JANUARY 2018

The international organisation of co-ops in industry and
services, part of the International Co-operative Alliance,
on the next steps for a world of sustainable employment
of industrial and service co-operatives in the
world, beyond our own network. This has been
possible thanks to another big reporting exercise in
which CICOPA has been involved over the last few
years, namely the first and the second report on
Co-operatives and Employment, in 2014 and 2017.
“That series of reports, differently from the
present one, deals with employment in the entire
co-operative movement, but it provides us with
very useful data enabling us to make an estimation
of co-ops in industrial and service sectors as well.
“As the reader will discover, this reality is much
larger than the CICOPA network, suggesting there
still is a long way to go before CICOPA can include
all these co-ops (some of which are affiliated
to International Co-operative Alliance member
organisations, others not), and thus be able to
improve its level of reporting on, and representing
industrial and service co-ops in the world.”
uFind the global report at s.coop/mployment
What are you looking forward to in 2018?
The youth report and a strong presence in the debate
on the future of work
Elisa Terrasi, researcher at CICOPA and co-author
of the Youth report, says: “A global study on youth
co-operative entrepreneurship is presently being
elaborated, on the basis of a desk research and the
results of an online survey involving more than 60
youth co-operatives organised as worker, social
and producers’ coo-peratives in the five continents.
“The study will bring into the debate some
considerations about the main interests and
challenges for establishing cooperatives among
young people. It will be a source of inspiration
for further debates and studies, a tool at disposal
of CICOPA members and the whole co-operative
movement to promote a better understanding of
the potential of co-operatives for youth among
policy makers.”
uFind the youth report at s.coop/25xia
What challenges are you facing in 2018?
“Finding a better inter-sectoral dynamic inside
the International Co-operative Alliance and
demonstrating that worker ownership is a valuable
answer for current employment challenges and the
future of work.”
JANUARY 2018 | 29