The BCCA Co-op Meetups strive to be an opportunity and platform for co-ops to come together and share their knowledge and insight with each other, spark new ideas, and help each other grow and flourish.
This week, we had the opportunity to engage in an international conversation with the Alberta Community & Co-operative Association (ACCA) and the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) to share best practices and tactical approaches to co-operative education, member engagement and development, how to tailor co-op education to your individual co-op’s needs and membership, and more. There was also open discussion about what kinds of member engagement challenges past or present, were encountered, what initiatives have been launched to address these challenges, and how well they have been received. It was very inspiring to hear about how our friends in Alberta and Ireland are using co-op education to invest in and engage with younger demographics to develop future co-operative leaders (ex. Plunkett Institute, Canada’s Emerging Co-operators) to create a resilient and adaptable co-operative organization and co-operative sector as a whole.