigenous adult education school as a
good example of co-operative education,
but said this a “rarity in business
Photo: Getty Images
education”, where “the focus instead is
on individual entrepreneurship, investorowned
businesses and vague ideas of
social business”.
Both specialist courses on co-operatives
and recognition of co-ops within general
business or law courses is needed, said
Prof Patmore, who also made an appeal to
Australia’s new prime minister, Anthony
Albanese.
“It is important students at all levels
be aware of what makes co-operative
businesses different and valuable,”
he wrote. “Hopefully the Albanese
government will not neglect them. They
have a lot to offer communities and
reinforce democratic values.”
GLOBAL
Co-ops are key
to SDG3 on health and
wellbeing, says report
The International Health Co-operative
Organisation (IHCO) has published a
report on how co-ops are helping to
achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3,
Better Health and Wellbeing.
Co-ops can be owned by healthcare
professionals, by patients and other
service users, or by multistakeholder
groups, says the report.
It adds that some co-ops focus on
one type of service while others offer
a vast array of general and specialised
services. Co-operatives can offer medical
services performed by doctors and/
or other professional services such as
nursing, physiotherapy, chiropractic or
dental hygiene. Their role is not limited
to the treatment and cure of diseases, but
also covers preventative, palliative and
rehabilitation services.
By providing these services, says the
report, co-operatives contribute to the
overall performance of health systems
and complement public health systems.
“In some cases, they offer services under
the remit of public healthcare through
direct concession contracts, offering
a sustainable alternative that saves
resources from government budgets.”
Co-operatives also help to balance
the market between public and private
operators, says the report, which includes
a series of case studies to show the value
of the model.
The role of health co-operatives has
been acknowledged by the 2021 UN
secretary general’s Report on Cooperatives
in Social Development, which stated
that “the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a
sudden and massive increase in demand
for health services, and health cooperatives
in many countries were ready
to provide support, relieving some of the
pressures being faced by public healthcare
systems”.
In addition to providing an overview
of the sector, the report makes
recommendations to “ensure the
fulfilment of their potential and to create a
level-playing field” for co-operatives.
These include:
• ensuring laws, regulations, and
administrative procedures provide an
enabling environment for co-ops and
cater for their distinctive characteristics;
• providing specific financial tools to
ensure the creation and development of
co-operatives, particularly at the startup
phase;
• ensuring co-operative development
policies feature information, training,
education, and research on the co-op
model and its benefits for achieving
public health objectives;
• encouraging co-ops in the health
sector to organise under representative
structures to advocate for policies that
respect their business model in a more
coordinated and efficient way.
The full report from IHCO and
PromoCoop is available on IHCO’s website.
16 | AUGUST 2022

EUROPE
CECOP report highlights the advantages
of the co-op model in the care sector
A new report by the European
confederation of industrial and service
co-operatives (CECOP) explores how coops
help to meet the high demand for care.
Released ahead of the European Care
Strategy, due this autumn, CECOP’s report
focuses on how co-ops address challenges
in the care sector and showcases best
practices.
According to the EU Social Protection
Committee (SPC), long-term care will be
necessary for 38.1 million Europeans in
2050, up from 30.8 million in 2019. The
report highlights some of the challenges
affecting the sector, such as care workers
being poorly paid – or not paid at all,
precarious employment conditions, and
physically and emotionally challenging
work. Co-operatives can address these
issues, it argues, by offering quality
services to care recipients and quality
working conditions to their workers.
The sector is particularly well developed
in Italy, where more than 14,000 co-ops
provide care services to five million people,
employing 400,000 workers. Similarly, in
Spain 1,000 co-ops provide care services
to 67,000 people, directly employing 3,000
workers. And in Sweden, around 10% of
childcare is provided by co-ops. While
some of these are managed by parents,
others are worker or multistakeholder
co-ops.
The report highlights the distinction
between co-op ownership – exclusively by
workers or alongside other stakeholders
such as care recipients, public authorities
or other partners – and private enterprise.
And it refers to a 2019 Eurofound study
on employment conditions in co-ops and
social enterprises, which found that co-ops
prefer to offer full-time, permanent jobs –
the ‘standard employment’ model which is
often used as an indicator of a good-quality
job. Co-op workers in the Eurofound study
rated job quality as high, in absolute terms
and in comparison to similar organisations;
gave high ratings to the social environment,
voice and representation in the workplace,
work-life balance and task discretion;
and reported plenty of opportunities for
skills development, high levels of job
security, and “significant intent to provide
workers with career opportunities within
organisations”.
As enterprises governed on the principle
of one member, one vote, co-ops can also
educate their worker-members on internal
governance issues. The CECOP report says
this allows members “to fully take control
of their own employment, and promote a
collaboration culture”.
Maintaining a work-life balance is
another challenge for care providers and
here, too, co-ops can make a difference.
The report explains that “many cooperatives
make an effort t o i mprove t he
living conditions of their members by
providing additional services which relieve
the pressure on the workers”.
Based on these findings, t he C ECOP
report makes several recommendations,
including: giving co-operatives the legal,
political, and financial support they need;
treating care as an essential service to the
community where quality is prioritised
rather than using the cheapest price
criteria in public procurement; improving
accessibility of state aid to co-operatives
providing care services; supporting co-ops
as key actors providing care in a formal
environment, transforming informal
and self-organised care; and supporting
digitalisation and innovation in the
care sector.
The full report, which was funded
by the European Union, is available
at bit.ly/3RmpiY7
GLOBAL
Basel relaxes
guidance on credit
union regulations
The credit union sector has welcomed the
latest guidance from the Basel Committee
on Banking Supervision, which calls for a
more proportional approach to regulation
to help smaller finance providers.
In its guidance, Basel calls on
supervisory authorities to tailor regulation
for non-internationally active banks,
according to local circumstances.
It said this could mean applying the
current framework –Basel III – or earlier
forms “for jurisdictions that have simpler
banking systems, implemented in a way
that is consistent with the underlying
objective of the international standard.
“Such proportionate approaches
preserve financial stability through bank
safety and soundness. For some banks and
banking systems, this might be achieved
with rules that are even simpler than the
Basel Framework while remaining broadly
aligned with the international standards”.
The World Council of Credit Unions
(Woccu), which has long been calling on
Basel to work with national supervisors
on the implementation of its standards,
welcomed the guidance. Woccu believes
national supervisors should tailor Basel
III standards appropriately for the size,
risk and complexity of credit unions.
Earlier this year Woccu urged the G20 to
direct the international standard setting
bodies to work closely with national
regulators to fully adopt proportional
tailoring of regulations for the purposes of
advancing financial inclusion.
Andrew Price, Woccu’s senior vice
president of advocacy and general
counsel, said: “This guidance is
welcomed and will ultimately help credit
unions achieve greater financial inclusion
worldwide.”
Read the Basel guidance at bit.ly/3PG1wV8
AUGUST 2022 | 17

EUROPE
Social Economy Action Plan report approved by European Parliament
The European Parliament has approved
a report featuring suggestions and
recommendations for a more ambitious
implementation of the EU Action Plan for
the Social Economy.
Prepared by rapporteur Jordi Cañas
MEP (Renew, ES), SEIG vice-chair and
by the Employment and Social Affairs
Committee, the report passed with
493 votes in favour, 75 against and 69
abstentions, on 6 July.
The approved report will help to provide
feedback to the European Commission
on its proposals for the social economy
– which has 2.8 million social economy
actors that employ 13.6 million people
across the member states.
It makes several recommendations,
such as agreeing a common EU-level
definition of the social economy based
on its main principles and features.
And it advocates the deployment of
financial tools to respond to the specific
needs of social economy enterprises
and organisations, raising awareness of
the social economy as an employer and
entrepreneurial model, and helping social
economy actors develop programmes to
improve social service development, and
boost the delivery and the accessibility of
services for the most vulnerable.
Mr Cañas said: “The European
Parliament has shown its resolve to
elevate the social economy and its key
principles – social inclusion, solidarity,
and justice – to the place it deserves in the
EU policy debate.
“More importantly, it has put on the
table some proposals to pave the way and
accompany the powerful transformation
and consolidation the social economy is
undergoing. The social economy has a
strong ally in the European Parliament.”
Katrin Langensiepen MEP (Greens/
EFA, DE), SEIG vice-chair and shadow
rapporteur, added: “With this report the
European Parliament clearly stresses
the importance of social economy
in the green transition and future of
work. We particularly welcome the
gender mainstreaming and the demand
to facilitate funding for women.
Nevertheless, we Greens would have
preferred a more ambitious paper
including the establishment of a label and
p The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France (Image: iStock)
a common definition for social economy
enterprises to increase their visibility. We
hope that this will come in the next steps.”
Juan Antonio Pedreño, president of
Social Economy Europe, said: “This
report points in a positive direction
and has gathered a wide support from
493 MEPs, that would like to see an
ambitious implementation of the Social
Economy Action Plan. The role of the EP
and of its Social Economy Intergroup is
more relevant than ever to support the
Commission, member states, and social
economy stakeholders in further boosting
the social economy across Europe, scaling
up from 6.3% of all EU jobs today to 10%
by 2030.”
The action plan was launched by the
European Commission in December
2021 to boost the social economy, which
includes co-operatives.
Cooperatives Europe welcomed the
report, describing it as “an opportunity to
push the Commission to go further in its
commitments”.
Specifically, the apex body approved
of the necessary promotion of the co-op
model and its principles of democracy
and member participation, the need
for enhanced partnerships and cooperation
between the social economy
and mainstream businesses, and the need
for education, training, upskilling and
reskilling schemes to help social economy
organisations (SEOs) compete.
But the apex was critical of the
absence of more ‘disruptive’ or ambitious
measures.
“For instance, the report does not
include (democratic) governance aspects
as essential criteria of the social economy,
especially regarding socially responsible
procurement,” it said in a statement
on its website. “Similarly, on capacitybuilding
support measures for SEOs in
their (start-up phase) stressed by the
report, to ensure that young cooperatives
or other SEOs get access to funding and
training programmes early on in their
development phase.
“Cooperatives Europe hopes this report
will nourish the Commission’s work for
the Action Plan implementation. We stand
ready to work on this matter hand in hand
with the Commission to offer our member
co-operatives and social economy as a
whole the best chances to develop and
thrive in the EU.”
18 | AUGUST 2022

CANADA
Government includes co-ops in fund to drive broadband inclusion
The Canadian government is working with
the government of Quebec on a CA$8.2m
(£5.3m) project to bring broadband to 25
rural communities across the province.
Funding includes $181,244 for the
Coopérative de câblodistribution de
l’arrière-pays (CCAP) for a project
benefiting the community of Stoneham-et-
Tewkesbury.
The co-op’s general manager Stéphane
Arseneau said: “As a co-operative, we’re
pleased to be able to participate in this
collective effort to connect all Canadian
households to high-speed internet.
“We appreciate the involvement of both
governments in this project, giving us the
means and support needed to finally serve
the residents in our area. They too deserve
to take full advantage of this advanced
and efficient means of communication.
We had wanted to offer them this service
for a long time, but its deployment was
Image: GettyImages
inconceivable without this financial
support.”
The funding also sees $98,758 go to the
Coopérative de télécommunication SJM
for a project benefiting the community of
Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur-de-Wolfestown.
In a joint statement, the co-op’s
president Marc-André Grenier, and local
mayor Steven Laprise said: “Saint-Jacques-
Le-Majeur is the smallest municipality
in Les Appalaches RCM, with barely
200 inhabitants. This small group of
residents decided to form a co-operative.
After six years of effort and with financial
support from the federal and provincial
governments, the municipality was the
first to offer fibre-to-the-home Internet
service in the summer of 2021.
“Just because we’re small doesn’t mean
we can’t have big plans. Our motto is keep
moving forward!”
The government of Canada says the
scheme continues its “progress toward
making sure that 98% of Canadians have
access to high-speed internet by 2026”,
adding that since 2015, it has invested
more than $731m in Quebec connectivity.
The scheme also includes private
telecoms providers – with $1,208,522
going to Bell Canada.
AFRICA
Fairtrade
partnership using
satellite monitoring tool
to combat deforestation
A partnership project is being launched
by Fairtrade International, Fairtrade
Africa and the non-profit Earthworm
Foundation to monitor deforestation and
assess environmental vulnerability using
a satellite monitoring tool called Starling.
The pilot project will capture
deforestation data within Fairtrade coops
and their smallholder cocoa farmers
in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to help them
manage the forest. Working with the
co-ops, Earthworm will develop a set
of assessment tools which will analyse
deforestation monitoring requirements,
assemble the data required to carry out
risk analyses and deliver near-real-time
deforestation alerts. It will also develop
training to smallholder co-ops to enable
them to interpret the data and alerts.
The partnership is expected to roll out
its first deforestation alerts this summer.
“Earthworm Foundation is excited to
implement this project with Fairtrade
International and Fairtrade Africa,” said
Rob McWilliam, director of technical
services at Earthworm Foundation.
“We look forward to proving our
experience and knowledge of using
Starling’s land cover and forest cover
change datasets to tackle deforestation
and support actions for addressing
environmental vulnerabilities. We are also
excited to be working further with farmers
and their organisations to develop fit-forpurpose
tools to enhance their work.”
Jon Walker, senior advisor for Cocoa
at Fairtrade International, said: “We
are thrilled to announce this landmark
partnership that will explore how
powerful data sets can be leveraged by
co-operatives and their members for
their own risk analysis processes and in
alignment with expected government
regulation against deforestation.”
The announcement follows a
European Commission legislative
proposal published in 2021 that seeks
to ban imports of cocoa, coffee and
other commodities when production is
associated with deforestation. While
supportive of deforestation legislation in
general, Fairtrade has voiced concerns
about its impact on smallholder farmers,
who are reliant on cocoa for their income.
The Fairtrade-Earthworm Foundation
partnership aims to help smallholder
cocoa farmers navigate any legislative
complications that may threaten their
livelihoods while also helping to preserve
the environment.
“This partnership will finally direct
the transfer of deforestation risk data in
a meaningful way to co-operatives and
their members in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
using the principles of Fair Data,” added
Mr Walker.
“In this manner, we can ensure that
those with the least power in supply
chains have access to this critical data and
can use it to improve their livelihoods and
beneficially impact their communities.”
AUGUST 2022 | 19

