BCICS is moving forward with the exciting endeavor of hosting an international peace conference on co-operatives and the pursuit of peace. This event will take place from June 18 to 20, a few days ahead of the World Peace Forum in Vancouver.

Thirty-five participants to the invitational gathering will be coming from 12 different countries, including India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Israel, Columbia, several European countries, the US, and across Canada.

The goal of the event is to empower civil society in areas beset by conflict through the more effective and wider applications of the cooperative model. We want to explore how co-operatives can work effectively in deeply divided societies. Our objectives are: 1) To foster more informed discussions about the relationships (effective and ineffective) between co-operatives and efforts to foster peace-building internationally and within communities. 2) To identify "best practices" for improving consensus-building processes in areas of high tension and conflict in order to improve economic circumstances and impact poverty levels. 3) To examine how co-op strategies can best be employed to meet peace objectives in areas recovering from natural disasters (e.g. the experience with the Tsunami disaster in 2004).

Two significant contemporary examples of co-ops working toward peaceful outcomes in the face of adversity will be prominently featured at the workshop. The experience of co-operatives in Sri Lanka is of special interest because of the remarkable role they have played in bridging differences among Singhalese, Tamil, and Moslem communities. The other notable case is the efforts undertaken by co-operatives to overcome differences following the recent Tsunami and earthquake crises in Asia.

After the conference we will prepare an array of practical tools for co-op practitioners who live and work in areas where there is conflict. We also hope this gathering will help establish a core group of people who could provide support in conflicted areas where co-ops are present.

Joy Emmanuel