Events

Future Co-ops, Oxford, 10-11th Feb "From crisis to co-op"

Takes place in Oxford, attended by a hole range of cooperators For more info

“WE OFTEN SAY CO-OPS ARE THE SOLUTION, BUT ARE THEY? HOW CAN WE TRANSLATE THE RHETORIC INTO ACTION AND SUPPORT PEOPLE FACING A DESPERATE CHOICE BETWEEN ‘HEAT OR EAT’?”

They also have bursary’s for people under 30 who haven’t been before.

SEA has just launched a fundraiser. Chip in you like our work, or just want to do some guilt free, co-op supporting Christmas shopping!

We need your help! We are trying to raise some funds to maintain our work through 2023, to strengthen and build the solidarity economy as an alternative to capitalism, and play a role in building an ecologically sustainable, resilient and socially just economic system from below.

What do we need? Solidarity Economy Association (who run the cooperation in Mesopotamia project) have a shortfall of £18,000 for the first part of 2023 which we need to contribute towards the salaries of our three dedicated, part-time staff (based in England, Wales and Scotland), so we can keep running and delivering our current amazing projects and identifying new opportunities to keep building the solidarity economy.Rewards!

We also have some great rewards donated by from coops and supporters from all around the word, so you can help build the solidarity economy and find some beautiful gifts for loved ones (or yourself!).

You can find the campaign page here https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/solidarity-economy-from-below#start

Please donate what you can and share the link with your friends, family and co-workers.

No amount is too small, and we’re offering rewards for donations, from Janet Biehl, Dog Section Press, Rojava Cooperatives, Maxine Peake, the Zapatistas and many many more! 

Donate in the first week of the campaign and we’ll send your reward in time for Christmas. (Sadly we can only post physical rewards to UK addresses.)   

Thank you!

In solidarity, 

The SEA Ops Team

Practitioners Forum - the co-op essentials training event in one hit - has co-op membership expert, Sue Froggatt, conducting TWO mighty sessions this year. If you're a fairly new member to Co-operatives UK (past 18 months or so) you'll qualify for bursary places too. Where else can you get essential co-op training on HR, membership, finance and governance under one roof, in one day, for the price? See more here https://www.uk.coop/events-and-training/events-calendar/practitioners-forum-2022-book-your-place

Come to the annual 'Ways Forward for the Co-op Movement' conference in a couple of weeks:

Book soon! Share ideas and learn about projects from speakers like

• Chris Saltmarsh, Author of “Burnt: Fighting for Climate Justice’ (Pluto Press), Co-founder of Labour for a Green New Deal,

• The Kindling Trust working with Unicorn Grocery

• Molly Scott Cato, professor of Green Economics

• The Larder, Preston

• Tipping Point

• Edinburgh Student Housing Co-op

• Kate Whittle of the Worker Co-ops Anti-Racism working group

• Steve Graby, researching disabled people's involvement in UK co-ops

• Jonathan Atkinson of People-Powered Retrofit

• workers.coop - new UK federation of worker-led co-ops*

• and many more on themes of housing, economics, energy and social change

Join for food, social and Open Mic on Thursday evening - Open Mic slots still available and tickets can be bought separately if you just wanna hang out or can't make the daytimes, see attached flyer.

Stalls and bursaries are available and volunteers are still needed.

Stick around afterwards for the North England/North Wales regional workers.coop get together.

For anyone going to the Green Gathering this week 4-7Aug: the Radical Routes/A Commune in the North stall n the campaigns area will be running 'speed dating' networking sessions for any co-operators around

Another plug for our Sociocracy in Co-ops Annual Conference on Thursday 23rd June. We're very excited to be joined by Jessica Gordon Nembhard who will be running a session on Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Justice in co-ops. Tickets and full session details here

Co-operatives UK is hosting a Youth Summit on the 11th July in Manchester. Free to attend and aimed at 16-25's looking to join a movement that empowers people and gives a voice to all. There will be a session on www.ycn.coop which SF supported as well (how to link the two initiatives together) So if your under 25 take a look.

https://www.uk.coop/events-and-training/national-youth-summit

I'm part of the international Sociocracy for All's Co-op Circle and we are very excited to announce SoFA’s second annual Sociocracy in Cooperatives international conference. Building on the success of last year, we look forward to welcoming you to an interactive programme of inspiring workshops. 

This year we’ll be exploring implementations in worker and multi-stakeholder co-ops, reviewing the progress made in aligning sociocracy with UK cooperative legal structures, and making space to co-design a new community of practice for co-operators implementing sociocracy in their co-ops .

