The RED Learning Coop: Research, Education and Development for Social Change, round table discussion on Cooperation and Community Activism Friday 3rd July 2020, 10.30am-12pm on Zoom To coincide with the International Day of Cooperatives on 4th July, The RED Learning Coop are hosting a round table discussion on the relevance of cooperation during uncertain times. The aim of the round table is to discuss and debate whether cooperative values and behaviour could change our practise for the better. Participants will be from a wide range of groups: for example, trade unions, social enterprises, community associations and cooperatives. The aim of the session is to informally share our experiences of how our own work and practice as community activists and educators reflects the internationally agreed co-operative values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. For more on these and the principles, please visit https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity We want to explore how co-operative values and behaviour could change our practise for the better. Co-operative values are similar to those held by trade unions and in the UK, the 7 Principles of Public Life, the Nolan Principles.
Our Panel Sharon Clancy Sharon is Assistant Professor in educational leadership at the University of Nottingham. Her writing focuses on adult education, class, culture and social justice issues. Sharon was Head of Community Engagement at the University of Nottingham between 2007 and 2013 and CEO of Mansfield Council for Voluntary Services between 2000 and 2007. Sharon is currently Chair of the Raymond Williams Foundation and a trustee of the Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community sector (ARVAC).
Chris Musgrave Chris Musgrave is General Secretary and founding member of the UK's newest union - the Union Workers' Union (UWU). The UWU was established in March 2019 and elected its first General Secretary in September 2019. Chris has 15 years’ experience as a trade union member, activist and full-time official. Chris has worked across both the public, private, and third sectors. Chris is a passionate supporter of the principles of cooperation and keen to build closer links between the cooperative and trade union movements in the UK
Nigel Carter Nigel Carter is a Community Activist currently based in Oxford, who has worked in Community Development in Nottingham, London, Brighton, and Cork City-Ireland. Nigel is a co-founder of Oxford Community Action a collaborative organising space and coalition of diverse new and emerging multi-ethnic community groups based in Oxford.
Sue Ledwith Sue is a member of the Coop Party, the Labour Party and co-organiser of the Oxford Democracy Café. When at Ruskin running the International Trade Union & Labour Studies MA, Sue, with TU graduate activist researchers of the Global Labour University published “Visibility & Voice for Union Women”
Nigest Haile Nigest is an activist in the promotion of women entrepreneurs, with particular focus to women exporters. She has 23 years experience working in the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry, at different capacities. In 2004, she founded the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE), a pioneer trade promotion organization working in the country, providing promotional and capacity building support service targeting women exporters
Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani Zahra is a musician, composer, and performer who has been creating music for over 15 years. She is the director of the Young Women’s Music Project (YWMP), which provides an inclusive, supportive space for young women to get together to make music, learn new skills, express themselves, and grow in confidence. They are based in Oxford, with a focus on working with young women aged 14-21 years old and community work.
Tish Gibbons From a background as a union activist and then full-time union organiser, Tish is now Head of SIPTU College, Ireland’s only trade union college. She is overseeing SIPTU College’s revitalisation and expansion of both accredited and non-accredited programmes and forging new links with other trade unions and community groups.
Jon Altuna Academic Vice-Rector at Mondragon University, In 2011, he was appointed Academic Vice-Rector of Mondragon University and he has been involved in competence based curriculum design, quality assurance, internationalisation and educational innovation, in particular in the development of the MENDEBERRI educational model. He has been a member of the governing board of the Mondragon Polytechnic School Cooperative and he is nowadays a member of the Mondragon University executive board. He is a member of the social management committee of Mondragon Cooperative Group. He works closely with different stakeholders in educational innovation and social transformation projects, both in the Basque Country and abroad.
Dr Sarah Alldred Sarah works at the Co-operative College managing a range of international cooperative development projects in Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda as well as the EU. Originally holding a BSc in Geography and a MA in Peace Studies, Sarah pursued her PhD research around post conflict reconstruction, exploring the role of the arts in post conflict reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Sarah then worked at the Foundation for Peace in the UK for 5 years, developing a victim support service, before moving to Cooperatives UK for 4 years to manage a co-operative governance training project supporting the Big Lottery funded Making Local Food Work programme.
Wisborn Malaya Wisborn Malaya is the Secretary General of Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) SINCE 2008. He has been part of Informal workers’ organisation since 2002 when he became a member of ZCIEA. He is advocating for decent standards of living for all Zimbabweans in a stable economy.