Youth Realities & Responses

COOPERATIVES REFERENCED

RAISON D’ETRE 

Just as Arizmendiarrieta made education central to Mondragon, the practice of incorporating education into the everyday function of the cooperative was a resoundingly common practice among the coopyouth interviewed. Some of the strategies leveraged among the cooperatives evolved from an intentional and explicit design, while others employ strategies that are more organic and intuitive expressions of the culture of their cooperative.

General Assembly As Education & Communication

Vio.me (Worker, Greece), which runs daily General Assemblies, conceives of that space not just as a place of governance or operational coordination, but also as a place where education and information are readily shared. In practice, this can look like a worker sharing with others about aspects of their tasks with which the others are not familiar, an individual relating an issue impacting the broader community, a group discussion about a potential opportunty, or other forms of passive education and information sharing. In this way, the cooperative does not silo its activities into tidy categories such as governance, operations, training, and more. This can be incredibly efficient, as these activities consistently vary in the amount of time and focus they require. Instead, the cooperative convenes at least one a day to give space for every activity of their cooperative to occur, as needed. These General Assemblies serve to educate members in all aspects of the cooperative's function, informally cross-train workers in other tasks, and cultivate a culture of consistent and accountable communication. 

Education As Work

The role descriptions for all workers of Knowledge Worker (Worker, Denmark) include participation in regularly scheduled skillshares between all members. In the course of the skillshares, each member must present or teach about a topic of interest to them, which can but does not have to be related to their current work projects. Additionally, each worker is encouraged to spend one day per work week purely on educating themselves generally and for their work projects. This measure does not go so far as to directly compensate workers for the time they spend self-educating, as workers earn money on a project completion basis; however, it serves the twofold purpose to incorporate education into the cooperative’s cultural norms, as well as begin to blur the lines between professional and personal development. This reflects the cooperative concepts of “work” and “education” as defined by Father Arizmendiarrieta, outlined in the definitions section of “Words Mean Things." It is important to note that this process of blurring professional and personal can also be seen within anti-cooperative businesses (e.g. gig economy enterprises - "work from your own car!"); however, the motivations and impacts are quite the opposite as when this happens cooperatively. In profit-motivated businesses, one’s work life begins to creep into their personal life, even to the point of exploitation - having to pay for some of their basic working infrastructure (e.g. maintaining personal vehicle for use as an Uber, home office set-up) that has historically been the financial and administrative burden of such things. Within Knowledge Worker, the work and study of personal development is, instead, invited into and supported by the workplace, without impacting homelife, personal time, or costing the member anything.

Education Sustains

Albanyan (User, Nigeria), a savings and credit cooperative, considers education to be the most fundamental purpose of their cooperative work that persists no matter the circumstances. At the time of their interview for this toolkit, the cooperative did not have sufficient capital with which to operate and, accordingly, largely had no adminstrative tasks or organizational responsibilities. However, they were continuing to gather weekly to learn from one another, as well as from an elder mentor in their community. Some definitions of cooperative enterprise prevalent today that tie cooperativism solely to fiscal exchange preclude Albanyan from being a cooperative since it is not actively "conducting business;" however, within the coopyouth perspective on cooperation, their cooperative is legitimate and they are continuing to cooperate. Those limiting definitions of cooperativism that preclude Albanyan and many other cooperatives do so by subscribing to a "business ontology," an element of "capitalist realism" outlined in both the "Isms" section and "Dirty Words" section of the glossary.