Our overarching theme is Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

This conference is for everyone enthusiastic about co-ops and/or sociocracy. Please join us for an accessible introduction to, and interactive exploration of, the current and future theory and practice of sociocratic governance in cooperatives.

Book here: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/sociocracy-in-cooperatives-conference-2022/

Another worker co-op conference?!?

May 21st/22nd, at Wortley Hall, near Sheffield. Conference about co-ops working with trade unions

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decent-work-may-20th21st-2022-tickets-149918110103

Come and join the 15-min online 'Ted-type' talk from our Ideas Generator platform on Wed 27 April 3:30pm. Hear from platform co-op, We Guild, which aims to make the culture of 'chipping in for each other' as easy as buying a round of drinks (with no charity in sight). Could the tech work in your co-op? Click the link to register your interest to attend; https://www.uk.coop/events-and-training/events-calendar/co-op-connections-ideas-generator-27apr22 Idea Generator talks are about the strength of the idea rather than the speaker - they're also sent as audition tapes to TedTalks. If you have a talk idea email it to [email protected] and you might just end up on the real thing.

Sociocracy in Co-operatives - second annual conference

Call for workshop proposals is live for our second annual Sociocracy in Co-operatives on-line conference. 23rd June 2022

We're looking for 45 and 90 minute sessions suitable for the following formats:

1. Learn – introductory training sessions (interactive, practical) focusing on particular sociocratic (or complementary) tools or skills (suitable for beginners)

2. Showcase – Adventures in Sociocracy, showcase your co-op’s implementation (suitable for any level of familiarity with sociocracy)

3. Topic Talks – Exploring issues in sociocracy in co-ops, particularly any exploration of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (Intermediate – assumes familiarity with sociocracy and co-ops)

https://www.sociocracyforall.org/sociocracy-in-cooperatives-conference-2022/

Ideas that sparkle, spark discussion, spark interest Graham!

"all about the strength of the idea, not the speaker" + "two sparkling 15 minute talks" = contradiction.

Our Co-op Connections Ideas Generator is happening this year. This is all about a resource, an idea, a practice you've seen or some research worth spreading among our lively co-op community. We're looking for strong but simple co-op-related ideas worth a share. It's all about the strength of the idea, and not the speaker, so if you have something up your co-op sleeve, let's hear it. Use the chat on the day to gauge its spreadability! 😀 We're looking for two SPARKLING 🌠 15-min talks with two slots available on Wed 30 Mar and 27 Apr 3:30pm. Keen to share, or want to know more, email me at [email protected]

Global Forum on Democratising Work

Guessing many people have heard about this, but just in case...

https://democratizingwork.org/global-forum

People Support Co-op are hosting a series of one hour taster events online.

Please join us for:

• An Introduction to Sociocracy, Monday 19th July 1-2pm

• Introduction to Consent Decision Making, Monday 13th September 1-2pm

• Introduction to Talking about Power Dynamics at Work, Monday 18th Oct 1-2pm

• Co-creating Proposals in Groups, Monday 15th November 1-2pm

Our first session is a one-hour introduction to sociocracy. Come along to learn more about sociocratic governance and the benefits it could offer to your co-op.  We’ll cover:

• What is sociocracy? A very brief history

• The four main elements of sociocratic governance

• Benefits of sociocracy - including better meetings and clearer decision making

• How to get started

Each session costs just £30 per person (£20 low income). More details and booking info on our website: https://peoplesupport.coop/events/

union-coops:uk are working to bring the common interests of worker co-operators and trade unionists together to create decent work.

Read our Manifesto here https://union-coops.uk/a-manifesto-for-decent-work/

Our first Conference will be on Oct 1st/2nd at Wortley Hall, itself a worker co-op, and bookings are open for day delegates or the full 24 hour package. Early bird prices finish on June 30th. Full details here https://union-coops.uk/conference-21/

We have a small number of bursary places available for individuals under 30 who are unwaged or in insecure low paid employment thanks to sponsorship from Co-operative Ways Forward. Applications for bursary places must be completed by July 31st. Apply here https://union-coops.uk/bursaries-2/

CECOP Mutual Learning Session on Cooperatives' Social Impact Measurement - 14 July from 10:00 to 12:00 (Brussels time), online. Link to register

The session will be based on the toolkit that was published last year., Measuring Social Impact of Industrial and Services cooperatives in Europe 
During the session our members from Italy, Spain, and Poland will be able to share their experiences on the topic . During the discussion we will answer questions such as: What is cooperative social impact? And why is it important? Participants will also be able to learn and exchanges on the challenges and opportunities related to the use and application of measurement tools.
 
