Co-operative News, the world’s oldest surviving co-operative publication, was launched by the Movement for the Movement over 140 years ago in 1871. The News began as a weekly newspaper reporting on the growth of consumer co-operatives after the Movement’s seven principles were established by the Rochdale Pioneers at their first store on Toad Lane. Today, […]
Building Communities with Cooperative Television
Central Hungarys Upper-Kiskunság is one of the country’s poorest and most under-developed regions, but community development work over the past 15 years has led to the founding of a number of cooperatives, including a community television station. The lowland plains south of Budapest, in the former flood zone of the River Danube, are plagued with […]
Fairtrade at the Co-operative Academy of Leeds
Even though many people now have some sort of awareness of Fairtrade, the majority of people are not aware there is a specific fortnight from February-March, which is dedicated to the Fairtrade movement – an annual, nationwide celebration of Fairtrade, with two weeks of events and activities promoting fair and ethical trade in schools, shops, […]
CoCoThrow
It’s about co-operation. It’s about fun for all ages. It’s a game called CoCoThrow which you can play nearly anywhere, with nearly anyone. It need not cost anything at all. It’s not new but it wears well. We started playing it in 2005 when we called it ‘Co-operative Juggling’. In 2006 we took it to […]
Kitunda SACCO – member stories
Savings, loans and coaching Kitunda Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) began in 2002 with the aim of providing financial access for people in the area of Kitunda, Tanzania. Located approximately 20 km outside the capital Dar es Salaam, residents of Kitunda have no bank and so depend on Kitunda SACCO for their banking. The SACCO […]
Lipson Community College: a co-operative Academy
Lipson Community College became a co-operative Trust school in 2009 and a Co-operative Academy in 2012, joining around 200 co-operative schools across England who have adopted a co-operative structure using a model developed by the Co-operative College. Situated in the city of Plymouth in Devon, it is a large, urban secondary school serving some of […]
Bicycle repair and renovation co-operative at Madras College
Students at Madras College in St Andrews, Scotland are involved in a co-operative enterprise that maintains and sells bicycles. Students source bikes destined for salvage for renovation and sale. The Madras Bicycle Business co-operative has been running for three years out of a workshop based in the school and is a member of the Co-operative […]
The Ruptors Street Dance Co-operative
The Ruptors is a street dance crew formed in 2008 by students at Lipson Community College, a co-operative school in Plymouth, Devon, south west England, and run as a Young Co-operative as part of the Co-operative College’s Young Co-operatives scheme. The crew consists of eight students ranging from years 10-12. Since 2008 the Ruptors has […]
Reconciling interests to make big business
The wine trellises fill the fertile valley floor of Rotaliana. It is often described as the most beautiful wine garden in Europe. Striking for its modernity in this region of Trentino, northern Italy, rich with Roman ruins and medieval buildings, is a steel-enmeshed three story office block with a low-lying grass roofed tasting building. This […]
Micro-loans help recovery in Uganda
Uganda may be referred to by travel agents as the Pearl of Africa but twenty one years of civil war has done little to enhance the living conditions of Ugandans. This is particularly obvious in the country’s north where 1.9 million people were displaced beginning with dictator Idi Amins atrocities followed by a series of […]