UN/LEARNING 

Maintaining an environment in which both the processes of learning and unlearning are supported for individuals and the cooperative, as a collective, has been approached by coopyouth in a variety of ways ranging from collective mentality to codified structures or processes. Within Sheffield Student Housing Cooperative (User, UK), there is an explicit understanding that all roles are skill building positions and that the cooperative should expect to be constantly educating its members at all times. This educational culture is ensured by a principle that members are to be empowered into certain positions not because they possess the most relevant skills or experience, but almost the opposite - the most qualified person is the one who would most like to learn how to do the work. This is entirely counter to how capitalist enterprises conduct their hiring or work distribution, as well as to how many organizations - conventional and cooperative, alike - conceive of leadership roles determined by election that position existing expertise as qualifications for leadership. SSHC, at the time of interview, was a very small cooperative of four members living together everyday. This is important to note as the size and intimacy level of the cooperative is especially conducive to the safe environment such a leadership model requires to be successful, while larger and/or less intimate cooperatives may require additional and/or more formal measures to achieve the same successfully cooperative and education promoting culture.

Protected Environment

Green Campus Cooperative (MSC, Canada) is a much larger cooperative than SSHC, but also perceives their leadership roles - specifically those held by university students - to be educational experiences aimed at building skills rather than leveraging them. The stated purpose of the cooperative is, first and foremost, education, which they note facilitates a “protected” environment in which people can feel more liberated - e.g. able to make mistakes - in their learning processes, rather than having members fear that their lack of expertise could lead them to endanger a financial bottomline. While the cooperative does have a financial bottomline to maintain, given the purpose of the organization, the fiscal functions of the cooperative are subordinate to the educational ones. This feeling of safety is certainly not possible for all cooperatives, as GCC has a degree of institutional support from their host university they can rely on in the instance of difficulties. Additionally, if the fiscal functions of the cooperative were to cease, the associated university courses on cooperativism would still persist. That said, capitalist culture has subverted the value of people and the self worth of individuals in such an extreme way, that every cooperative has the responsibility to reassert the importance of the individual as tantamount to financial priorities. Doing so not only does this reset values harmful to the survival of humanity, but it is a requisite for learning in a cooperative for a person to consider personal and relational development as more important than money. While some might dismiss such a sentiment as overly idealistic, it is an ideal towards which cooperativism strives using pragmatic steps.

“On The Job” Training

Similar to the compartmentalization of learning solely to educational institutions above, many conventional forms of education consider learning to be a passive rather than active activity or focus on *observing* rather than *doing.* Observational learning has a time and place, and can be effective in disseminating information, but it is not as empowering as an educational experience that allows a person to enact and practice what they are learning. The Youth Cooperative Hub (MSC, South Africa) essentially runs their organization as a large educational program through which members can get “on the job” training. While this may sound similar to conventional unpaid internships that are highly exploitative, the distinction lies in that the members are working within their own cooperative that they control and from which they benefit. Further, conventional unpaid internships are frequently framed as experiences that can help a young person get a theoretical job on the open market, while the interning experiences provided by YCH for themselves is, instead, a guarantee in advancement in their leadership and role within the cooperative. Those working as interns become sufficiently confident and equipped with the skills needed to take on administrative and governance leadership roles within the cooperative with ease.

Buddy Training

Within Woodcraft Folk (MSC, UK), which works to educate both children and youth in cooperativism, they utilize a buddy system approach to training members on how to fulfill different roles and complete tasks within the organization. Often, an older member works with a younger member to explain to them how things work within the cooperative, which allows for a more intimate experience of education in which a person is likely to feel more comfortable asking questions or trying to do things for the first time. This training system also strengthens the culture or the cooperative by fostering intergenerational relationships within the group that might not otherwise have developed.