AUSTRALIA
Australian co-ops continue their response to devastating flood crisis
With New South Wales (NSW) suffering
more floods, just months after the disaster
that submerged huge areas of eastern
Australia, the co-op movement is stepping
up its efforts to offer assistance.
Heavy flooding broke out last month
around the Sydney and Central Coast area,
destroying homes, leaving people without
power and killing at least one person.
This comes hard on the heels of the
devastating floods that hit NSW and
Queensland between February and April,
which left at least 22 people dead.
The Australian Mutuals Foundation
(AMF), in partnership with the Business
Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals
(BCCM), G&C Mutual Bank and
Summerland Credit Union, is offering
small grants to support co-ops, mutuals
and their members. This follows donations
of more than AU$208,000 (£120,000) from
co-ops around the world, says BCCM.
Individual co-ops around flood-hit
Lismore, in the Northern Rivers region of
NSW, have been playing a role in recovery.
Norco Dairy Co-op, whose ice-cream
factory, head office and rural store in South
Lismore were deluged on 28 February,
has been supporting its workers while
operations are suspended. It established
a Go Fund Me page for employees and
farmers, raising $109,794.15 as at 28 June.
Thanks to a federal support package,
the co-op has been paying staff to work
with volunteer group Resilient Lismore.
“Resilient Lismore has tasked Norco
crews to some of our biggest, dirtiest
jobs,” said the volunteer organisation in
a Facebook post. “Demolitions, cleanups
and yard work. You name it. Every
morning they arrived at the volunteer
hub ready and willing to serve the most
vulnerable in their community – some
workers flood affected themselves.”
The Norco team’s work with Resilient
Lismore ended on 12 July with the 170 ice
cream factory workers facing an uncertain
fate; the co-op is still unable to cover
workforce costs while the site is out of
action, and the emergency federal support
package was due to end on 14 July.
But on the final day, the federal
government stepped in with a $2.7m
(£1.5m) package which gives Norco
10 weeks to apply for further funding
from a $59.3m (£34m) business support
programme.
Norco is one of several major businesses
calling for the support programme to be
doubled, and warns that rebuilding the
ice cream site will depend support from
federal and state governments.
“Norco is ready and our staff are ready,”
said CEO Michael Hampson. “I have a
renewed sense of optimism for the future
of the facility and we look forward to the
day we celebrate its reopening.”
Another key co-op player is Summerland
Credit Union, most of whose 30,000
members live in the Northern Rivers area.
In a podcast, BCCM interviewed CEO
John Williams, who said the credit union
has played a key part in community
recovery, even though its own branches
were left under water. In areas like
Lismore, every bank branch and ATM
was destroyed, leaving residents with
cashflow problems. In response, cash was
helicoptered in to affected regions.
In Lismore, Summerland worked with
Southern Cross University to set up an
emergency banking hub four days after
the flood, with five other mutual banks
invited to use the site. Summerland has
reopened its Molesworth Street branch in
Lismore but will continue the Southern
Cross hub.
Summerland also worked with Norco
to set up emergency payroll facilities.
“We have a quite a tight network of
co-operatives within the region,” said
WIlliams. “I meet quite regularly with the
executives and CEOs from Casino Food,
from Norco, from macadamias, from the
blueberry industry … to look at options
and ways that we can further support the
community and rebuild businesses.”
Summerland is hoping to secure a
$200,000 (£115,000) pot of reconstruction
funds, from the AMF and other sources,
with a primary goal of restoring what has
been destroyed in the disaster.
Williams warned that climate change
means “the norms in the past are not
necessarily the norms of the future”.
Also working to relieve the situation
in Northern Rivers is Casino Food Co-op,
the largest farmer-owned meat processing
co-op in Australia, which set up an
emergency food distribution hub using
its refrigeration plant, forklifts, helipad,
fuel tanks, mobile generators and earth
moving equipment.
Staff, including plant workers and
cleaning teams, volunteered to clean
homes and assist with food distribution.
The co-operative also agreed to take
in the entire fresh produce – 20 pallets’
worth – of a Lismore fruit and veg shop
after it was evacuated, which BCCM says
was “vital in keeping locals in evacuation
centres alive”. And it served as the centre
for air drops to isolated and cut-off
communities – delivering 90 pallets of
food, using 20 helicopters and 11 trucks
to 14 communities, feeding 4,000 people.
North of Lismore, in the Hawkesbury
Nepean area and Richmond Valley,
CivicRisk Mutual has also been hard
at work. The mutual, which provides
property protection to 26 local authorities
in NSW, stepped in to ensure council and
community buildings were repaired.
“We provide water and sewerage
services to properties and the
infrastructure in Richmond Valley region
was severely damaged,” CEO Andrew
Armitstead told Co-op News. “CivicRisk
Mutual works closely with the councils to
get them back and operational as soon as
possible. The past 12 months have been
the largest number and most expensive
flood claims in our 34-year history.
“We have made immediate payments
to councils to get them back and running
once we knew the extent of the problem
so they had cash to start rebuilding and
worked with them to maximise financial
support from the governments as the
impact to uninsured infrastructure roads,
parks, etc are far greater than the council
buildings we insure.”
20 | AUGUST 2022

ZIMBABWE
Fishing co-op
faces challenges from
environmental crisis
p Fishing boats on the shore of Lake Kariba
Zimbabwe’s first women’s fishing coop
has seen its catches dwindle due to
climate change, overfishing and decreased
rainfall, the Guardian has reported.
Members of the Bbindauko Banakazi
Kapenta Co-operative told the paper their
once-lucrative business on Lake Kariba
has been facing challenges since 2018.
The co-op was set up by ten women
who fish on the lake for the Tanganyika
sardine, also known as kapenta. The
women rotate their time on a monthly
basis to make use of the co-op’s pontoon
boat, which was built in 2011 by local
charity the Zubo Trust and UN Women.
The co-op has enabled members to put
their children through school and become
more financially stable, but the declining
catch threatens this progress.
Co-op member Sinikiwe Mwinde said
they used to catch around three tonnes
of kapenta a month, but are now lucky to
catch just one tonne.
Merchants who buy from the women
pay USD$150 (£125) for a 90kg bag of fish,
but reduced catches means that the co-op
has fallen behind on its licence fee
payments, for which it pays $300 (£251)
every three months.
The co-op has also attempted fish
farming but the project fail because they
could not afford a pump or the cost of
feeding the fish.
The Zimbabwe National Parks
and Wildlife Management Authority
(Zimparks) confirmed that reduced
rainfall and increased temperatures in
recent years has meant that there is less
algae in the lake, which kapenta feed on.
Zimparks has introduced measures to
bring back the fish populations, such as a
seven-day fishing ban over the full moon
and increased enforcement of fishing laws
to discourage poaching.
Apex welcomes EU Czech presidency priorities
With Czech Republic taking over the
rotating presidency of the Council of the
EU in July, Cooperatives Europe welcomed
the country’s programme for the next
six months, which aims to promote
solidarity with Ukraine, energy security,
Europe’s defence and economic and
democratic resilience.
Government backs co-op to become a digital jobs hub
A Filipino co-operative in Kabankalan City
has been designated a digital jobs hub
as part of a government-led programme
to generate rural employment. The
Kabankalan-Ilog Teachers and Employees
Multi-Purpose Cooperative (KITEMPCO)
will provide training to local residents,
to enable them to gain incomes on a
freelance basis.
Indonesia could restrict red palm oil production to co-ops
Image: GettyImages
The Indonesia government is considering
restricting red palm oil production to
co-operatives, according to a report by
national news agency, Antara. Palm oil
production has been a key issue recently,
with the government introducing a policy
that requires producers to sell a portion
of their output to the local market after an
earlier ban on palm oil exports.
NRECA launches broadband service for US electric co-ops
Image: GettyImages
The National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association (NRECA) has launched a
service for its member electric co-ops
that provide broadband to members,
or are considering offering it. The
service includes access to new strategic
communications services, education and
events; focused business and technology
support; and targeted advocacy.
Liberian fishery co-ops receive outboard engines
Image: NaFAA
Members of 22 fishery co-operatives and
staff from the National Fisheries and
Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) of Liberia
attended a training day on maintenance
of outboard engines, which had been
donated by the Japanese government. The
training session was delivered by Japan’s
Yamaha Corporation alongside CICA
Motors from Liberia.
AUGUST 2022 | 21

MEET
Debs McCahon
CEO of the Woodcraft Folk
Debs McCahon joined Woodcraft Folk in 2008 and was
appointed CEO in 2020. Previously joint CEO, she has had a
variety of senior roles including membership development
manager and head of development. Her current remit
includes everything from project development to finance,
youth engagement and co-ordinating the forthcoming
centenary celebrations of the co-operative movement for
children and young people, founded in 1925.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE
CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT?
When the opportunity came up to join Woodcraft
Folk I thought it was an interesting chance
to combine my professional experience with
my lifelong interest in the environment and
sustainability. Having been involved in youth work
for the whole of my career this is the only place
where I have seen multiple generations engage in
activity and learn something from each other. It’s
very, very special.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL WORKING DAY LOOK
LIKE?
As CEO I do a lot of work around planning
and problem solving as well as finance and
fundraising issues. We closed our London office
during Covid-19 and chose not to reopen, so I work
from home in Leicestershire. I spend a lot of time
trying to secure the funding we need for projects
to continue. Our staff are spread across the UK
from Brighton up to Glasgow and I support good
Sometimes we, adults, say we want
to consult young people when
actually we tend to set the agenda.
We should be working with them
communication between the central organisation
and residential centres so staff and volunteers
are all working in the same direction. We are
all still getting used to life post-Covid and not
travelling as much as we used to, but I do visit
groups and branches, and network with other
youth organisations. Our core senior management
team includes heads of centres, members and
resources, so 26 staff members in total. As CEO I
oversee all that. There is really no such thing as
a typical day – there are always new challenges.
In two and a half weeks’ time, we will be having
an international camp. My working week will be
about setting things up – one of my jobs will be
helping to build a solar power system bringing us
the electricity for the camp!
HOW CAN CO-OPS ENGAGE YOUNG PEOPLE?
It is about involving young people, finding
out how they wish to be engaged and using
communication channels they use themselves.
And what do we mean by young people?
Listening at Co-op Congress it tended to be
about graduates, but from the Woodcraft Folk
perspective, we are involving children as young
as 10 in decision-making, helping them influence
change. Our Kids Got Rights initiative is an
international project bringing together partner
organisations across Europe, raising children
and adults’ awareness on children’s rights.
Sometimes we, adults, say we want to consult
young people when actually we tend to set the
agenda. We should be working with them. When
you see a nine-year-old in communication with
an adult it’s very empowering.
22 | AUGUST 2022

HOW CAN THE CO-OP MOVEMENT HELP
WOODCRAFT FOLK ACHIEVE ITS GOALS ON
SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE?
From the retail point of view, the co-op movement is
already doing so much in terms of choices – such as
changing the packaging of products to make it easy
to reduce carbon footprinting – but there is still a
lot of education needed. We recently launched a
carbon literacy project teaching people about the
carbon value of choices they make. It would be
really interesting to work with our retail societies to
try to share some of that information. But they are
already doing a really good job raising awareness.
WHAT IS THE VISION OF WOODCRAFT FOLK AND
HAS IT CHANGED SINCE ITS BEGINNINGS IN 1925?
Some things would be very familiar to original
members. We are still creating co-operative
communities and camping in fields – it’s important
members are still being given the chance to live
those co-op values in that kind of way. We do a lot
more outreach work and have a strategic plan about
increasing participation. We have 300 local groups,
six residential centres 5,000 young members and
3,000 adult volunteers. There is a lot more schoolbased
and project work. In places such as Bradford
and Leeds, we are working with Co-op Academies
Trust to engage young people, identifying what
they want to improve in terms of green social action
in their communities. We are still internationalist;
our outlook on peace and justice has not changed –
we have just built a new peace garden in the centre
of Leeds.
When we first started it was all about creating
international connections after World War I so
people had a greater understanding of each
other. It has evolved into far more. There is lots of
educational work and we are involved in projects
like helping to build schools and creating an
allotment in a refugee camp in Western Sahara.
HOW DOES WOODCRAFT FOLK HELP WITH THE
CHALLENGES FACING YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY?
There are two very significant things we do –
helping to develop critical thinking skills by the
education we offer around social change and
exploring topics in a deeper way than simply
engaging on social media or limits of the school
curriculum. Woodcraft Folk is about social
connections and making lifelong friendships,
which is really important in supporting young
members. We now proactively target schools where
we are trying to ensure as many young people as
possible get the benefit from what we are offering.
We are looking for ways we can engage children
who would not traditionally come to Woodcraft
Folk. There are residential camps for people
who do not attend local groups, one for older
children aged from 13 to 14 focussed on mental
health. Covid was difficult but also special. We
launched Dream Big At Home, an online version of
Woodcraft Folk with Zoom sessions and engaged
over 12,000 young people. If you had asked me
at the start of the pandemic would we be able to
deliver Woodcraft Folk online I would have said
no – but in our first week of online singing and
storytelling, over 1,500 people turned up…
HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO CELEBRATE THE
WOODCRAFT CENTENARY IN 2025?
There will be a special camp in July /August
2025. We hope to host an exhibition at the
People’s History Museum in Manchester sharing
our banners and badges but that has yet to be
confirmed. Currently, we have a working group
and are consulting young members about what
they wish to do. Ideas already include Guinness
World Record attempts, a big sing around and a
book about the history of Woodcraft Folk.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB?
One of the best parts is seeing people who maintain
contact with individuals for decades. I have heard
many stories of volunteers now in their 70s and
80s who are still in touch. One of the lovely things
about being here so long is watching children
grow up into young leaders. We are about to go on
international camp for 2,500 children, which will
be a real launch pad. It should have happened
in 2020 and was delayed because of Covid and it
will be wonderful to see those young volunteers
working together and empowering each other.
AUGUST 2022 | 23

