State of Co-operation Programme

ALL TIMES ARE UK TIMES

9am: to 9.15am – brief introduction by Tony Webster

10 February 2025 – AFRICA & CO-OPERATION

9.15am: Co-operation in Africa (session 1)

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions. The final 10 minutes will be for open discussion.

• Sandy Peeples (Johns Hopkins University), Green Revolutionaries: The Tanzanian Co-Operative Moment and the Politics of Agrarian Credit
• Owusu Boampong (University of Cape Coast, Ghana), Enablers and Inhibitors of membership decisions of cooperatives in Ghana

10.15am: Break

11am: Co-operation in Africa (session 2)

A Round Table of Worker Cooperative Practitioners 

Proposed by Cooperation Africa and AfriCoop Consortium, the purpose is to bring together worker cooperatives from across Africa to discuss the enabling and inhibiting factors impacting cooperative formation and development in Africa. Invited participants will be asked to explain their origins, what they do, who are their members, why they were formed, why it is important to them that they are worker cooperatives, how they are governed, what legal provisions helped or inhibited them during formation and later their growth, what technical and financial was there for them, what contribution has their cooperative made to them as members, to their community and o the wider society?

The responses to these questions will provide a rich tapestry of experience and knowledge that can feed into the work of all those promoting cooperatives in Africa.

12.30pm: Break

1.30pm: Co-operation in Africa (session 3)

A Round Table of National Apex Cooperative Associations or Federations in Africa

Proposed by Cooperation Africa and AfriCoop Consortium, the purpose is to bring together national Apex Cooperative Associations or Federations to share experiences about the nature of the environment within which they operate. Specifically, participants will be invited to discuss the enabling and inhibiting factors impacting cooperative formation and development in Africa today. They will also be invited to describe among other things the size and character of the cooperative impact in their respective countries, and the factors that led to this particular distribution, the general size of cooperatives in different sectors, the training and capacity building available to cooperatives, the degree to which cooperatives collaborate with one another within and across sectors, the relationship between organised cooperatives and political parties, how cooperatives interact with local and national governments, and the degree of autonomy that cooperatives enjoy.  They will also be asked to identify the most pressing things that could be done by the cooperative sector, as well as those in political office, to make the environment more conducive to cooperative formation, growth, and development.

3pm: Close of day

11 February 2025 – THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE

9am: The Co-operative Council’s Innovation Network (CCIN)

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions.

• Jonathan Nunn (Kirklees Council), Charting a Path for Local Government Cooperative Development
• Catherine Brentnall (Manchester Metropolitan University), Rapid Evidence Review
• Owen Powell (York St John University), CCIN Co-operative Case Studies 2024.

10.30am: Break

11am: Local Co-operative Initiatives

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions. The final 10 minutes will be open discussion.

• Julian Manley (UCLAN), ‘We are … building up a State within a State…’: Social value, co-operation, community wealth building and the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network 
• David Webb (Newcastle University) & Gabriel Silvestre (Newcastle University), The uses of the Preston model in Newcastle and Gateshead  

12 noon: Break

1pm: British Co-operation: Some Historical Perspectives

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions. The final 10 minutes will be open discussion.

• Yanfeng Wang (University of Birmingham), Extend Co-operative to the Poor: Sunderland experiment of Women’s Co-operative Guild
• Tony Webster (Northumbria University) and John F. Wilson (Northumbria University), Co-operation and the British State since 1844: A Reluctant and Volatile Relationship of Convenience?     

2pm: Close of day

12 February 2025 – CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE AND THE EAST

9am: Japan, China & Australia – some case studies

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions.

• Greg Patmore (University of Sydney) & Nikola Balnave (Macquarie University), Self-help and the State – the Australian Experience  
• Akira Kurimoto (Japan Co-operative Alliance), Cooperative healthcare and eldercare to cope with the aging society: a case of health co-ops in Japan  
• Ali Al-Assam (NewSocial Co-operative), Cooperatives in China

10.30am: Break

11am: Italy & Europe: Some Historical & Contemporary Studies

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions.

• Gábor Koloh (Hun Ren Institute of History), Consumer cooperatives in Hungary (1898–1923) 
• Tommaso Milani (Institut für soziale Bewegungen – Ruhr-Universität Bochum), The Quest for Economic Democracy: The Italian Co-Operative Movement and the Challenge of the Post-War State (1945-1954 ca.)  
• Francesca Gabriellini (University of Bologna), The Cooperative Model in the Reorganization of Work, Production, and Public Communication in Response to the New Challenges of Ecological Transition. From Coop Emilia Veneto to Coop Alleanza 3.0: History and Trajectories of Environmental and Social Sustainability  
• Vera Negri Zamagni (University of Bologna), How Italian Social Cooperatives have been successful in giving work to disadvantaged people. A case study

2pm: Close of day

13 February 2025 – CO-OPERATIVES AND THE WORLD – AND END OF CONFERENCE DISCUSSION

2pm: Co-operation: Some Key Global Themes

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions.

• Zoé Marlier (University of Liège in Belgium) & Frédéric Dufays (University of Liège in Belgium), How do women experience democracy at work? The case of cooperatives 
• Patrizia Battliani (University of Bologna), Cooperatives and the gender issue: the Italian case study
• Stefano Tortorici (Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence), Redefining Platform Cooperatives: Identities, Dimensions and Challenges 

3-30pm: Break

4pm: Co-operation: Global Organization and its Challenges

Each paper will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions.

• Samuel Boscarello (Sapienza University of Rome), A European Social Laboratory: Rediscovering the Origins of the International Co-operative Alliance (1848-1895) 
• Rafael Ziegler (HEC Montréal and Director of the Institut international des coopératives Alphonse-et-Dorimène-Desjardins) & Julie Rijpens (École des sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal), Circular economy policies, cooperatives and the social and solidarity economy    
• E.G. Nadeau (Cooperative Development Services), Proposal for the Establishment of an International Cooperative Development Fund

5.30pm to 6.30pm: Next Steps: publications and follow up events – a discussion.

END OF CONFERENCE