International Cooperative Alliance Global Conference
Kigali, Rwanda (2019)
During the Congress following the Global Conference in Kigali, the International Cooperative Alliance Board approved a resolution from the Youth Committee (formerly Global Youth Network), which was explicitly stated as building upon the work over the last decade of coopyouth organizing at the international level. In its introduction, it acknowledged the growth of the Youth Committee and, specifically, the first independent election of its President in 2017. The evolution of the Youth Committee runs somewhat parallel to transformation of ad hoc youth statements into formal governance resolutions that formally engage the intergenerational International Cooperative Alliance Board.
The resolution calls for four specific agreements and actions:
- Harmonize Regional Youth Networks/Committees - all youth networks and committees are autonomous in selecting their membership and spending their funds - they need to be respected as such in all four regions; all regions need to fill a statutory youth representative seat on their Boards with full voting rights and funded meeting participation;
- Include the CoopYouth Action Plan in the International Cooperative Alliance’s Global Strategy - approving both the action plan drafted by the Youth Committee and its accompanying budget is imperative to the movement and a small form of wealth redistribution;
- Financially Support All Youth Representatives - fully fund the travel and attendance costs for youth representatives to official International Cooperative Alliance global events, regional network, as well as an annual in-person meeting of the Youth Committee, another form of wealth redistribution; and
- Make the Youth Committee More Accessible - through the use of more inclusive communication tools and bylaws, it is possible to foster greater participation from more youth around the world
These action calls are very specific and all within the power of the International Cooperative Alliance Board and its Regions to implement. At the time of the authoring of this toolkit, the Asia-Pacific region has yet to fulfill the agreement to align their treatment of the International Cooperative Alliance A-P Cooperative Youth Committee and their youth representative with the Board approved resolution. Other aspects of the calls are yet to be fully tested, given the halting of in-person events due to the COVID pandemic. A considerable amount of trust between coopyouth and the broader movement is at stake. As time progresses, it will become known whether or not the broader movement will be truly accountable to its agreements with coopyouth or if the approval of such a resolution and its plans was only lip service.