All members that are interested on the topic are welcome to join, as well as those members who are approaching the topic for the first time. 

Participants are welcome to contribute to the discussion. During the meeting we will provide an interactive tool to do so, and via the registration form it is already possible to ask the speakers your questions in advance.

The meeting will take place in English, but we can provide interpretation on demand. For this or any additional question, do not hesitate to email [email protected].

People Support Co-op Launch Event - Wednesday 23rd June, 1-2pm (zoom)

Register here.

Earlier this year we created a new sociocratic workers’ co-op called People Support. Our purpose is to provide a broad range of advice and support services around human relationships in the workplace and to support the co-operative movement in its role as a key player of economic and social change.

We are currently three founder member directors, all graduates of the first Barefoot Co-op and Community Business Development training programme and between us bringing 30 years of experience in the co-op sector. We are all women based in the North West of England, although we offer services nationally. We can provide hands-on support for your HR function as well as around governance and workplace culture.

We’re officially launching our services during Co-ops Fortnight and we’d like to invite you to  join us for our lunchtime event which will take place live on Zoom, 1-2pm GMT on Wednesday 23rd June. The event will provide the chance for you to hear a little more about us and for us to answer some of your HR and governance related questions.

We’re delighted to be joined by Nathan Brown and Mark Simmonds from Co-op Culture and by Kate Whittle from Cooperantics who will co-host the event with us. They will also be able to tell you a little about the Barefoot Co-op and Community Development training programme from which we recently graduated.

As a big thank you for supporting us we’re offering a 10% discount on our workshops and selected services to anyone who comes along to our launch.

To register for the event, just click here. You’ll have the option to submit a question to us when you register and if we don’t get a chance to answer it during the event, we’ll be in touch afterwards to help out. 

If you can’t make it to our launch event and you’re interested in hearing more about our services, please contact us at [email protected]

MAIS (Mutual Aid in Sussex) is trying to re-establish itself and has just oganised this free event on Care Coops, online on the 10th June - https://maisnetwork.net/

Come along, tell other folk ... and if any one wants to help regrow MAIS it could do with more engagement as myself and other core-members are standing down for various reasons...

Just did our quarterly 'How to Set Up a Workers Co-op' session at the Rad Routes intro weekend. This is what we got from it :-)

Here at the Institute for Solidarity Economics we would like to start a UK network of Solidarity Economy (SE) organisations and initiatives. We’re having an open meeting on 13th April here in Oxford to talk about the first steps. The meeting would be between 12am - 5pm at our office in the Old Music Hall, 106-108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JE.

The meeting is for people who are already proponents of the SE, and have a desire and the time to help shape and build the UK network. If you’d like more information on the SE or our organisation, please visit www.solidarityeconomics.org and www.socioeco.org

The kinds of questions we’d like to discuss are…

1) What already exists?
2) What would be the benefits of such a network?
3) What forms could such a network possibly take, and how should we go about building it?
4) Would having an open gathering for SE organisations later in the year help towards this goal? And if so what form would that gathering take?
5) What can you contribute to this effort?

If you are interested please email [email protected] or preferably make the conversation public at our forum, http://solidarityeconomics.org/forums/topic/initial-network-meeting-march-2016/ before the 4th April.

For clarity this Loomio group is for folk interested in influencing the Institute for Solidarity Economics, whereas the website forum linked to above is a more open platform to discuss a broader network for the whole SE movement as well as to provide feedback on our website.

In Solidarity, ISE

P.S. Please pass this invite to any individual or group you think might be interested in attending.

Worker Co-operative Weekend, 6-8 May 2016 in Staffordshire. Most important event in the UK worker co-o calendar - low cost, high participation, and will be making plans for SolidFund among many other things - booking at http://www.uk.coop/wcw2016

Community Shares Conference - April 7 Brighton
Registration is free. Speakers include Peter Couchman and Dave Boyle. There'll also be time to network over a spot of lunch.
https://bit.ly/1M48VWZ

Principle Six business-gettingg and education event in London, November 19th - http://bit.ly/1RCNDTw

Workers Co-op get together in Leeds tomorrow (Tue 3rd Nov 2015) at Wharf Chambers, following the Workers Co-op Council meeting in the afternoon.

Food and gossip from 5pm
www.wharfchambers.org