Cross-Training

Red Root (Worker, Philippines) has taken a pragmatic step towards subverting their financial bottomline to the development of their members, and has also arguably increased their financial viability over time through the practice of cross-training, a different spin on buddy training. Within conventional enterprises, job titles and descriptions are often relatively static - individuals are hired into single positions with set responsibilities. One such reason for this strategy is the cost theoretically associated with training workers in new areas of work. In such instances, an “expert” paradigm is invoked in which “vertical” advancement (e.g. similar work with more liability, such as a larger budget or number of subordinates) is most often the sole form of accessible professional development and through which you become an expert in a single area of work. This is reinforced in most conventional educational institutions, that typically require individuals to specialize in a field as they advance in their studies, thereby often dedicating a great deal of time and money to a single societal function. A rejection of the expert paradigm does not negate the need for specialization in certain fields or tasks, rather there are opportunities for cross-training at all levels of training and expertise. Red Root has their members train in any position, from facilitating meetings to operating a camera, which they report is one of the biggest draws for new members to join. In the creative, multi-media industry in which Red Root works, they report this is a highly unusual practice and very valuable to their members - training in using special technology or highly specialized skilllsets often otherwise requires costly and time-consuming training at formal institutions. In doing so, Red Root provides its members training for which they would otherwise have to pay. An investment into learning a trade or technology when you’re not sure yet if you will truly enjoy or be successful in it is risky for those who are able, and impossible for many without sufficient resources. In a cross-training cooperative enterprise, you can train “laterally” and learn how to fulfill any function in an organization or project. This allows people to discover skills and identify what kind of work they enjoy most. It keeps work dynamic and engaging, by essentially intersplicing “work” with “study,” which disrupts the notion that someone goes to school in order to work a job for the rest of their lives and reinforces that existence is a fulfilling process of constant development and learning. “Work and study must go hand in hand. We must never disregard the possibilities of those who work, nor underestimate work options for those who stall out in their studies, or grow tired of them. If we want our communities to be seamless, we must provide equality of opportunity continuously throughout life” (Arizmendiarrieta, 1999, 50). Additionally, Red Root is then a much more nimble and adaptive cooperative, in that they have any number of members equipped to fulfill whatever needs arise, rather than having to refuse opportunities or delay projects in order to wait for a properly trained member to have the time to dedicate to a project.

Unlearning Capitalism to Imagine Beyond It

Another aspect of unlearning, called for by coopyouth in two statements (2014, 2015), involves the expulsion of “banking education” from our cooperative spaces. This form of education is called “banking,” because it envisions knowledge as something that is deposited unilaterally by another person with more value than the student - rather than as a shared, equitable process of critical discovery. Coopyouth compel the Cooperative Movement to utilize participatory education styles that reflect, in themselves, the values of cooperation. While there are different participatory education traditions and practices across cultures, Popular Education is a tradition from Brazil that embodies cooperativism.

• Flout Capitalist Logic: The bulk of the unlearning that takes place in cooperatives has to do with the “soft skills” discussed below, however, one of the strategies for bringing people along in the unlearning process within and beyond your cooperative enterprise is living by example. Vio.me, a manufacturer of ecologically friendly cleaning products, does educational outreach in the local community that empowers people to make themselves the very products they are selling, so they do not have to buy them. This flies in the face of conventional, capitalist logic to the point it might seem absurd, even in the eyes of cooperators. However, it is, rather, a full expression of the Cooperative Identity in an enterprise as it makes clear that Vio.me does not exist to be a business and make money, but to serve the community and make the world a better and more cooperative place. 

HOMO COOPERATIVUS 

Teaching people how to be self-sufficient and able to exist in good relationship is fundamental within cooperative education, and, from the perspective of Repaired Nations (MSC, USA), teaching emotional and relational skills is akin to the raison d’etre for their cooperative as they are endeavoring repair the harms of systemic oppression and trauma that ultimately impacts one’s sense of self and their connection or lack thereof to broader community.

Communication is Key

A base element of self-sufficiency and equitable relationships is the ability to communicate. Specifically, communicating needs and desires in a way that is compassionate, transparent, and not harmful to any involved person. Many interpersonal conflicts arise from communication challenges - misunderstandings due to word choice, assuming understanding when it was not achieved, or even assuming communication is not necessary. Communication challenges such as those become compounded when they take place across cultural or experiential differences, which can functionally amount to people speaking different dialects of the same language that requires some level or translation or mediation. To this end, Gencisi (Worker, Turkey) regularly engages its members in NonViolent Communication training, which effectively helps the group to harmonize their various communication styles by providing them shared standards or tools to aid communication across differences. Given that every cooperative has its own unique culture, creatED by those within it through the process of relating to one another, ensuring that members share a culture of communication is imperative to support the group’s function.