YOUR VIEWS
Celebrating the International Day of Co-operatives
pioneers of the co-operative movement,
was born here in Ipswich, in Lower Brook
Street, in 1786.
I’m proud to see Ipswich Borough
Council flying the International Cooperatives
Alliance flag from the Town
Hall. When I was elected mayor, I said
that community and co-operation would
be my mayoral theme.
Here in Ipswich, many thousands of
residents are members, that is owners,
of local co-operatives and share in their
success.
I am a Labour and Co-operative councillor,
serving this year as mayor of Ipswich, as
well as being a director of East of England
Co-operative Society. This year, for the
first time ever, I was able to get the ICA
flag flying from Ipswich Town Hall on the
International Day of Cooperatives.
Ipswich has a long history of
co-operation. East of England Co-op has
served Ipswich people for more than
150 years; it was founded as the Ipswich
Industrial Co-operative Society on 3
March 1868. William King, one of the early
John Cook, mayor of Ipswich
Have your say
Add your comments to our stories
online at thenews.coop, get in
touch via social media, or send us
a letter. If sending a letter, please
include your address and contact
number. Letters may be edited and
no longer than 350 words.
Co-operative News, Holyoake
House, Hanover Street,
Manchester M60 0AS
letters@thenews.coop
@coopnews
Co-operative News
Co-op Women’s Voices is a series
of conversations with women,
who will share what has motivated
them, what the challenges have
been, and who has supported
them along the way.
HEATHER ROBERTS
Vice-chair of the Co-operative Heritage Trust
24.08.2022
l 10am BST
PAULINE GREEN
Former MEP, former chief executive of
Co-operatives UK and former president of
the International Cooperative Alliance
21.09.2022
l 12 - 1.30pm BST
bit.ly/3sHDKOg
24 | AUGUST 2022

COMMENT
‘The profit motive does not sit well with care of any kind’
These are the words of Greater Manchester
mayor Andy Burnham, at a session on
care and co-operatives at Co-op Congress.
They will resonate with many people: care
workers, those being cared for, families
and friends; especially when they come
from a former health secretary.
Why do care and profit collide, and can
we do anything about it?
This is not a new topic – a recent
Guardian editorial poses a similar
question – but it might be helpful to look at
it in a new way. Every business, whatever
goods or services it provides, needs
three things: customers, a workforce,
and finance. If any of these becomes
unavailable, it will collapse. Plus, workers
need jobs, many people need care, and
finance craves a profit. They all need and
cannot survive without each other.
But they are also in tension with each
other. Customers want to pay less or
have better products for the same or less
money; workers want to be paid more and
have better terms and conditions; and
finance wants a greater reward for the
risks it is taking.
There are two ways of addressing these
inherent tensions.
The first way, the route most
economies have taken, is to assume
that those three interests must always
compete with each other. So legal
arrangements (companies, contracts,
intellectual property) are designed on
the basis of competition, which provides
a mechanism for trade. This generally
results in capital being the owner of
enterprise, with no place or voice for
customers or workers in the ownership
and governance arrangements. It
institutionalises the tension. Capital
seeks to reward capital; competition is
for the private benefit of its owners. This
is where and why care and profit collide.
All forms of care sit uncomfortably with
the profit motive because giving is at the
heart of care, and you cannot give while
locked into competing for private benefit.
But there is another way of addressing
the tension: getting capital, labour and
custom to collaborate with each other,
rather than compete, treating all three
interests (and other external ones) fairly.
p Andy Burnham speaking at the 2022 UK Co-op Congress
All forms of care sit
uncomfortably with
the profit motive
because giving is at
the heart of care
This is business co-operating for the
common good, rather than competing for
private gain.
This approach was, and to this day
remains a radical alternative. It flourished
in the second half of the nineteenth
century and into the twentieth. But the
post-war settlement, the rise of large
investor-owned businesses, and the
demutualisation of most of the building
society sector left mutuality as a marginal
part of the business landscape.
Not only is that landscape now
dominated globally by investor-owned
businesses trading for the private benefit
of shareholders; but it has left most people
with the firm belief that competitive
behaviour is the only possible basis for
business, and that co-operation and
mutuality are quaint ideas whose time
has passed.
The apparently unshakeable belief in
competition and “the market” has resulted
in the privatisation of many public
services and left us with a care system
locked into arrangements designed to
produce economic outcomes, rather than
care. That’s crazy, and wrong. Can it be
changed?
In recent years various things have
shaken the belief in competition: the
financial crisis of 2007/8; the climate
crisis; and social inequality. But we still
fail to address the source of the problem
and continue to treat the symptoms.
It isn’t just care that is incompatible
with a competitive approach. In an
increasingly crowded planet with limited
resources, humanity cannot afford to
stand by and watch competition for private
gain dominate the world of enterprise or
international relations.
There is another possible basis for
human society. Co-operation for the
common good urgently needs to be
explored.
Cliff Mills, July 2022
AUGUST 2022 | 25

By Alice Toomer-
McAlpine and
Anca Voinea
Research by Co-operatives UK earlier this year
revealed some of the issues worrying young
people – such as poor job opportunities,
mental health and data privacy. Such a range of
concerns is not surprising: young people are not
a homogeneous group, as was pointed out at the
apex body’s first National Youth Summit in July.
However, there was one topic of interest shared
by the 16-30 year olds who gathered for the event
in Manchester: co-operatives. Attendees ranged
from co-op founders and members to those who
had little to no prior knowledge of co-ops.
Co-operatives UK CEO, Rose Marley, opened
the day with an apology: “I apologise that not
enough young people know what a co-operative
is, because there are solutions, and there is hope.
Part of doing this is to get that word out there but
also to ask you to help us with that mission.”
The day that followed included a social action
workshop led by Dan Cox, UK project manager at
the Co-operative College, who warned that social
action means getting used to disappointment
and failure, and called on people to shift gears
from the long-term big picture to the immediate
practical actions. “You need to be a giant,” he
added. “You’ve got to have your feet on the
ground and your head in the clouds.”
A conversation around how that action might
be coordinated was facilitated by Dr Owen Powell
from the Young Co-operators Network (YCN),
a peer-to-peer network which supports young
co-operators through outreach, friendship,
collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Powell highlighted a need for more joinedup
action around youth co-operation, citing
a “broad lack of coherence regarding youth
and young co-operators”. This, he said,
includes among worker and consumer coops
– exemplified by the fact that Midcounties
Co-operative has its own youth initiative, also
called the Young Co-operators Network.
The session looked at where the YCN could
go next – from choosing its main activities
to finding ways to broaden engagement and
acquire funding. Participants discussed how the
YCN could help unify different strands of youth
activity across the UK movement.
In another workshop, Manchester sustainable
clothing co-op Stitched Up explored the fashion
industry’s impact on the environment. Fashion
accounts for around 10% of greenhouse
emissions from human activity. The session
suggested more sustainable materials, such as
cotton, which has a 50% lower carbon footprint
NATIONAL
YOUTH SUMMIT
26 | AUGUST 2022

p Co-operatives
UK’s first National
Youth Summit
explored how co-ops
provide “solutions
and hope” to young
people (Images:
Co-operatives UK)
YOU NEED TO BE A GIANT –
YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE YOUR
FEET ON THE GROUND AND
YOUR HEAD IN THE CLOUDS”
than polyester. Participants were also given
scraps of different textiles and asked to think
about how these might be upcycled.
Meanwhile Ben Proctor, chair of the Scottish
Co‐op Party, looked at the Bill of Rights
introduced to the UK Parliament in June. The
bill, which repeals and replaces the existing
Human Rights Act 1998, has been criticised
by lawyers and campaigners for leaving some
people vulnerable to human rights violations.
Participants expressed their views on a range of
issues related to the Bill, such as whether giving
UK courts the final say would be good or bad
or whether free speech should be limited. They
also explored the impact the Bill would have on
refugees, the responsibility of public bodies and
impunity for the armed forces.
The day also featured a workshop with the
Woodcraft Folk, a session on community shares,
a panel discussion about transport in Greater
Manchester, media training from Co-op News
and a look at student housing co-ops.
The summit ended with a panel including
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. In
response to the session’s first question, ‘does
democracy work in the UK?’, his answer was,
in short, no. “Our system hands power to an
incredibly small number of people who operate
in and around Downing Street and the centre of
government,” he said, arguing that around 100
people in Westminster run the country.
But Hannah Birch, chief operations officer
at Revolver Co-op, believes politics is not the
only space where democracy can be practiced
“There is a place for democracy in the
workplace,” she said. “I believe people should
work towards something that they believe in.”
Birch added that democracy is at the heart
of co-ops, and highlighted the principle of one
member, one vote.
Shifting focus to local communities, Lenny
Watson, founder of Sister Midnight community
benefit society, advocated a grassroots approach
to social change, “putting power and democracy
back into the hands of ordinary working people,
because that’s how we’re going to rebuild wealth
and power in our communities”. She encouraged
the young people in the room to join existing
co-ops – and create new ones: “if there’s a thing
that you care about or think your community
needs, start a damn co-op and fix it!”
British Youth Council trustee Sila Ugurlu said
that learning about co-ops has given her hope:
“It’s so amazing to see a group of young people
that are aware of co-ops and are actively involved
in them, because I think that they’re going to be
one of the things that helps us in the future.”
Amelia Crews, energy innovation co-ordinator
at Your Co-op Energy, highlighted the value
of youth to the co-op movement – and the
movement’s duty to the next generation. “I
believe that it’s the duty of the leaders in the
co-op space to give us access where they can
– and when they can’t, for co-operatives to
empower young people to speak up, because
we’re not going to fight all of these crises with
the same people, the same thinking and the
same systems that created them.”
AUGUST 2022 | 27

Offering hope to
FUTURE
GENERATIONS
By Rebecca Harvey
q Graphic design
graduate Fabio
Cawley
When 25-year-old graphic design graduate Fabio
Cawley joined Chapel Street Studio, a co-op of
freelance creatives based in Bradford, it boosted
his confidence and skills – and opened the door
to new career opportunities.
“Thanks to being part of this co-op, I now see
myself as a graphic designer, instead of just a
graduate,” he said. “I’ve had some challenging
pieces of work and I can see the progression.
That makes me happy. A lot of people say they
like my work. You can’t get better than that.”
The lack of decent work is one of several
challenges affecting young people in the UK
– along with climate change, the economy,
Brexit, social media and the aftermath of the
Covid pandemic. A lot of these issues have co-op
solutions, and a new report from UK sector body
Co-operatives UK – featuring stories like Fabio’s
– is making the case for co-operation to a wider
audience.
“With so much in disarray, is it possible to
reach young people and help them feel more
secure and actively improve their lives?” it asks.
The answer is a resounding yes, based on the
YouGov research, evidence and case studies
which form the basis of the report. The research
was commissioned by Co-operatives UK last year
to examine the challenges faced by 16 to 25-yearolds
to better understand how co-operative
organisations can support them now.
The challenges identified by the research
can broadly be grouped into four categories:
mental health; decent work; social inequality
and an increasing digital divide; and social and
environmental problems.
Mental health was the largest issue: in the
survey, 76% of young women and 60% of young
men have faced mental health issues, or know
someone who has. Younger generations also feel
socially isolated due to information overload
and social media – a problem which has only
been exacerbated by Covid.
“Young people need to feel a sense of purpose,
belonging and security,” says the report. “Mental
health challenges are not an impossible situation
to improve. The ownership and control co-ops
offer people can and should make a difference.”
Isaac Finn, 22, a third-year economics student
at Loughborough, experience depression in his
first two years. “There was stuff going on in my
life but it was also about the world – Covid, the
climate crisis, everything,” he said. “I got help
from my personal tutor and got counselling.
Then I decided I wanted to help other people.”
He came up with the idea of Kocoon – now a
fledgling platform co-op created to help young
people understand, manage and improve their
wellbeing, through access to academic research
and signposting to services.
The report also highlights how a decent
working environment can help mental wellbeing.
28 | AUGUST 2022

THE RESEARCH FOUND
THAT 40% OF 16 TO
25-YEAR-OLDS HAVE
FACED DISCRIMINATION
IN AND OUTSIDE
OF WORK
Steph Rutherford, 29, found purpose and peace
of mind volunteering at Village Greens co-op
during the pandemic.
“I’ve had struggles with my mental health, so
as much as it was to help out the store, it was also
knowing that I would struggle to live by myself,”
she said. “There’s always a positive energy in
here. It still helps now ... I’ve had a long struggle
with my mental health. And every day I go into
work I come out feeling better, which I know is
incredibly rare; knowing you’ve got a support
network around you.”
One key to engaging young people is through
their shared values, says the report. This is
particularly the case with equality. Awareness
of discrimination has increased in recent years
as issues such as unequal pay and unacceptable
behaviour in the workplace have been thrust into
the spotlight alongside the Black Lives Matter,
Me Too and transgender rights campaigns.
“For 16 to 25-year-olds, these are more than
just slogans; they’re personal challenges,” says
the report. The research found that 40% of 16 to
25-year-olds have faced discrimination in and
outside of work, while two thirds of young people
would like to work for a more ethical employer.
The research also found that groups more likely
to face discrimination put greater value on
ethical issues. For example, when considering
careers, a diverse workforce is more important to
young women (51%) than men (33%).
“Co-operatives are built on a shared set of
values and principles – and young people are
increasingly looking for good employers who
treat people fairly,” the report adds.
One example is web design agency Yalla
Cooperative: with a team based in the UK,
Palestine, Turkey and Germany, international,
anti-prejudicial understanding is crucial.
Founder member Joe Friel said: “Countless times
I’ve spoken to friends who say they’re in a toxic
work culture ... but that isn’t the way co-ops
work. You are given a voice and allowed to bring
fresh ideas – and the business benefits.”
Many young people see tackling climate
change as being essential to building a fairer
world – and half of them want more ethical
employment that takes account of such issues.
But more awareness of co-ops is needed if
they are to fulfil their potential to meet these
challenges. “Co-operatives are slowly gaining
traction with younger people,” says the report.
“Our case studies reveal how co-operatives
directly combat the issues affecting younger
people. A deeper understanding of those issues
and solutions can help co-operatives do more to
transform the lives of an entire generation.”
The report offers a series of recommendations:
raising awareness of co-ops through
curricula and careers guidance, ensuring that
entrepreneurial support for young people
includes co-op options, and making government
employment schemes more accessible to co-ops.
It says co-ops should work harder to understand
the needs and values of younger consumers
and look for areas of alignment with their own
value offer, while those taking action on issues
like the climate emergency and social justice
should prioritise youth participation. Digital
engagement, communication and employment
opportunities (through apprenticeships, paid
internships etc) should also be looked at.
“Young people are the future of the movement
and the values of Generation Z chime with the
co-operative values,” the report says. “The
movement offers hope and solutions to transform
and enable a fairer future for everyone.”
Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK, said:
“This is one of the most challenging times to
be a young person in the UK. But there’s hope.
Ownership and control aids mental health and
wellbeing significantly.
“Co-operatives allow young people to thrive
in an environment that provides fair wages and
secure jobs, tackles climate change and provides
both educational and personal development
alongside a sense of belonging.”
p Joe Friel and Steph
Rutherford (left)
AUGUST 2022 | 29

