Dame Pauline Green, former president of the International Co-operative Alliance is heading a Strategic Reference Panel which includes people from the co-operative development industry, as well as representatives from new sectors of the co-operative economy, reports Anca Voinea.
“What we are trying to do is bring this fresh thinking to the new sectors. This is the way we have to go if we are going to develop something that is going to go forward – not look back to the past, but learn from the past and drive the new industries that are growing and which some of the new people on our panel are certainly very much familiar with,” Dame Pauline said.
Earlier this year Co-operatives UK has set up a Strategic Reference Panel. Introducing the strategy at the annual Co-operative Congress, Ed Mayo, secretary general of Co-operatives UK said the event intended to help form and shape this national strategy.
“It is not something for somebody else to do, it is not something that is a prescription for those in power to do, it is not something that is a call for funding from those who have got more money to those who have got less, but it is an attempt to try and create something that aligns efforts across the movement to take us forward,” he said.
During sessions at Congress, delegates explored three themes: co-operative excellence; co-operation among co-operatives; and innovation.