Emotions & Relationships

Managing one’s emotions and responses to events and people is a non-linear and lifelong learning process. Learning emotional regulation is often rooted more in experimental trial and error than theory, in other words, it is something that is learned by doing rather than reading in a book. Cooperatives, which seek to facilitate strong relationships capable of conflict resolution and repair, are ideal places in which this kind of personal learning can take place in partnership with others. Further, cooperatives in which individual members effectively manage their emotions well in the face of stress and trauma are much more resilient in the face of organizational change or challenge. However, given that this kind of personal development is often considered “private,” there are not many models for how to collectively nurture one another’s self growth. Master Minds (Producer, Botswana) takes a very direct approach to addressing individual emotional and relational health in their cooperative by engaging its membership in a training on group dynamics once every three months. The cooperative holds the training on a regular schedule because they recognize how connected it is to the overall health of their cooperative. Additionally, regularly scheduled support responds well to the fact that neither self growth nor conflicts occur in a linear way that ultimately achieves some sort of completion, meaning that the support needs of the cooperative and individual members change from month to month.

Education, Not Mediation

Red Root (Worker, Philippines) takes a similar approach by identifying areas of their cooperative work together that are generating or tend to generate conflict and relational challenges (e.g. decision-making), which they then prioritize for general training of all members. This positions the cooperative to address any existing or potential issues within their group as a shared educational need rather than as an interpersonal conflict that is the responsibility of just those individuals involved. Red Root uses this tactic in order to avoid personalizing issues and thereby potentially provoking stressful emotional responses from individuals. For them, this does not mean ignoring or papering over interpersonal dynamics, instead, they find that they are more effective in moving through conflicts and, over time, become more resilient to challenges when conflict is viewed as a community issue for which education is a form of care.

EDUCATION AS SOLIDARITY & CARE 

A particularly poignant reflection on education as solidarity and care came from Woodcraft Folk (MSC, UK), which shared that they view their cooperative programs serving children to be their main contribution to efforts at broad-scale social transformation. More specifically, they believe that, in educating very young people in the values of cooperativism, or - in how to be a homo cooperativus, they are helping to build a world free of coercion and oppression by teaching each young person how to be a cooperative individual and have cooperative relationships for the rest of their lifetime, which extends far beyond their participation in any single cooperative.

Care for the Ecosystem of Impact

Ventanilla (Worker, Mexico) considers educating others about their cooperative and the ecological restoration work to be an inherent responsibility, as well as an expression of both the Fifth “Education, Training, and Information” and Seventh “Care for Community” Principles. They do so by inviting outside researchers and students to visit them in order to work with them and learn firsthand how and why they do what they do - restore and sustain ecosystems that sustain the human, animal, and plant life in their community. By teaching people from around the world how to heal the relationship humans have with and within their natural environments, Ventanilla is essentially teaching people what cooperativism looks like beyond human relationships and social systems. The extension of cooperativism into human relationships with flora and fauna is often under considered within cooperative practice, to the point that cooperativists in the Americas once called on the International Cooperative Alliance to specifically name and define the cooperative obligation to practice environmental sustainability within the Cooperative Identity.

Movement Building

The CRJ (Network, Americas) began creating outward facing education programs in the form of twenty minute interviews with cooperators they then posted publicly on the internet, as both a means to educate existing coopyouth and young people, in general, as to the work of cooperativists in the region. The intergenerational cooperative movement in the Americas recognized the value in the CRJ’s education program, and connected with the CRJ and worked with them to expand the successful interview series. Now the efforts of the CRJ to build and strengthen the Cooperative Movement in the region are likely to be even more successful.