INTERVIEW
The Co-op Foundation:
building support for young people
The Co-op Foundation is the charity of the UK’s Co-op Group,
aiming to make the organisation’s vision of ‘Co-operating
for a Fairer World’ a reality. One aspect of this is its work
supporting young people – the Foundation has awarded
more than £7m in grants to tackle issues that young people
have told them are important, such as loneliness and mental
wellbeing. Ahead of International Youth Day (12 August),
CEO, Nick Crofts, tells us why young people are also central
to the Foundation’s new strategy and vision, due to be
released this autumn.
HI NICK, CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE
CO-OP FOUNDATION?
Hi, it’s lovely to talk to Co-op News! I’ve been at the
Co-op Foundation for just over 18 months, and the
time has really flown by. For those of you who may
not know, we’re the Co-operative Group’s charity
and we provide flexible funding to build fairer
and more co-operative communities. Over the
past year and a half this has included: providing
our largest single grant to date, £250k to Refugee
Action; awarding £1.3m to projects tackling carbon
emissions through the Carbon Innovation Fund (see
News, p6); and launching a new £700k partnership
with the Astra Foundation to help strengthen the
youth sector.
Young people told us they want
to inherit strong communities that
celebrate and value diversity,
equity and inclusion...
So, it’s been quite a year of grant giving. Prior
to this, readers may remember me as the Co-op
Group’s Member Council president, which I was
proud to serve as for six years.
HOW HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR TIME AT THE CO-OP
FOUNDATION SO FAR?
It’s been a whirlwind, but a really fun one. I wasn’t
a grant maker by trade when I arrived, so I’ve had
to learn a lot and I’d like to thank my colleagues for
everything they’ve done to get me up to speed. But
we’ve done so much more than just deliver grants.
Over the past 18 months, new expertise has come
into our team, we’ve redefined what it means to be
a funder with a co-operative difference, and we’ve
thought long and hard about how that relates to
our internal culture, too.
But, most excitingly, we’ve also been building
a new strategy with co-operation and youth voice
right at the heart.
WHAT IS THE NEW STRATEGY ALL ABOUT?
We started working on this in July 2021 with our
partners at Impact Works Associates and it’s been a
truly co-operative exercise. We’ve collaborated with
Foundation colleagues, trustees, funded partners
30 | AUGUST 2022

and Co-operative Group leaders to imagine how we
can best deliver on the Co-op Group’s vision of ‘Cooperating
for a Fairer World’.
I’m really excited that our new direction will see
us fund individuals and organisations that will
create future communities in 10 years’ time that are
fair and built on co-operative values.
It’s bold and it’s brave, but there’s another layer.
We recognise that today’s young people will be the
ones who will inherit the communities we hope
to build. So, we’ve been asking them what our
future vision should be, and how we can turn it
into reality.
HOW HAVE YOUNG PEOPLE HAD THEIR SAY?
Through focus groups and chats on WhatsApp.
We held 10 focus groups in total, both online
and in-person. The first four focus groups were
open discussions where young people imagined
their future communities. We then delved more
deeply into the topics young people said really
mattered in the remaining sessions and through
message prompts on WhatsApp. Importantly, we
compensated young people for their time with
bursaries. Their insight is helping us, after all.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED, AND WHAT WILL THIS
MEAN FOR THE FOUNDATION?
We learned so much and I’m humbled by the
amazing insight from all our participants.
Young people told us they want to inherit strong
communities that celebrate and value diversity,
equity and inclusion, and where people work
together to tackle local challenges.
They also want sustainable communities full of
green spaces, where infrastructure enables green
living and environmentally friendly practices
are supported by government and implemented
by businesses.
They want fair communities, where they
have income stability, affordable homes and
opportunities to learn and work, and they want
healthy and safe communities where people work
together to protect well-being. And finally, young
people want us to build future communities where
they will have voice, power and influence to share
their co-operative vision.
We’re going to take this learning and build it
into our future work plans. We’ll also share our
vision and report with other funders and charities
to support their work, too. That’s the power of
co-operation.
SOUNDS EXCITING. WHAT’S NEXT?
We’re looking to launch our new strategy and first
fund this autumn. Co-op News readers can find out
more by signing up to our blog (coopfoundation.
org.uk/blog) and following us on Twitter
(@coop_foundation). We’d love to hear people’s
thoughts as well, so don’t be shy. Email us at
foundation@coop.co.uk if you have any questions
about our work.
p The Foundation
runs youth projects
with partners such as
Envision (top) and the
Greater Manchester
Youth Network
AUGUST 2022 | 31

By Anca Voinea
Known for its oranges, Moorish architecture
and flamenco dancing, Andalusia (in
Spanish Andalucía) is the autonomous
community with the largest number of cooperatives
in Spain (over 4,000), in which the
most employment is generated (59,000 jobs).
On 21 June I joined other ICA General Assembly
delegates on a short trip to two Andalusian coops.
The tours were organised by COCETA, the
Spanish confederation of worker co-ops.
Here we were welcomed by Francesco Garcea,
the training and projects coordinator of the
school. In line with Spain’s coffee culture and
great hospitality, we were offered coffee and
refreshments before proceeding with the visit.
Garcea told us about the history of the building
where the school is based – a beautiful 17th
century former abbey, which served as military
quarters for Napoleon’s army when it invaded
Spain, before becoming a hospital.
How
ANDALUSIAN
CO-OPERATIVES
are shaping current and future leaders
u The former abbey
where the Social
Economy School is
based
We left Seville at 9am, and despite it being a
hot, dry summer day, the temperature was only
a little over 20°C when we set off.
One of the greatest advantages of attending
events in person is being able to meet cooperators
from around the world. While on the
coach I got to catch up with old friends and make
new ones.
The first stop was the Social Economy School
(Escuela de la Economia Social) in Osuna, a town
and municipality in the province of Seville. By
the time we reached the school the temperature
had reached +30°C.
By the 1990s the building was abandoned but
Faecta, the Andalusian federation of worker coops,
has since restored it and secured the local
council’s permission to use it over the next
50 years. In order to benefit the region, Faecta
established the social economy school for
businesses in the area.
“This year we are celebrating our 20th
anniversary,” said Garcea. Since being set up,
the school has expanded to provide courses for
co-operators in other regions and countries.
They offer training for directors and
professionals from co-ops and the wider social
economy, support entrepreneurs who want to set
up co-ops via a six-month incubator programme,
campaign to raise awareness of the social
economy via a range of events, and advocate for
the sector.
The school also places a strong emphasis on
people sharing common spaces and exchanging
opinions and experiences.
“We believe in social learning. In addition to
having a great team of trainers and educators,
what makes a difference is having people on the
school premises while they study here,” said
Garcea. “We believe that people learn from one
another when they are together.”
As an important community space for the
village, the school also hosts various events
by local groups, social economy actors or
political parties.
32 | AUGUST 2022

The school is run by the Andalusian School
of Social Economy Foundation, whose trustees
include representatives of the co-operative and
social economy sector.
With time being limited we were not able to
stay in Osuna for too long. We were soon back
on the coach making our way to the Al Jarafe
College in Mairena del Aljarafe, a municipality
in the province of Seville.
Established in 1970, the college is run by a
workers’ co-operative owned by its teachers
and employees. It has over 2,000 students
and it operates based on three main pillars –
sustainability, historical memory and pedagogic
innovation.
This includes educating pupils on the meaning
of freedom, looking at the country’s past and
Franco’s regime and seeking to form adults that
will change the world.
“We think that this is the best thing we
can give to them – developing their critical
thinking,” said one of the teachers at the college
who showed us around.
Another distinctive feature of the college’s
pedagogic style is its emphasis on open spaces –
the building in which it is based was designed by
architect Antonio Miró in such a way to ensure
all classes are in open spaces, including via an
open space amphitheatre.
Sustainable initiatives include planting trees
and installing solar panels.
Pupils get involved in deciding what interests
to pursue and teachers help them achieve their
ambitions by designing classes that suit them.
They are also given books, learning materials
and stationary supplies, which they have to
share. In doing so, they learn to work together
and manage supplies. Courses include drama,
painting and music classes.
The co-operative employs 70 people, 58 of
whom are members. Any teachers can join if
they pass a selection process.
Meanwhile, surpluses are reinvested into the
school for the benefit of the local community.
Parents do not have to pay a fixed tuition fee
but instead contribute as much as they want
to the school. This enables those from less well
off families to study at the school. The college
has students of different backgrounds, bringing
together those from disadvantaged areas and
those from affluent neighbourhoods.
Some funding comes from the government,
which pays for the teachers’ salaries. The college
also runs its own foundation, through which it
is able to attract additional funding. And there
is an association of parents, which also makes
donations.
Another way the co-op is trying to attract
money is by holding events – it recently
organised a jazz festival, which attracted the
attention of local personalities.
With pupils starting at the school at the age
of three, the college plays a key role in forming
them, particularly those who choose to stay with
the school until they are 18.
Our visit ended with a tour of the classes
and common areas, following which we got
back on the coach – this time heading to the
conference venue.
The visits were an eye-opening experience –
showing what can be achieved when there is a
strong co-operative culture and support from the
local co-operative movement.
THE COLLEGE
IS RUN BY A
WORKERS’
CO-OPERATIVE
OWNED BY ITS
TEACHERS AND
EMPLOYEES
p (Clockwise from
top left) Classes often
take place outside;
co-operators visiting the
college; the college has
an open space layout
AUGUST 2022 | 33

PLAYGROUND FOR
THE NEW ECONOMY
By Alice Toomer-
McAlpine and
Rebecca Harvey
q Left: Dr Dianne
Regisford, Cllr Jabu
Nala-Hartley and
Simon Grove-White
(Image: Rebecca
Harvey); Right: The
festival took place at
Selgars Mill in Devon
– sponsors included
the Co-operative
Councils Innovation
Network (CCIN) and
the Confederation of
Co-operative Housing
(CCH) (Image: Peter
Millson/Stir to Action)
On land surrounding the 19th century Selgars
Mill in Devon’s Culm Valley, a group of thinkers,
changemakers and co-operators gathered for
three days of sharing and learning around the
idea of the “new economy”.
Offering a blend of discussions, workshops,
wellbeing activities, live music and spoken word,
Stir to Action’s annual festival, Playground for
the New Economy, gave attendees a chance to
step out of their regular routines and connect
with nature and one another to learn, share and
reflect on what a new economy could look like,
and how we might get there.
The festival’s talks and workshops ranged
from practical examples of the new economy in
action, to broad academic debates that offered a
context to place those case studies in.
In his talk, entitled The End of ‘the End of
History’: Politics in the twenty-first century?,
George Hoare outlined a historical backdrop for
some of the ideas being explored at the festival.
He argued that the period between 1989 and
2016 had been marked by a depoliticisation of
society, until this system broke down amid the
events of Brexit and Trumpism, leading to the
period of “antipolitics” – which is where we now
find ourselves.
Stir to Action co-founder, Jonathan Gordon-
Farleigh, also explored this, looking at how efforts
to take economics outside politics has “created
some paradoxical alliances and interventions,
such as efforts to make capitalism more creative or
conscious or compassionate” – which in his view
“is only exacerbating the crisis of democracy”.
But he believes there are reasons to be
optimistic. Gordon-Farleigh described recent
efforts to position the new economy within the
wider political economy “by overturning the depoliticisation
of our work [and] understanding
that what we do sits within complex
relationships between the individual and the
local and national economy”.
The festival presented real life examples of
the new economy in action, from community-led
housing and socially just food systems to worker
co-ops and democratic finance. Over the three
days, conversations on how such projects grow
and develop focused on three main areas: the
need for funding, physical space, and time for
projects to grow and develop.
34 | AUGUST 2022

Intertwined with these seeds of what a new
economy might look like were conversations
about how it can grow as a whole. In many cases,
the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ were inextricable.
For example, in a session on education, Dr
Kiri Langmead, senior lecturer at Nottingham
Business School, highlighted how “Co-operative
education is as much about the way we teach as
what we teach.” Despite being a key principle
of co-operation, it was acknowledged that coop
education is severely lacking in the UK –
particularly in conventional business education,
which generally ignores co-ops.
The need for greater, more joined up
collaboration among institutions and with
communities was also explored, with examples
from London, Totnes, Oxford and more.
In one session, Dr Dianne Regisford, Cllr
Jabu Nala-Hartley and Simon Grove-White
described how Owned by Oxford is linking with
the city council to build community wealth
from the ground up, through the intersection
of institutions, education and problem solving.
In the Barton area of the city, fuel poverty is
exacerbated by low-quality, badly insulated
housing. In response, the Barton retrofit co-op
is working with local tradespeople to identify
houses to retrofit – while training local people
in those trades at the same time. “It empowers
people to be part of doing something about their
environment,” said Nala-Hartley.
Housing, the environment, leadership and
diversity were all on the agenda, as was placebased
action. A session called Empowering
places furthest from power shared insights from a
five-year Power to Change-funded project, which
supported existing community organisations
acting as catalysts for new community businesses
in six areas. Place-based investment manager
at Power to Change, Bonnie Hewson, said her
key takeaway from the project was to “not
underestimate the ambition, grit and political
savvy of the organisations operating in areas
branded as deprived by the establishment”.
Ed Whitelaw, head of enterprise and
regeneration for Real Ideas, one of Empowering
Places’ community anchors based in Plymouth,
said the economic challenges facing the city
mean there is already an appetite for change,
making it fertile ground for such work.
This sentiment was reflected in a session on
community tech, and how it is working in social
care, food delivery and local media. Fergus
Arkley, digital innovation manager at Power
to Change, explained that community tech
initiatives have often come out of crises – “when
something has gone wrong, or something isn’t
right, or things are collapsing”.
The importance of emotional work was
recognised in a number of conversations during
the festival, such as a panel on Family Farm
Succession and Community Ownership. Sebastian
Parsons, founder of Stockwood Community
Benefit Society which owns Rush Farm in
Worcestershire, said: “Land is an emotional
thing. People make emotional relationships with
land. And family farmers, generally speaking,
are not very versed in communicating their
feelings. So when you’re building a project team,
you do need financial expertise and people who
can galvanise that community, but you also need
people who are emotionally intelligent, who can
understand what’s actually going on.”
There was also an acknowledgement of
the emotional toll of working in social and
community sectors. “What we’re experiencing
on the ground is sheer exhaustion,” said one
attendee. “We need safe spaces such as this to
connect with like-minded activists.”
The emotional connection with the big
ideas being discussed at the festival, and the
wellbeing of attendees, was addressed through
a combination of physical and wellbeing
activities, from one-to-one personal support and
solidarity sessions to a games area and sauna,
exercise sessions and live entertainment.
The setting, discussions, debates, workshops
and representation (both in terms of speakers
and festival-goers) reflected the kind of economy
the co-operative movement has long advocated
– where value is considered differently.
“The new economy is about trust,” said Tom
Carman from Stir to Action and Shared Assets.
“It’s about building structures, processes and a
culture where we all trust one another. So it’s
about trust – and kindness.”
THE NEW
ECONOMY
IS ABOUT
BUILDING
STRUCTURES,
PROCESSES
AND A
CULTURE
WHERE
WE ALL
TRUST ONE
ANOTHER
p Festival-goers at
the 2022 Playground
for the New Economy
(Image: Peter Millson/
Stir to Action)
Watch the Co-op
News videos from
the festival at
bit.ly/3omwiqD
AUGUST 2022 | 35

