2021
International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and others
The report titled "Young people and cooperatives: a perfect match?" is a collaborative endeavor by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the Co-operative College, drawing insights from the ICA Youth Network. This comprehensive global research initiative gathers perspectives from 420 young respondents across 20 countries, focusing on how cooperatives can address the challenges faced by today's youth. The report is organized around five key themes: employment, education, (in)equalities, engagement, and entrepreneurship. The findings of the report underscore the vital role that cooperatives can play in providing solutions to youth-related challenges while also aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, it emphasizes SDG 8, which promotes decent work, and SDG 4, which focuses on quality education. The report outlines critical strategies for enhancing youth engagement in cooperatives, such as increasing awareness about cooperative benefits, improving the public image of cooperatives, and creating youth-specific structures within these organizations. Moreover, the report includes case studies demonstrating successful cooperative initiatives in areas like employment, education, and inequality reduction. It highlights the necessity for cooperatives to adapt to the digital age to resonate with younger generations. While the research indicates substantial potential for cooperatives to support youth, it also reveals existing barriers that must be overcome to turn this potential into reality. Ultimately, the report serves as a clarion call for cooperatives to intensify their efforts in fostering youth involvement and offers actionable recommendations for enhancing youth participation and education in the cooperative sector.
The report titled "Young people and cooperatives: a perfect match?" is a comprehensive global research initiative co-produced by all regional offices of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) with support from the Co-operative College and input from the ICA Youth Network. The report is structured into five main chapters, referred to as the five 'E's: employment, education, (in)equalities, engagement, and entrepreneurship. It is based on 420 responses from young people in 20 countries and aims to provide insights into the key challenges facing youth today, and how cooperatives can address these challenges and improve engagement with young people.
The report highlights the potential of cooperatives to play a crucial role in solving the challenges of young people, while also contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 8 on decent work and SDG 4 on quality education. It identifies strategies to engage more youth in cooperatives, such as improving knowledge of cooperatives among young people, boosting the image of cooperatives, developing genuine youth-oriented structures within cooperatives, and promoting decent work opportunities through cooperatives.
The report also includes case studies and examples of cooperative contributions to employment, education, and reducing inequalities. It emphasizes the need for cooperatives to adapt to the digitized world to better engage young people and suggests that cooperatives need to be more visible as an alternative for employment opportunities. The research indicates that while cooperatives theoretically have the capacity to help youth overcome challenges, there are still obstacles that need to be addressed to ensure this potential is realized in practice.
Overall, the report serves as a call to action for cooperatives to strengthen their support and engagement towards young people and provides actionable conclusions and recommendations for the cooperative movement to promote youth cooperatives, youth employment and participation in cooperatives, as well as education on cooperatives.