Anna Loscalzo is a co-operator and leader in the youth co-operative movement. In 2016, Loscalzo founded Italian social co-op Tatabox with a group of friends, to give students a place to gather and co-study. Loscalzo joined the Alliance of Italian Cooperatives executive committee in 2020, then Legacoop Generazioni executive committee in 2022. Last summer she became the president of the newly established Young European Co-operators Network (YECN), an informal network of co-operators under the age 40 from across Europe. We caught up with her after she spoke at the European Youth Cooperative Forum in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Where are we today, and why?
We are in Sofia for an event about youth leadership, and we have a bunch of people from across all of Europe. This is the first time we have this kind of event, with a great synergy with the [Cooperatives Europe] board members. Yesterday we had a great session, very deep and intense, talking about youth, how we can approach more young people, and how we can help them grow into the movement.
How did you first find out about the co-op movement?
It was 10 years ago, and I had this weird idea to create a space for young people to meet and study, and so on. I applied for a sort of business competition, and it turned out it was for co-operatives. So [I thought] well, I don’t mind, let’s do it. And my team and I won the first selection. So we entered this learning course about business, but specifically about co-ops. And there I realised that I was a co-operator, but I didn’t know yet! So it was like falling in love with something. That’s why I started.
Tell me about your role on the YECN
I’ve been in this role for about a year and a half, and it comes after my experience in Italy. In Italy, I am in [Legacoop] Generazioni, our national movement about youth and co-operation. And so I try to merge my personal experience in Generazioni and my experience as a co-operator to try to help this network gain new visibility and new members. So [this is] work that I’m doing with Marcelina Zjawińska and a bunch of other guys from Cooperatives Europe – Mathilde [Delabie], Paola [Rosatelli] and PJ [Pieter-Jan Herman].
We work very hard to have the network full of members and to be a very interesting opportunity for them [as well as for us], to enable us to network and to gain new skills and knowledge, as we really care about being together and trying to create a voice that can be heard. As we saw yesterday [at the European Cooperative Youth Forum], it’s very important to know the needs and the issues that young co-operators have to face day by day, to represent them where It’s useful.
Have you faced any issues or challenges along the way during your co-operative journey?
How much time do you have!? Yes, a lot. In my intervention [at the Forum] I talked about failure because in my co-op, we’ve failed a lot. Even recently, we faced a deep crisis – we lost one of our most important work [contracts] that we have with a municipality, and we faced a financial crisis, and a crisis among all our workers.
So what I’ve learned so far is that, if you are deeply involved in the co-operative’s values and in the co-operative, you will somehow find the chance and the willingness to come up from this kind of situation. I am very lucky, because I have three other members with me that are lovely, they are great. And no matter what comes across our path, we always fight it and face it all together.
What are your hopes for the future?
Actually, I don’t know, bcause since I’ve come from a very intense period, I would like to have peace, at least for a year! And then we’ll see. My dream is to change my co-op a little bit. In Italy, it’s quite different, and we have these kinds of co-operatives that we call social co-ops, but I would like to change the status of my co-op a little bit, to let young students become members. So that’s a dream of ours.
How did you find the youth forum?
This is the first time we have had this kind of event, with a great synergy with the [Cooperatives Europe] board members. Yesterday we had a great session, very deep and intense, talking about youth, how we can approach more young people, and how we can help them grow into the movement. My message to young co-operators would be, join the YECN! It’s a cool group, you can meet people all across Europe.
You can find out more about the Young European Cooperators Network at: coopseurope.coop/young-cooperators-network/