THE 2022 WORLD
CREDIT UNION
CONFERENCE
By Anca Voinea
p Rafal Matusiak
speaking at the
World Credit Union
Conference
Over 1,600 credit union practitioners met in Glasgow
last month for the annual conference of the World
Council of Credit Unions (Woccu), hosted this year
by the Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul).
Welcoming delegates, Woccu chair Rafal
Matusiak (Poland) talked about the huge
challenges facing the world, from the Covid-19
pandemic to remote work and the war in Ukraine
– with delegates holding a minute’s silence in the
memory of those killed in the conflict.
Matusiak said global challenges mean credit
unions are more important than ever. “No
technology can replace real community,” he added.
“Thank you for being there.”
He also acknowledged the role of credit unions
in the Solidarity movement in Poland, which led to
the fall of its communist regime. The Polish credit
union sector is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Abcul president Paul Norgrove thanked credit
unions for their response to Covid-19 and for
supporting their members. “You and your teams
proved the co-operative service strong,” he said.
Norgrove is an alumnus of Woccu’s Young
Credit Union Professionals (Wycup) scholarship
programme, and talked about the need to invest in
new talent, support the next generation of credit
union leaders and encourage those leaders to share
their knowledge.
Glasgow city councillor Bailie James Scanlon
highlighted his council’s work to encourage young
savers to use credit unions, by giving them £10
savings accounts, and Mike Reuter, executive
director of Woccu’s Worldwide Foundation for Credit
Unions, provided an overview of the organisation’s
Ukrainian Credit Union Displacement Fund, which
has to date raised US$1.4m (€1.3m, £1.1m) from
over 1,600 donors. The fund will be used to support
immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts.
“To our fund donors and their institutions, thank
you,” said Reuter. “Even amid war, credit unions
stand strong, serving as financial first responders
to those in need.”
Addressing the conference via video message, the
deputy governor of the National Bank of Ukraine,
Sergiy Nikolaychuk, talked about the challenges
faced by the country’s 190 credit unions. He said
the bank has adopted a new law on credit unions
to expand the list of people who can join and the
products and services they can offer.
“Today, 20 credit unions are located in the
territories temporarily occupied (by Russia) since
24 February, while 17 credit unions are in combat
zones, and another 34 do not perform any activities
because staff have evacuated,” he said, thanking
representatives of the global credit union system
who donated to the fund.
Future-readiness
“Are credit unions future-ready?” was the theme of
the opening keynote, with thought leader Ian Khan
offering tips on how credit unions can prepare for
the 5th industrial revolution.
36 | AUGUST 2022

u (From top)
Belinda Parmar, Ian
Khan and Keren Elazari
Predicting a coming era where artificial
intelligence (AI) will automate everything, he
encouraged credit unions to think about the impact
this will have on their business.
Khan is best known for creating the Future
Readiness Score, an organisational metric to
measure and achieve future-readiness. He told
delegates that “future readiness is about adapting
to change”. He also encouraged credit unions to
speak to vendors and providers to figure out how
algorithms can impact their services and can
shorten their processes, adding that “algorithms
can do wonders when it comes to customer service”.
Other trends credit unions should keep an eye
on are decentralisation, tokenisation and tech
convergence, he said. “You need to strive to become
more future-ready,” he added, advising delegates
to consult the may resources available to help them
assess their future-readiness.
NOW IS THE
TIME TO
ADAPT AND
EVOLVE,
BUILD
YOUR OWN
DIGITAL
IMMUNE
SYSTEM, NOT
TO KEEP
CALM AND
CARRY ON
Cyber-security
Delegates also heard from Keren Elazari – security
analyst, author and researcher – who provided
a glimpse into the future of cyber security from a
friendly hacker’s perspective.
“We all need to take responsibility for our
security,” she told attendees, adding that Covid-19
had not slowed down cyber-security issues.
Elazari warned that expanding digital universe
brings more opportunities for hackers – but added
there are also more tools that can help credit unions
prevent such attacks.
This includes Shodan, a search engine that
can identity liable connected devices, and
Haveibeenpawned.com, which allows people to
check whether their usernames and passwords
have been leaked. Using a two-factor authentication
makes passwords safer as does using unique,
longer passwords. Ensuring applications and
operating systems are up to date also helps, while
independent security researchers can assist credit
unions in understand vulnerabilities.
She also advocated working with friendly
hackers to improve cyber-security. “Now is the
time to adapt and evolve, build your own digital
immune system, not to keep calm and carry on.”
The importance of empathy in service
What does it mean to be empathetic? And how
can acting with empathy improve leadership in an
organisation? These were some of the questions
addressed by Belinda Parmar, CEO of the Empathy
Business, in her keynote speech.
“Empathy (understanding the feelings of another
without necessarily sharing them) is not about
talking but acting,” she said.
Despite being perceived as a commercial tradeoff,
empathy can be a tool to drive commercial
results. Empathetic companies are able to better
serve members and employees, said Parmar, while
also being more profitable.
Another myth around empathy is that it is an
innate feature. According to Parmar, research
suggests that only 50% of abilities are genetic, with
the other half based on environment. This means
that companies rewarding employees for being
empathetic could help drive empathy within.
Her advice for credit unions included avoiding
corporate, dehumanising words (such as
“optimise”, “mobilise” or “authorise”), and
looking at customer service, recruitment and call
scripts through the lens of empathy. “You have to
institutionalise empathy,” she said,“You are a force
for good and empathy is a big part of that. If ever
the world needed people like you it is now.”
AUGUST 2022 | 37

FIRST STATE OF THE MOVEMENT SPEECH
by Elissa McCarter LaBorde
board member since 2016. She will serve as chair
for a one-year term, until July 2023. Thanking
delegates for the honour, she said: “I really look
forward to working with you in the coming year.”
Dykstra succeeds Rafał Matusiak, president of
the National Association of Co-operative Savings
and Credit Unions (NACSCU) of Poland, who has
been serving as Woccu chair since 2020.
The AGM also re-elected current Woccu board
directors Manfred Dasenbrock (Brazil), Charles
Murphy (Ireland), George Ototo (Kenya), Joseph
Remy (Caribbean), Dallas Bergl (USA), Joe Thomas
(USA) and Michael Lawrence (Australia) to twoyear
terms.
Newly elected Jeff Guthrie, the new president
and CEO of the Canadian Credit Union Association
(CCUA), will also serve a two-year term. He replaces
outgoing CCUA president and CEO Martha Durdin.
Awards for digital innovation
p Elissa McCarter
LaBorde delivers her
speech (Image: Woccu)
Woccu president and CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde
delivered her first state of the movement address on
day one of the World Credit Union Conference.
“If we really want to maximise our potential we
have to focus on our strengths, we have to double
down on our strengths,” she said.
She said those strengths include the sheer
number of credit unions and members, the diverse
types of credit union, and their potential to act as
disrupters in the financial services sector.
“Some of you have heard this expression – you
gotta go big or you gotta go home,” she added. “So,
I really think we gotta go big.”
McCarter LaBorde pointed out that there are still
1.4 billion people in the world who are unbanked
– and arguably another “three billion, in the data
I have seen, who are underbanked, who don’t have
good financial choices and affordable credit.
“That is why we are here as credit unions, with
a business model that truly serves that purpose.”
Annual general meeting
Alongside the conference, Woccu hosted its AGM
on 18 July, where Diana Dykstra was appointed the
organisation’s chair.
Dykstra is CEO of the California and Nevada
Credit Union Leagues (USA) and has been a Woccu
During the AGM, Woccu presented the 2022 Digital
Growth Awards, first introduced in 2021.
Northpark Community Credit Union (USA)
received an award its Virtual Branching initiative,
which was developed and implemented to deliver
on a goal of closing all brick-and-mortar branches
in favour of e-services and ATMs.
“We cannot underserve the underserved and we
have to meet them where they are,” said president
and CEO Carma Parrish, accepting the award. “I
have so much respect for meeting people where
they are, not where we are.”
Another award went to Sicredi (Brazil) for CPR
Facil, its first 100% digital agribusiness product,
which allows members to take out loans using a
mobile phone.
“CPR Facil is making such a difference to build
a better society and also changing our members’
lives. We hope that this case can be spread to
other credit unions down the road,” said Estefane
Chaves, a rural credit analyst who accepted the
award on behalf of Sicredi.
Distinguished Service Award
Woccu also presented Marshall Boutwell, president
and CEO, Peach State Federal Credit Union (USA),
with the 2022 Distinguished Service Award,
recognising his long history of engagement with
credit unions in Poland and Great Britain.
38 | AUGUST 2022

Speaking of his experience working with credit
unions in other countries, he said: “This has been
the most extraordinary experience in my lifetime. It
has broadened my horizons, it’s made me a better
co-operative leader, a better leader of my own
credit union — more open to lots of different people
from lots of different areas. And this is indeed a
great honour”.
Women’s Leadership Forum and Athena Award
On 16 July, Woccu’s Global Women’s Leadership
Network (GWLN) Forum brought together women
credit union leaders to explore a range of topics
around leadership.
Laurie Maddalena, chief leadership consultant,
Envision Excellence, LLC, encouraged women
credit union leaders to promote themselves and
their worth in the workplace.
“I like to turn to what I call my inner coach and
not let my inner critic make the decisions,” she
told the forum. “Our inner coach is that wiser self.
I like to call it our higher self, our best self, who has
our best interest in mind in helping us reach our
personal and professional goals.”
At the forum, McCarter LaBorde announced Patsy
Van Ouwerkerk as the 2022 Athena Award recipient.
Named after the Greek goddess who represents
strength, courage and wisdom, the award is
presented to an individual or organisation making
an outstanding contribution to women’s leadership
in the international credit union movement.
Van Ouwerkerk sat on the inaugural advisory
group that launched GWLN in 2009, chaired its
fundraising committee chair and served as coleader
of the Sacramento Sister Society.
Young scholarships
The Woccu Young Credit Union Professionals
(Wycup) set up its scholarship programme in 2001
to enable young credit union professionals to
attend its conference.
The programme is open to nominees aged 40 or
younger who have made significant contributions
to their credit union or financial co-operative
system and have the potential to make a global
credit union impact.
The winners of the 2020 and 2021 scholarships
were recognised during the final general session of
the conference on 20 July.
“It’s more important than ever before that we
invest in our networks — that we have spaces
to share and learn from one another, and in the
process understand that we have more in common
than our superficial differences,” said Wycup
director Thomas Belekevich.
“We have a shared interest in the success of
people everywhere,” . “So today we are here to
celebrate young leaders from around the world
and the connections they have made through this
global network that we call Wycup.”
p Clockwise from top
left: Carma Parrish
accepts a Digital Growth
Award for Northpark
CCU; Marshall Boutwell;
Wycup scholarships;
Patsy Van Ouwerkerk;
officlal recognition for
the Wycup scholarship
recipients
(Images: Woccu)
AUGUST 2022 | 39

THE CAPITAL
CONUNDRUM...
By Rebecca Harvey
p Crédit Agricole's
headquarters In
Montrouge, France.
Crédit Agricole is the
largest co-operative
bank in Europe.
(Image: Chesnot/
Getty Images)
...and the Common Good
The capital conundrum has plagued co-ops
for decades: how can people wanting to set up
member-owned organisations find the start-up
capital they need when there is no – or very little
– return for investors?
Community share offers, GoFundMe
campaigns and grants go some way to addressing
this, but not to the level required for a growing,
robust co-op movement, particularly in highly
regulated sectors such as banking.
At the 2022 UK Congress, held in Birmingham
at the end of June, Tony Greenham of the Mutual
Banks Association (MBA) and Cliff Mills of
Anthony Collins Solicitors shared work they have
been doing in this area: attempting to develop a
new legal structure they hope will address some
of the obstacles facing any attempt to set up a
genuinely co-operative bank.
“The UK banking system is weird,” said
Greenham. “It’s weird because it doesn’t have
socially orientated local banks when almost
everywhere in the world does. I’ve been trying
to set one up … it’s turned out to be quite hard.”
Europe has 2,700 co-operative banks with 87
million members; the UK is the only G7 economy
without them. This is a problem, said Greenham,
because regional stakeholder banks deliver
significant benefits. “They offer greater financial
inclusion and do more small business and coop
economy lending. Where they exist there are
smaller regional economic disparities – and they
create more resilient economies.”
The MBA is a trade association – “without any
members that are actually trading yet” – formed
by Southwest Mutual, Avon Mutual and Bristol
Mutual with support from the Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation and Co-operatives UK.
Why are they calling it them ‘mutual banks’
rather than ‘co-operative’? “There are a couple
of reasons,” said Greenham. “Firstly, the word
‘mutual’ is really familiar in financial services.
And secondly, there’s a certain other UK bank
with the word co-operative in its name, which is
a bit confusing, because it isn’t one, and never
was one. Actually, there never have been cooperative
banks in this country in the way that
have been elsewhere.”
Which Act to follow?
Most co-operatives in the UK are registered under
the 2014 Co-operative and Community Benefit
40 | AUGUST 2022

