News and Events

2012 has been designated the United Nations’ International Year of Co-operatives, so why not start thinking about events your Young Co-operative could hold to celebrate and raise awareness of co-operatives?

The IYC has the theme Co-operative Enterprises Build a Better World, so it’s an ideal chance to tell everyone in your school or community just what it is about co-operatives that make the world a better, more equal and democratic place to live in.

Do you want to watch films from across the world, and from over 100 years of cinema? FILMCLUB is a free educational club for schools which enables both primary and secondary schools to hold weekly screenings of films with educational and social impact.

People all over the world will be watching the live transmission of Al Gore’s 24 Hours of Reality together as a global event.

Three co-operative schools – Campsmount Technology College near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, South Axholme School in Epworth, Lincolnshire and Aire Valley School near Bradford, West Yorkshire – are asking for your help to meet the challenge of collecting 50,000 books for children in disadvantaged communities in South Africa.

We are delighted to inform you about an exciting new opportunity for Young Co-operatives to share their experiences with other schools and young people – in time for the start of the new term. We invite you to take advantage of a new, interactive feature we have added to the Young Co-operatives website at www.youngco-operatives.coop/members.

Around 40 new co-operatives were set up in August – each owned and run by a group of young people at the Woodcraft Folk’s International Camp of Co-operation, CoCamp.

Mini-enterprises selling refreshing lemonade, friendship bracelets, popcorn and recycled jewellery, or providing services such as hand and foot massage, face painting, temporary tattoos and mobile phone charging, sprung up around the 2,500-strong international camp thanks to a new initiative from the Co-operative College called ‘Co-op in a Box’.

Have you ever thought that the brand of rice you buy could have an impact on whether children in Africa attend school or not? The Fair Traders Co-operative in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, is supporting a new Fair Trade Rice Challenge to press home the message that by buying fairly traded rice instead of your usual brand, you really can make a difference to the lives of African children.

Young people at a co-operative youth camp were the first to play a new, hands-on role-play game which simulates the experience of what it’s like to be part of the co-operative business world.

Our Coffee Co-operative at Reddish Vale Technology College, a co-operative school in Stockport, sells Oromo coffee in school and to the local community, helping both Ethiopian refugees in the UK and the Oromo community in Ethiopia.