The Future of Co-operation: What Challenges Can It Meet? What Challenges Does It Face?

With more than 1 billion members worldwide, co-operatives are a significant global phenomenon. With successes and failures, great or lesser support, regulation and control, co-operatives and the idea of co-operation underpinning ethical business and provision of social need persists, with new co-operatives and related forms of association being formed all the time. Can co-operatives and associated forms of organisation enable us to think differently about future social and economic organisation of enterprise and services that can address key social and economic issues of our time, in the UK/Europe and in global development? What are the possibilities and challenges?

This seminar, organised by Development Policy and Practice at The Open University, will focus on two thematic areas of social and economic hardship and education, and then reflect further on the future of co-operation. Panel speakers are:

• Amanda Benson, Projects and Research Officer at the Co-operative College
• Alexander Borda-Rodriguez, Research Fellow in International Development and Inclusive Innovation at The Open University
• Sally Hartley, independent consultant on youth and development
• Fenella Porter, founding member of the RED Learning Co-op (Research, Education and Development for Social Change)
• Cilla Ross, Vice-Principal, Education and Research, Co-operative College, Manchester
• Linda Shaw, independent consultant and author on co-operation
• Roger Spear, Emeritus Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at The Open University
• Alan Thomas, retired Professor of International Development, Swansea University
• Nigel Todd, Chair of Board, Co-operative College, Manchester

The event is FREE, please see more details and register here.