Society Act – but although there are some explicit
provisions around banks, there are some serious
problems when it comes to implementation in
this sector. “The share capital that [banks] are
allowed to use must be non-withdrawable and
transferable,” said Greenham. “We can’t use
community shares for a bank because it has to
be a form of permanent capital.”
He added: “The real problem we found is that
with an early stage start-up, we needed to attract
initial investment, which is very risky. I raised
a million pounds off investors who have had
to take a massive punt and they quite possibly
won’t get any of that money back.
“Then we’d need to raise about another £2-3m
before even getting to the point where we could
start trading with a banking licence. That’s also
really risky money.
“You also can’t simply go along to that first
crop of investors and say that they are going
to get the same deal that the final investors are
going to get, because nobody would invest in it.
But the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has
confirmed that the 2014 act doesn’t allow shares
issued at different prices; they have to be issued
at nominal value. That’s a massive barrier.”
The way the MBA tackled this barrier was to
look at other registration options – specifically
using the Companies Act while also attempting
to be a full mutual. “My aspiration is that it
would be recognised by the co-op movement as
properly co-operative,” said Greenham.
He added that while financial institutions
such as credit unions do good work, they “don’t
really do business lending … they’re doing a
different job from regional co-operative banks”.
A question of purpose
The next challenge was that if the Companies
Act was used, how could someone make sure
they didn’t end up with an organisation that
defaults to maximising profit?
“We needed something which is clearly
different and sets it apart,” said Mills,
who specialises in constitutions and legal
structures.
“The Companies Act defines the purpose of a
company as for the benefit of the shareholders
as a whole, and a duty to promote the success of
the company, which is for the private benefit of
shareholders.
“However, there is a subsection in the act
which says if there is some other ‘purpose’, the
duties of the directors are then to pursue that
other purpose. So we’ve written into our purpose
that it exists for the common good, not for the
private benefit of its members. That changes the
default setting of a company”.
If the directors’ duties are to promote the
common good, how can they be held accountable
by the members? MBA’s solution is to make it a
multi stakeholder organisation which recognises
that workers, customers and investors all have
legitimate interest in its success.
The model proposes three classes of
membership; only one of them, the investor
shares, will actually be used for attracting
capital, while the worker and customer shares
are there to defer voting rights.
The next challenge was how to embed
democratic governance in such an entity –
when, by the regulator’s decree, the board must
be selected for their skills in running a bank.
“There is no space for directly elected member
representatives on the board at the moment,”
said Greenham. “It might be possible in the
future, but we’re trying to do a lot of new and
regulators don’t like new.”
Their solution is to develop a members’
council system – 20 or so members elected in
“a vibrant democratic process” that “get up
close and personal with what their managers are
doing, and hold them to account”.
Mills believes this is groundbreaking. “We’re
creating a plc that will attract investment – but
not for the purpose of maximising the benefit for
those investors – because of this new purpose,
and also because those investors will not have
complete control as there are other member
classes and it’s one member, one vote.”
EUROPE
HAS
2,700 CO-
OPERATIVE
BANKS
WITH 87
MILLION
MEMBERS;
THE UK
IS THE
ONLY G7
ECONOMY
WITHOUT
THEM
p Tony Greenham
(left) and Cliff Mills
AUGUST 2022 | 41

By Miles Hadfield
US credit unions ramp
up bank acquisitions
With turbulent economic forces
piling pressure on small financial
institutions, consolidation is a growing
trend in the US financial services sector. While
this has brought many mergers between credit
unions, another outcome is the record number
of purchases of banks by credit unions.
The emphasis is still on consolidation within
the sector: the National Credit Union Association
Credit Union, told delegates that mergers,
acquisitions and private partnerships are a
valuable mechanism for US credit unions to
grow the scale and the raise capital they need
to keep up with digitisation and increasingly
competitive markets.
He said his credit union has already bought
one small single-site bank and is preparing
to buy another, as part of a strategy that
includes developing a crypto-currency option,
partnerships with fintechs, developing holding
companies and sharing back office functions
with other credit unions.
But it is important to plan things properly and
find the right bank to buy, he warned. “You have
BUYING TO GET BIG
q Orion Federal
Credit Union in
Memphis is going
to court over its
attempted bank
acquisition (Image:
Orion FCU)
(NCUA) says there have been 900 mergers from
2016 to 2020. But S&P Global figures show that
13 banks were acquired by credit unions in 2021,
and industry observers such as Michael Bell,
finance expert at Detroit law firm Honigman,
expects at least 25 more such deals this year.
“My prediction is based on the work and deal
flow I am seeing,” he told American Banker. “I
spend most of my time working on these deals,
and I have never seen so much activity.”
Bank purchases are a strategy highlighted by
US credit union representatives at the recent
Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul)
conference. Eric Broome, from Georgia’s Own
to have a strategy. You can’t just do it willy nilly
… you have to assess strengths and weaknesses
to find the right partners, and make sure it’s a
collaborative process.”
Other examples from the sector include
acquisitions by GreenState Credit Union of North
Liberty, Iowa, of four banks in 2020 and 2021,
and two bank purchases by Orlando, Florida’s
Fairwinds Credit Union – moves which, the
credit unions say, deliver new product lines,
expanded memberships, asset growth, efficiency
and infrastructure such as ATM networks.
This trend has prompted howls of protest from
the US banking sector – which already has its
knives sharpened for credit unions over their taxexempt
status. Credit union apex bodies such as
the National Association for Federally Insured
Credit Unions (Nafcu) have been defending this
for several years against an aggressive campaign
from the banking lobby.
Banks have been bringing legal challenges to
individual credit union acquisitions, with tussles
in Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa and Tennessee –
where a court battle is raging over a proposed
purchase by Orion Federal Credit Union of
Memphis-based Financial Federal Bank, which
has assets of US$818m (£683m).
In November 2021, Davidson County Chancery
Court Judge Patricia Moskal placed an injunction
on the deal, while she assessed the implications
of the Tennessee Banking Act.
At the end of May, Moskal lifted this, ruling
that the act allowed the purchase because the
42 | AUGUST 2022

credit union is acquiring the bank’s assets, not
its charter or stock.
But the state regulator, the Tennessee
Department of Financial Institutions (TDFI),
which opposes the deal, has struck back, filing an
appeal at the end of June to overturn the ruling.
Moskal, in her ruling, said the TDFI has
approved similar transactions when the acquirer
was a state-chartered or out-of-state bank. “The
legislature could have included a limitation on
the types of entities permitted to purchase the
assets of a state-chartered bank, but it did not do
so,” she wrote.
But submitting his appeal against Moskal’s
ruling on 14 June, TDFI Commissioner Greg
Gonzales argued that Financial Federal account
holders would be “irreparably harmed and
disrupted” by the deal, along with the state’s
banking system.
The Tennessee Bankers Association is also
hostile to the deal. In a blog post, its president/
CEO Colin Barrett wrote: “Unfortunately these
deals have been on the rise around the country
in recent years.” He said Financial Federal
is “a strong, well respected Memphis bank”
while Orion, which “began as a small credit
union whose mission was to serve teachers in
Memphis” had used “its tax advantaged status
and weak regulatory oversight to grow to a
position where it can acquire a $750m bank”.
Barrett accused Orion of abandoning its
“desire to serve people of modest means” with a
move that would turn it into a near $2bn financial
institution. “Bank acquisitions by credit unions
have fuelled passionate discussions by the TBA
board over recent years,” he added. “There is
debate about whether these acquisitions should
be prohibited in statute, even if they already
are. And there is discussion around what can
be done at the state and local level to rein in
credit unions.
“But whatever we do on the state level will
continue to pale in comparison to the work
that needs to be done in Congress. Whether it
is credit unions buying banks, expanding their
business lending or opening their membership
to anyone who can fog a mirror, the part I find
most frustrating is the blind eye turned by
members of Congress.”
Nafcu has been among the credit union
bodies working to fend off such attacks from
the banking sector. In a briefing note, it says:
“Mergers between credit unions and community
banks are not new and have occurred over the
last decade as the rate of financial institution
consolidation has increased.
“Overwhelming compliance burdens and
costs since financial crisis and enactment of the
Dodd-Frank Act have made it harder to survive
as a community bank or credit union. This has
caused financial industry consolidation, which
has led to fewer and fewer merger options.”
It says regulatory relief for community
institutions would help slow the consolidation
trend, adding that mergers between banks and
credit unions “represent a tiny percentage of
overall mergers in the financial services sector”.
These mergers are “typically a win-win”,
argues Nafcu: while credit unions get to expand,
local people see the protection of communityfocused
financial services, local jobs and
branches, which might be lost through a sale
to a national bank. “Credit union-community
bank mergers often mean employees retain jobs
and branches remain open with a focus on the
members in the community,” it argues.
“Big banks, on the other hand, are focused
on profits and making money from a merger. A
look at the financial health of community banks
that have recently merged with credit unions
shows that those institutions are generally lessprofitable,
and thus less attractive, as potential
merger partners for larger for-profit banks.”
But the road to mergers remains rocky. As well
as opposition from the banking sector, hurdles
include the time it can take to complete a deal.
And regulator the National Credit Union
Administration caps business loan rates for
credit unions at 12.25% which is a bar against
buying a bank with a large commercial portfolio.
Credit unions also face regulatory questions
over how bank customers fit into their field of
membership, if carried over as members.
One example which shows the challenges that
face the sector is recent attempt by Jacksonville,
Florida-based VStar Credit Union to merge with
Georgia community bank Heritage Southeast
which was – called off in June after the boards
of both organisations decided there was no
“clear path forward to obtaining the regulatory
approvals needed for closing”.
CREDIT
UNION-
COMMUNITY
BANK
MERGERS
OFTEN MEAN
EMPLOYEES
RETAIN
JOBS AND
BRANCHES
REMAIN
OPEN
p Eric Broome and
Nickolas Kitchens of
Georgia’s Own Credit
Union talk mergers at
the Abcul conference
AUGUST 2022 | 43

Campaign launched to
BRING THE UNION
CO-OP MODEL
TO THE UK
meeting Co-op News put some questions to the
group, with answers compiled by Anita Mangan,
from the University of Bristol.
YOU ARE LOOKING TO SEE MORE WORKER
CO-OP CONVERSIONS WITH UNION SUPPORT.
HOW DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE THIS?
By Miles Hadfield
p Co-op Cincy has
been developing the
union co-op model in
Cincinnati, Ohio
An organisation has been formed to try to build a
new wave of fully unionised worker co-ops “that
have unions at the core of their democracy”.
Union-coops:uk says it wants to encourage
mutually beneficial collaboration between the
union and co-op movements through the union
co-op model – which has already been put
to work in parts of the US, such as Cincinnati,
Ohio. “We believe the union co-op model is a
powerful tool to counter mainstream economic
narratives,” they say. “It is a living example that
another way is possible.”
The group held a meeting at Wortley Hall,
near Sheffield, in May – with participants Andy
Birchall, Colm Massey, Cilla Ross, Alex Bird, Mick
McKeown, Martin Strube, Gareth Crockett, John
Merritt, Simon Taylor, Chris Croome, Graham
Mitchell, Fredy Velez, Anita Mangan, Niall
Mulholland, Siôn Whellens, Miguel Martínez-
Lucio, Cath Muller and Sarah Woolley. After the
Union-co-ops exist elsewhere in the world but
we need one in the UK as ‘proof of concept’.
This means working together with a trade union,
a co-operative, and co-operative and union
development experts and organisers. This union
co-op could then offer a flexible template for
union supported worker co-op conversions.
There is some work to be done to work out
how to make that argument to the trades unions,
who pass all the ICA principles and who share
similar values and principles with co-operators.
Importantly, we need to allay the understandable
fears of trade unions that co-operatives are not
about driving a mutual agenda. In other words,
we need to reassure unions that union co-ops
are not privatisation by stealth. At the same time
co-operators need to be encouraged to explore
the benefits of being unionised.
WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST STEPS?
Union-coops:uk is a campaigning organisation
which has spent the past few years raising
awareness about the benefits of the union co-op
model. In July 2020 we launched our Manifesto
for Decent Work. Since then we have hosted
a series of online seminars with national and
international speakers, focused on different
aspects of the union co-op model.
Most recently, we held a residential strategy
round table in Wortley Hall that explored
how to develop union co-ops in the UK. The
participants included union and co-operative
activists who have taken on responsibility to
44 | AUGUST 2022

develop key areas such as communications,
finance, democracy, education and technology.
The aim is to promote the union co-ops model at
the autumn conferences.
HOW CAN RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNION
AND CO-OP MOVEMENTS BE IMPROVED?
WHICH UNIONS ARE LIKELY TO BE MOST
AMENABLE TO THE IDEA?
There is a long history of shared activism and
solidarity between co-operatives and unions
that people have forgotten about. Many in both
movements are committed to alternative models
of ownership and control. We need to bridge
the gap with new approaches, arguments and
information. For example, co-ops can be part
of union renewal. Unionisation in turn can offer
support and organisation to co-operatives and
reduce any danger of a ‘race to the bottom’ in
terms and conditions for co-operators. They can
also address in-work poverty (eg trade union
credit unions). Union co-ops are a chance for
renewal for both movements to address pressing
social, economic and environmental crises.
Education is key to bridging the gap between
unions and co-ops. There have been numerous
efforts over the years to get unions and co-ops
talking to each other. Lots of workers are
scared or reluctant to of taking on management
responsibilities, but the unions could encourage
workers to feel able to take on those roles. We
need education and support to do it.
The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union
(BFAWU) and Musicians’ Union have given
strong support to the union co-ops model.
BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley is
actively involved in union co-op discussions and
has spoken at several events. Other supportive
unions include Equity and BECTU.
AT THE MEETING SEVERAL PEOPLE SUGGESTED
THAT CO-OPS AND UNIONS ARE 19TH CENTURY
MODELS. HOW WOULD A UNION CO-OP MODEL
BETTER ANSWER 21ST CENTURY CHALLENGES?
The 19th century models developed, as social
movements always do, in response to need.
But the range of injustices, including in-work
poverty and food security issues are problems
that are still with us today. Yet while democracy,
voice, participation, mutual support and
equality between members are at the heart of the
19th century models, the vocabulary does not
necessarily translate to a 21st century audience.
For example, it could be argued that worker co-ops
EDUCATION IS KEY TO
BRIDGING THE GAP
BETWEEN UNIONS
AND CO-OPS
are already unions (worker unions). Worker
unions as a term has less baggage and we see
great benefit in using this term. Language is
exciting in terms of power and democracy, but
needs to be used carefully.
We are stuck in structures that were developed
200 years ago and they need to be changed. On
the other hand, the bureaucratic structures have
democracy built into them. Part of the problem
is that 30 years of neoliberalism has meant that
it is the older activists who have been holding
the line. This is beginning to change as there is a
yearning for some kind of socialism, very broadly
defined. We are battling against the decline of
terms & conditions and rise of neoliberal ideology.
Education is essential as there is a wealth of
historical information we can draw on.
WHAT BARRIERS WOULD THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THIS MODEL FACE?
Apart from creating dialogue between unions
and co-ops, the key barriers are legislation
and education. We need to educate union
activists, co-operators, workers and business
development agencies about the union co-op
model. At the same time, we also need to
influence policy makers so that union co-ops
are presented as a viable alternative for business
start-ups and conversions.
q Discussion of union
co-ops at Wortley Hall
AUGUST 2022 | 45

