Last May, Robin Puga, BCICS Technology Director and co-editor of Youth Reinventing Co-operatives, attended the 4th Annual Building Co-operative Futures Youth Conference in Manchester and Rochdale, England. This year’s theme for the conference was: Can Co-ops Save the World? Over 100 young people from 10 countries attended the event. The participants represented a diverse array of experiences, co-op backgrounds and cultures. They met to share experiences and to find ways to more effectively use the co-operative model.

During the conference, participants visited the Rochdale Pioneers Museum at Toad Lane in Rochdale, widely regarded as the home of the co-operative movement. Rochdale is a suburb of Manchester where the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers’ Society formed in 1844 amid the class struggles of the Industrial Revolution. “I found it a very humbling experience visiting Toad Lane,” reported Robin. “The store was way smaller than I had imagined. It all started right there in this tiny store with a plank for a table.”

As part of the True Stories presentation series, Robin relayed his experiences working with the BCICS, spoke about producing the Youth Reinventing Co-operatives publication, and discussed the development of the Youth resources for the Co-operative Learning Centre project. Robin was also gathering support, resources and stories for another edition of the Youth Reinventing Co-operatives book to be published in 2007, in time for the next Youth conference.

The annual conference began at the BCICS in 2003 and from there was held in Alberta and Saskatchewan before heading across the Atlantic to be hosted by the The Co-operative College in the UK. Next year’s conference is to be held in Ontario. Visit the Youth Co-op Zone website (bcics.uvic.ca/youthzone) in the next few months for information on next year’s conference.

Adam Harrison, Anthill Contributor