2021
International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and others
The report "Young people and cooperatives: a perfect match?" is a global research initiative by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), exploring the intersection of youth challenges and cooperative solutions. Structured around five key themes—employment, education, (in)equalities, engagement, and entrepreneurship—it draws insights from 420 young respondents across 20 countries. The findings emphasize the potential of cooperatives to address youth issues while aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in decent work and quality education. Strategies recommended to enhance youth engagement in cooperatives include improving awareness, enhancing the cooperative image, and promoting decent work opportunities. The report also highlights the necessity for cooperatives to adapt to the digital landscape and become a visible alternative for employment. Ultimately, it calls for stronger support and engagement from cooperatives towards youth, offering actionable recommendations to foster youth participation and education within the cooperative movement.
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.