WHAT’S NEXT
for the Global Innovation Coop Summit?
By Anca Voinea
In 2019 a group of co-operators and event
organisers got together to plan a new
international gathering – a co-operative
innovation summit.
The idea was born out of the need for an event
to fill the gap left by the International Summit of
Cooperatives, a biennial event held in Quebec
in 2012, 2014 and 2016 with the support of the
Desjardins Group and the Canadian government.
“Unfortunately that event could no longer take
place,” says the summit’s former programme
director, Joanne Lechasseur. But this was not
through lack of demand: long after the event
was axed, cooperators were calling her to ask if it
was returning.
This sowed the seeds for a new event. “We
came up with the idea for the Global Innovation
Cooperative Summit,” says Lechasseur, “to
respond to the need to bring together primary
co-ops, to foster inter-cooperation and business
exchanges, discuss interesting subjects and talk
about innovation.”
The first Global Innovation Coop Summit
event was held virtually in 2020, with three more
online events following in 2021. A hybrid inperson/online
summit will be held in Paris on 26-
27 September, in English, French and Spanish.
“The aim is to reflect on the co-operative world
of today and that of tomorrow,” says Jean-Louis
Bancel, president of Cooperatives Europe, who
is another of the event’s co-founders. “These
are times of innovation – not only technological
innovation but also social innovation and
managerial innovation.”
The summit will explore pressing global
challenges like climate change and the tech
revolution. It will not be an academic conference,
adds Bancel, and it will feature experts from
outside the co-operative movement alongside
well-known co-operators, with in-person and
online participants able to join the discussion.
“We want the event to be as interactive as
possible,” he says, adding that the hybrid format
was chosen to enable people from around the
world, of diverse backgrounds, sectors and ages,
to take part. For example, universities that buy
a virtual ticket will be able to stream it in big
rooms to include larger groups of students.
46 | AUGUST 2022

Alongside international speakers on cooperative,
social innovation and technology
trends, the event will include small stages
during coffee breaks with opportunities to
discuss and share information; access to startup
incubators; interaction with platform co-ops,
a young leaders’ programme and an exhibition
area for sponsors and partners.
The main theme of the event is transition –
and particularly generational transition – with
the focus not merely on sharing knowledge with
young people, but involving them as participants
and speakers.
“It is about reciprocal learning,” says Bancel.
Other summit sessions will explore how to
attract and empower millennials and how to
facilitate a leadership transition.
The agenda also includes sessions on the role
of co-ops in the circular economy and meeting
the SDGs, the importance of artificial and human
intelligence, the potential of platform co-ops and
the impact of the digital transition on different
co-operative sectors.
The opening plenary will explore how cooperatives
– as recognised promoters of social
resilience, community action, ethical values
and social responsibility – work alongside other
types of businesses who also want a better
world, and will feature Co-operatives UK CEO
Rose Marley in conversation with Camille Dorival
(former editor of Alternatives économiques).
Co-op News international editor Anca Voinea
will facilitate a session on how a co-operative
response can be integrated in circular economy
strategies on the energy transition, and there
will also be an open and interactive discussion
about the youth perception of the co-operative
business model and what twist it needs to be
more inclusive, sustainable and grow.
Crédit Agricole, the world’s largest co-operative
by turnover, is one of the main supporters of the
event and is providing the conference venue,
near the co-op’s start-up incubator, Le Village
THE AIM IS TO
REFLECT ON THE
CO-OPERATIVE
WORLD OF
TODAY AND
THAT OF
TOMORROW”
by CA. Le Village, which covers 1,800 m 2 and
houses dozens of start-ups, and will also lead
workshops for delegates attending in-person.
Since the venue is provided by Crédit Agricole,
the price of the in-person conference tickets
(€490) is similar to that of online tickets (€450).
Those who register before 30 July can also get a
€40 discount.
As to the future, the plan is for the summit
to be held annually in different countries. “ We
want this event to move around the world to
be accessible to people,” says Lechasseur. “Not
everyone will be able to come to Paris. The
advantage of having a hybrid event is that people
from all over the world will be able to contribute
without having to book a flight to France.
“Likewise, those wishing to attend in person
will be able to talk to other delegates over coffee
breaks and visit Le Village.”
The full programme and list of speakers is
available globalinnovation.coop
p Joanne Lechasseur
(left) and Jean-Louis
Bancel
AUGUST 2022 | 47

REVIEWS
Worker co-ops under the microscope
– with a message to the world
Working Democracies:
Managing inequality in
worker cooperatives,
Joan S. M. Meyers,
Cornell (ILR Press)
After welcoming the millennium with some
over-excited talk of the “end of history”, the
world has been rocked by a string of harrowing
economic, political and environmental crises –
and a publishing industry has grown up around
diagnosing the problem. Co-op thinkers have their
own perspective on the global malaise and the
questions it raises around equality, ownership,
power and identities of race, gender and class.
Enter Joan Meyers with a look at worker co-ops –
increasingly presented as a democratic grassroots
rival to the prevailing populist and corporate forces.
Worker-led models, touted as a counter force to
tech monopolies like Amazon, have been slowly
moving from the pages of publications like Co-op
News to the mainstream press, a process which took
another big step this month with the revelations
about the corporate behaviour of Uber, making this
a timely book.
But even worker co-ops face questions around
equality, ownership, power and identity, says
Meyers, who built case studies of two Californian
worker co-ops – People’s Daily Bread Bakery and
One World Natural Grocery – after members of the
two organisations argued at a conference.
Herbert Gubbins, CEO of the bakery, favoured a
formal business structure over participative selfmanagement
because his team are “working-class
people who want to come in, do their job, and
get home to their families. They don’t want to sit
through endless meetings”.
But, replied Jan Bridges from the grocery: “All
kinds of working class people run their own
businesses every day”.
Meyers, hearing “two strikingly different views
of what workers want”, decided to investigate, and
has compiled a fascinating comparative study, with
frank testimony revealed through interviews and
minutes from meetings.
She discovered that “almost all of the members
of both co-operatives shared similar levels of
personal and family education, family wealth and
occupational prestige, and ‘class culture’”. But
“while the grocery had preserved its gender balance
... bakery women were a small minority, and power
and authority were mapped onto race/ethnicity at
the bakery in a way not found at the grocery”.
A co-op’s structure can be influential in this
regard, with both organisations bringing in
consultants to help them weather the financial
crises of the 1980s. They went “in opposite
directions from their collectivist origins: the
bakery to permanent and positional management
supervised by a board of directors elected from the
membership, and the grocery to the formalisation
and increased coordination of highly decentralised
work group self-management”.
Worker co-ops, adds Meyers, face “inherent
tensions” in a capitalist market – with workerowners
forced to walk a line between protecting
their capital and ensuring that all members are
justly rewarded for their labour. Worker democracy
must be reconciled with “the need for delegation
and coordination of authority in order to compete”,
while “the different market values of members’
skills … conflicts with the equity orientation of the
worker co-operative project”.
Part of the problem lies in the roots of worker
co-ops, whose “organisational scale and process
limited profitability”, leading to “poverty wages,
effectively excluding people who were unable to fall
back on loans or gifts of family wealth”. Another
issue is the greater ease for white people in terms of
accessing personal networks or assuming control
of informal structures – which, warns Meyers, can
confer “almost limitless authority”.
For all that, Meyers values the movement. “Labour
is under attack. It needs worker co-operatives,” she
says, valuing them as part of a wider social and
solidarity economy: ‘“diverse organisations and
practices as powerful constituents of an enlivened
non-capitalist politics of place”.
At both co-ops, she finds a lack of class inequality
– good wages, with pay equity between gender and
racial groups; working class hirings; and, at the
bakery at least, a ethnic diversity much improved
from the counterculture days.
She still frets that worker co-ops might only
offer “temporary shelter” in a world which forces
workers to become “possessive, fiercely guarding
their gates against those perceived as invaders and
outsiders”. But Meyers is no determinist: noting
that “there are conditions under which working
people will choose to share rather than hoard, to
recognise rather than pave over differences and
divisions, to address rather than exploit privilege
and disadvantage ... Another world – co-operative
and egalitarian – is indeed possible.”
48 | AUGUST 2022

REVIEWS
Housing co-ops: How radical union
reformers dreamed big in the Big Apple
Working-Class
Utopias: A History of
Cooperative Housing
in New York City,
Robert M. Fogelson,
Princeton University
Press
Urban historian Robert M. Fogelson looks back here
at the story of New York’s co-operative housing,
with a focus on key events and driving forces that
helped and hindered the movement.
One of those pivotal forces is Abraham E. Kazan,
“widely regarded as the father of co-operative
housing in the United States”. Kazan developed
an interest in co-operatives while working at
the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’
Union (ILGWU) before moving to its rival, the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Kazan
led the development of a number of key co-operative
housing projects, first using Amalgamated as a
vehicle and then, in 1951, launching the United
Housing Foundation (UHF) to promote co-op
housing in New York and elsewhere.
He is presented as a tireless ‘doer’, always
looking to press ahead with the next project, “not
only to provide quality housing for working class
New Yorkers but to set an example for wage earners
everywhere”. He believed the spread of housing
co-ops would ultimately solve the housing problem
that has long plagued the city.
As well as individual actors, Fogelson draws
on source material to lay out the legislation, the
social, political and economic environments and
the ideological debates taking place at city, state
and federal levels.
All these shaped the co-op housing movement
in New York over the nineteenth century – a period
blighted by overcrowding, squalor and a lack
of basic amenities. Things would get worse: an
acute housing shortage following World War I put
pressure on housing regulators to ignore violations.
Co-operation was put forward as an alternative to
the public vs private binary.
Kazan and his allies argued that the solution
“was not tenement-house reform. Nor was it
model tenements or public housing. Rather it
was co-operative housing. Spacious and sanitary
apartments could be built for working-class
families, but only by adhering to the principle
of self-help that had been adopted first at the
Amalgamated Houses and later at Co-op City and
the UHF’s other housing projects”.
In 1924 Amalgamated voted to build the
Amalgamated Houses, the first of a number of
developments led by the union. Other unions and
organisations followed suit, and by the 1950s New
York stood as the “unrivalled co-op capital” when
it came to housing. Amalgamated’s co-ops even
managed to weather the Great Depression, though
most others did not.
Fogelson uses personal accounts from residents
to bring to life the benefits of co-operative living,
such as the garment worker who spoke about living
in the Amalgamated Houses: “Where we used to
live in New York there was never a blade of grass
to be seen and nothing grew but rent … Now the
grass is at my doorway, and when I wake up in the
morning the birds sing for me.”
But Fogelson also finds testimonies to the less
sunny parts of New York’s co-op housing story.
Residents of the famous Co-op City development
lament the piles of rubble and construction work of
the early days of their time there.
The bulk of the book is dedicated to UHF’s
Co-op City, the world’s largest co-op housing
development. It took its first residents in 1968
but it wasn’t long before trouble brewed. In the
1970s, as inflation spiralled, the co-op hit fiscal
troubles following project delays and soaring
costs, and residents launched a campaign against
management hikes to monthly carry charges. The
economic woes of the time – which feel eerily
similar to those of 2022 – had time driven the cost
of living to “historic heights”, making the increase
in charges even less tolerable for residents.
Fogelson offers a detailed run through of the
legal battle and rent strike carried out by residents
of Co-op City. This points to a key issue regarding
the governance of Co-op City in its early stages,
with the UHF’s leaders described by City News as
acting like “benevolent despots”.
Co-op City was UHF’s last development. Fogelson
quotes Peter Eisenstadt who wrote that they were
“profoundly hurt by the fallout from the Co-op City
rent strike” and became “cautious and gun-shy”.
Despite the challenges it faced, Co-op City
survived and remains the world’s largest
co-op housing development, though it ultimately
failed to spur the hoped-for co-operative housing
revolution.
Fogelson quotes Governor Rockefeller describing
Co-op City as the “crowning achievement” of
the co-op housing movement, leaving the reader
wondering if its story is one of hope and inspiration,
or a cautionary tale. Perhaps it can be both.
AUGUST 2022 | 49

DIARY
Do you have a co-operative
event – taking place in person,
online, or as a hybrid – to be
featured?
Tell us at: events@thenews.coop
Co-operative Women’s Voices:
Heather Roberts
24 August (10-11am, online)
CWV is a series of monthly interviews
with women from the global co-op
movement. August’s guest is Heather
Roberts, chair of the Co-operative
Heritage Trust.
bit.ly/3RRpLBC
UKSCS Annual Conference
26-28 August (Lincoln)
The first in-person UK Society for Cooperative
Studies conference since 2019
will take place at Lincoln University
and explore the theme: Consumer cooperatives
– past, present and future.
bit.ly/3EU3ahM
Values and value chains
7 September (London)
A session to on the values and planning
tools that co-operatives support
(delivered Douglas by Racionzer).
bit.ly/3HPh8TI
Global Innovation Coop Summit
14-16 September (Paris and online)
Taking the theme New times - New
challenges: the transition areas, with a
specific focus on youth and digital.
globalinnovation.coop
Co-operative Women’s Voices:
Pauline Green
21 September (12-1.30pm, online)
CWV is a series of monthly interviews
with women from the global co-op
movement. September’s guest is Dame
Pauline Green, former MEP, former head
of the Co-op Union (now Co-operatives
UK) and former president of the
International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).
bit.ly/3OoTRJM
Co-op Party Conference
8-9 October (Leeds)
From Crisis to Co-operation: the Co-op
Party’s annual conference will bring
together members and supporters from
across the co-operative and labour
movements to learn more about its work,
help shape Party policy and discuss
priorities and campaigns.
party.coop/event/annconf022
Co-ops and social enterprises
12 October (London)
A session to better understand the terms
Co-operatives and Social Enterprises
and how to access resources available.
(Hosted by Outlandish and delivered by
Douglas Racionzer).
bit.ly/3tUey9h
CCH Annual Conference
14-16 October (Warwick)
The Confederation of Co-operative
Housing will bring together the UK’s
housing co-op housing sector under the
theme Sustainability – rethink:reset
cch.coop/cch-annualconference-2022
ICMIF Centenary Conference
25-28 October 2022 (Rome)
The ICMIF Centenary Conference will be
hosted by the Unipol Group, an ICMIF
founding member, in Rome, where the
organisation was formed.
icmif.org/icmif-conference
Locality Convention
8-9 November 2022 (Sheffield)
Locality’s annual convention, at Sheffield
City Hall, brings together people who
believe in the power of community.
Organisers plan to explore how best to
build thriving neighbourhoods and how
policymakers can support community
power. Workshops will be on key issues
such as the future of high streets, the
cost of living crisis, succession planning,
racial justice, the climate crisis and
funding and social investment. There is
an early bird offer of 15% off ticket prices
for bookings made before 11 August.
locality.org.uk/events/
convention-21-2
50 | AUGUST 2022

