How has the last year been for you and the Youth Committee?
The youth committee had a very intense year this 2023. We managed to have the first activities of the youth action plan in place and get the ball rolling for the years to come.
We had two pilot programs of the YLEP (Youth Leadership Exchange Program). 10 people from the four regions of the ICA took part in one of the two week long exchange programs to Spain (Mondragon and Madrid) and USA (Washington DC).
We took the next step in the CoopSpring Toolkit and made a Train of Trainers program. IT was held as an online training programme led by Emily Lippold.
We also followed up with the Replication Program projects to understand what is the stage of their initiatives three years after the funding. Thanks to the Co-op News team for the articles.
We participated and supported the writing of a Recommendation Paper to the ICA board on platform and digital co-operatives.
We also participated in the UN Intergenerational Panel of the 2030 Agenda dialogue and participated in the Cooding event in platform co-operatives held in Bologna.
On a more internal side: we welcomed four new vice-presidents and redesigned the communication materials for the Youth Committee.
What are your hopes for 2024?
There are several focuses of action for this upcoming year, including strengthening the participation and engagement of more people in the youth committee activities as a major focus.
We also hope to create units of work focused on: communication, fundraising, a second run of the YLEP, the Digital and Tech strategies, an onsite meeting, the 2025 year of the co-operatives and the kick off of the EU commissioned FPA program that has activities focusing on youth.
