ICA-EU PARTNERSHIP ON COOPERATIVES IN DEVELOPMENT
The International Co-operative Alliance Asia and Pacific Committee on University/Campus Co-operatives (ICUC) in collaboration with ANGKASA, Malaysia and the ICA-EU Partnership on Co-operatives in Development: People Centered Businesses in Action (#Coops4Dev) organized a Global Workshop on Campus/University Co-operatives in Kuala Lumpur, on 13th November 2017. The workshop was held on the side-lines of the ICA General Assembly. No fee was charged to attend the workshop.
Participants at the Campus Co-operative Workshop
The theme of the workshop was, Enhancing Participation of Campus Co-operatives’ for the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The focus was on the By-Law making process in campus co-operatives to ensure greater participation of members and develop a heightened sense of ownership among youth for their co-operatives, in the pursuit of SDGs. Campus Co-operatives, functioning as consumer co-operatives or multi-purpose co-operatives within the campuses of schools, colleges and universities and having students, teachers and staff as members are a unique feature of the co-operative movement of many countries in the Asia Pacific region. These student led and faculty guided co-operative enterprises serve the needs of the campus community, facilitate student support and provide educational guidance to students. Importantly, these unique co-operatives contribute tremendously in furthering the knowledge of co-operatives among the youth on campuses. This workshop was intended to be a platform for Asian campus co-operatives to showcase their experience to the rest of the world, to exchange and share knowledge about similar initiatives from across the world and to facilitate transfer of technology from region to region.
The keynote speech was given by Dr. T. Paranjothi, Vice Chairperson, ICA-AP Committee on Co-operative Research. This was followed by presentations on Aflatoun - financial Literacy among Youth in Campuses by Ms. Lasalette Gumban of the National Confederation of Co-operatives, Philippines; the Malaysian story of favourable policy environment to proliferate the campus co-operative model by Dr. Mohd. Azlan Yahya, Chairperson, ICUC; and the Federated structures of Youth led co-operatives in Indonesia by Mr. Pendi Yusuf and Ms. Anis Sadah of KOPINDO. Mr. Ronald Low from SNCF, Singapore, presented the case of how young people are involved in co-operatives and technology and Ms. Abeer Qtary, from the Economic and Social Development Center of Palestine, presented on co-operatives in the Arab world and potential of campus co-operatives. Dr. Burhanuddin Abdullah, Rector of IKOPIN, spoke of the emphasis on participation and by-laws of student led coops in Indonesia and emphasised their potential in enhancing youth participation in the co-operative movement. Dr. Rose Karimi, Ms. Montserrat Bujan from the ICA Africa and ICA Americas respectively and Mr. Marc Noel, International Development Director of the ICA-EU partnership graced the occasion with words of encouragement and stories on youth led cooperation in their region. Ms. Violetta Nafpaktiti and Mr. Tom Ivey of dot coop spoke of how more co-operatives should adopt the dot coop domain, to maintain a unique identity, and show universal solidarity for co-operatives.
Group discussions on how campus co-ops fulfil the 7 Co-operative Principles
The group discussions on co-operative principles and By laws practices in campus co-operatives was led by Dr.C. Pitchai of the Gandhigram University, India. The workshop was wrapped by closing remarks from Dr. Malika Kumar and Ms. Zenaida Diola.