01
01
01
01
01
01
01
9
0
150 years of independent, co-operative journalism
150 years of independent, co-operative journalism
150 years of independent, co-operat 15
ISSN 0009-9821
7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
henews.coop
news news Issue #7334 AUGUST 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha cha lenging lenging
news news
Issue #7334
groups, past, present
and future ... the schools
teaching co-operation by
doing ... the 16-year-old on
a mission to make co-ops
fairer for young people
N 0009-9821
8 2 0 1 0
s.coop
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
.thenews.coop
Plus … Co-op Youth
groups, past, present
and future ... the schools
teaching co-operation by
01
doing ... the 16-year-old on
a mission to make co-ops
fairer for young people
Issue #7328
WHAT’S NEXT
FOR THE CO-OP
MOVEMENT?
Plus … How Brexit wi l
affect co-op businesses ...
Latest statistics from the
World Co-op Monitor... The
Hive begins anothe round of
funding and support
£4.20
01
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
£4.20
£4.20
news news
FEBRUARY 2021
Issue #7334
LISTENING
TO A NEW
GENERATION
news news
LISTENING
TO A NEW
GENERATION
Plus … Co-op Youth
Issue #7330
Plus … Scotland’s farm
co-ops hold their annual
conference ... How co-ops are
working for food justice ...
Encouraging women’s voices
in co-operation
01
£4.20
AUGUST 2021
news news
APRIL 2021
IS RESILIANCE
BUILT INTO THE
CO-OP MODEL?
AUGUST 2021
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
LISTENING
TO A NEW
GENERATION
Plus … Co-op Youth
groups, past, present
and future ... the schools
teaching co-operation by
doing ... the 16-year-old on
a mission to make co-ops
fairer for young people
£4.20
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
AUGUST 2021
CO-OPS AND
THE CLIMATE
EMERGENCY
Plus … Report from
the UKSCS conference ...
... Co-op Group supply
disruption, Afghanistan
and ‘ghosted’ youth ... US
co-ops rush to help after
Hurricane Ida
01
£4.20
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
OCTOBER 2021
JANUARY 2022
‘DEEPENING OUR
COOPERATIVE IDENTITY’
Full coverage of the ICA’s 33rd
JANUARY 2022 World Cooperative Congress
Plus … Launch of the 10th
World Cooperative Monitor …
‘DEEPENING
Interview
OUR
with Rob Harrison,
COOPERATIVE author of The IDENTITY’
Handbook
of Ethical Purchasing …
Full coverage MPs of debate the debate ICA’s the 33rd
contribution of co-ops and
World Cooperative mutuals to the Congress
UK
ISSN 0009-9821
01
Plus … Launch of the 10th
World Cooperative Monitor …
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
Interview with Rob Harrison,
author of The Handbook
of Ethical Purchasing
www.thenews.coop
…
MPs debate debate the
contribution of co-ops and
mutuals to the UK
ISSN 0009-9821
01
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
Space to
work
01
£4.20
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
£4.20
the UKSCS conference ...
... Co-op Group supply
disruption, Afghanistan
and ‘ghosted’ youth ... US
co-ops rush to help after
Hurricane Ida
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
CO-OPS AND
THE CLIMATE
EMERGENCY
Plus … Report from
the UKSCS conference ...
... Co-op Group supply
disruption, Afghanistan
and ‘ghosted’ youth ... US
co-ops rush to help after
Hurricane Ida
01
£4.20
OCTOBER 2021
CO-OPS AND
THE CLIMATE
EMERGENCY
Plus … Report from
CO-OP
CONFERENCE
SEASON
Plus … UK report on
co-op climate action ...
Countdown to the World
Cooperative Congress ...
Q&A with ICA president Ariel
Guarco ... and part one of our
Co-op Christmas Gift Guide
01
£4.20
news news Issue #7328 FEBRUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha chalenging
lenging
OCTOBER 2021
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
£4.20
CO-OP
CONFERENCE
SEASON
Plus … UK report on
co-op climate action ...
Countdown to the World
Cooperative Congress ...
Q&A with ICA president Ariel
Guarco ... and part one of our
Co-op Christmas Gift Guide
01
£4.20
NOVEMBER 2021
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
www.thenews.coop
news news Issue #7330 APRIL 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, cha chalenging
lenging
World Cooperative Monitor …
Interview with Rob Harrison,
author of The Handbook
of Ethical Purchasing …
MPs debate debate the
contribution of co-ops and
mutuals to the UK
news news Issue #7333 JULY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha cha lenging lenging
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
01
PEER LEARNING
The strength of co-ops
learning together
Plus … Lessons co-op
organising from Cincinnati …
A co-operative future DECEMBER for the 2021
waterways? … How Blair Ki led
the Co-ops: a review … and
Part 2 of our Co-op Christmas
Gift Guide PEER LEARNING
The strength of co-ops
ISSN 0009-9821
01
learning together
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop Plus … Lessons co-op
organising from Cincinnati …
A co-operative future for the
waterways? … How Blair Killed
the Co-ops: a review … and
Part 2 of our Co-op Christmas
Gift Guide
ISSN 0009-9821
01
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
NOVEMBER 2021
www.thenews.coop
news news Issue #7333 JULY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha cha lenging lenging
Plus … Launch of the 10th
£4.20
£4.20
co-op climate action ...
Countdown to the World
Cooperative Congress ...
Q&A with ICA president Ariel
Guarco ... and part one of our
Co-op Christmas Gift Guide
news news Issue #7327 JANUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha cha lenging lenging
news news Issue #7327 JANUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, challenging
lenging
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
Space to
grow
news news Issue #7328 FEBRUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha cha lenging lenging
01
£4.20
CO-OP
CONFERENCE
SEASON
Plus … UK report on
JANUARY 2022
‘DEEPENING OUR
COOPERATIVE IDENTITY’
Full coverage of the ICA’s 33rd
World Cooperative Congress
£4.20
news news Issue #7328 FEBRUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha lenging lenging
DECEMBER 2021
Leading the movement in workspaces for those who lead the change,
with spaces currently available to rent
Space for
change
Visit www.ethicalproperty.co.uk Email sales@ethicalproperty.co.uk or call 01865 207 810 to find out more
ISSN 0009-9821
www.thenews.coop
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
CONGRESS 2021:
CO-OPS ARE THE
REBUILDERS
Plus … The ethics of
franchising ... Co-ops v
competition law ... Q&A:
Chris Packham ... the
co-op homes of three
women justices
£4.20
Plus … The ethics of
franchising ... Co-ops v
competition law ... Q&A:
Chris Packham ... the
co-op homes of three
women justices
NOVEMBER 2021
01
£4.20
affect co-op businesses ...
Latest statistics from the
World Co-op Monitor... The
Hive begins another round of
funding and support
news news Issue #7334 AUGUST 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha chalenging
lenging
01
JULY 2021
CONGRESS 2021:
CO-OPS ARE THE
REBUILDERS
£4.20
WHAT’S NEXT
FOR THE CO-OP
MOVEMENT?
Plus … How Brexit will
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
Plus … How Brexit will
affect co-op businesses ...
Latest statistics from the
World Co-op Monitor... The
Hive begins another round of
funding and support
01
£4.20
ISSN 0009-9821
www.thenews.coop
JULY 2021
news news Issue #7333 JULY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha chalenging
lenging
Plus … How Brexit wi l
affect co-op businesses ...
Latest statistics from the
World Co-op Monitor... The
Hive begins anothe round of
funding and support
£4.20
WHAT’S NEXT
FOR THE CO-OP
MOVEMENT?
news news Issue #7332 JUNE 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha lenging lenging
JANUARY 2021
WHY AREN’T
THERE MORE
JANUARY 2021
CO-OPS?
WHY AREN’T
THERE MORE Plus … New international
CO-OPS? working group for UK co-ops
... Kay Johnson’s work on food
fairness in Preston ... New York
Plus … New international
working group for taxi UK drivers co-ops launch fundraiser
... Kay Johnson’s for work platform on food co-op
fairness in Preston ... New York
taxi drivers launch fundraiser
for platform co-op ISSN 0009-9821
01
ISSN 0009-9821
01
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
01
FEBRUARY 2021
www.thenews.coop
www.thenews.coop
news news Issue #7332 JUNE 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha challenging lenging
co-ops hold their annual
conference ... How co-ops are
working for food justice ...
Encouraging women’s voices
in co-operation
WHAT’S NEXT
FOR THE CO-OP
MOVEMENT?
01
£4.20
£4.20
organising from Cincinnati …
A co-operative future for the
waterways? … How Blair Killed
the Co-ops: a review … and
Part 2 of our Co-op Christmas
Gift Guide
FEBRUARY 2021
APRIL 2021
IS RESILIANCE
BUILT INTO THE
CO-OP MODEL?
Plus … Scotland’s farm
FEBRUARY 2021
Plus … Lessons in co-op
£4.20
news news Issue #7328 FEBRUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha chalenginglenging
£4.20
DECEMBER 2021
PEER LEARNING
The strength of co-ops
learning together
Plus … The co-ops tackling
global deforestation ... Mark
Drakeford Robert Owen at
250 ... A new chaper for the
New Internationalist ... Retail
results round-up
ISSN 0009-9821
01
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
news news Issue #7327 JANUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha cha lenging lenging
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
£4.20
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
JUNE 2021
THE FUTURE OF
CO-OPERATIVE
LEARNING
groups, past, present
and future ... the schools
teaching co-operation by
doing ... the 16-year-old on
a mission to make co-ops
fairer for young people
Plus … The co-ops tackling
global deforestation ... Mark
Drakeford Robert Owen at
250 ... A new chaper for the
New Internationalist ... Retail
results round-up
ISSN 0009-9821
01
news news Issue #7327 JANUARY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, champio champio
£4.20
JANUARY 2021 Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha chalenging
lenging
01
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
£4.20
LISTENING
TO A NEW
GENERATION
Plus … Co-op Youth
ISSN 0009-9821
www.thenews.coop
JUNE 2021
THE FUTURE OF
CO-OPERATIVE
LEARNING
www.thenews.coop
CO-OPERATING
FOR A SHARED
FUTURE
Plus … Co-ops respond
to the IPCC climate report
... The co-op beginnings
of a US Olympian ... Meet:
Nepal’s Om Devi Ma la ...
Celebrating 150 years of
your Co-op News
01
£4.20
news news Issue #7331 MAY 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, cha challenging lenging
franchising ... Co-ops v
competition law ... Q&A:
Chris Packham ... the
co-op homes of three
women justices
SEPTEMBER 2021
01
CO-OPERATING
FOR A SHARED
FUTURE
Plus … Co-ops respond
to the IPCC climate report
... The co-op beginnings
of a US Olympian ... Meet:
Nepal’s Om Devi Malla ...
Celebrating 150 years of
your Co-op News
01
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
£4.20
£4.20
news news Issue #7330 APRIL 2021
Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, challenging
lenging
MAY 2021 Connecting, championing, cha lenging
Connecting, championing, cha lenging
AUGUST 2021
SEPTEMBER 2021
JULY 2021
CONGRESS 2021:
CO-OPS ARE THE
REBUILDERS
Plus … The ethics of
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
ISSN 0009-9821
www.thenews.coop
Plus … New international
working group for UK co-ops
... Kay Johnson’s work on food
fairness in Preston ... New York
taxi drivers launch fundraiser
for platform co-op
£4.20
WHY AREN’T
THERE MORE
CO-OPS?
01
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
£4.20
www.thenews.coop
APRIL 2021 Connecting, championing, cha lenging
Connecting, championing, cha lenging
affect co-op businesses ...
Latest statistics from the
World Co-op Monitor... The
Hive begins another round of
funding and support
JANUARY 2021
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
Plus … New international
working group for UK co-ops
... Kay Johnson’s work on food
fairness in Preston ... New York
taxi drivers launch fundraiser
for platform co-op
ISSN 0009-9821
01
Plus … Credit unions
consider the merger question
... A globa look at youth
empowerment ... Robert Owen:
anniversary of a co-op icon ...
Nigel Todd: A tribute
£4.20
£4.20
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
WHY AREN’T
THERE MORE
CO-OPS?
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
JANUARY 2021
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
ISSN 0009-9821
9 7 7 0 0 0 9 9 8 2 0 1 0
www.thenews.coop
wo
... Kay
fairness
taxi drivers
for platform c
Plus
consider
... A global
empowermen
anniversary of a
Nigel Todd: A tribut
www.thenews.coop
1 Connecting, Connecting, championing, championing, chalenginglenging
FEBRUARY 2021
WHAT’S NEXT
FOR THE CO-OP
MOVEMENT?
Plus … How Brexit will
HOW CO-OP
DEMOCRACY
PLAYS OUT
ISSN 0009-9821
www.thenews.coop
MAY 2021
Plus … Where do
co-operatives fit in the new
retai landscape? ... The
humanisation of healthcare
... 90 years of the Rochdale
Pioneers Museum
£4.20
APRIL 2021
IS RESILIENCE
BUILT INTO THE
CO-OP MODEL?
01
£4.20
E
the UKSCS c
... Co-op Group
disruption, Afgha
and ‘ghosted’ youth
co-ops rush to help afte
Hurricane Ida
01
£4.2
Plus …
www.

FAIRTRADE
AWARD WINNING
100% COMPOSTABLE
100% Home
Compostable
Cornstarch
Material
Nespresso® Compatible Capsules
coffee@revolver.coop www.revolverworld.com 01902 345 345