OUR PARTNERS
CO-OPERATIVE COLLEGE
“Here at the Co-operative College, we truly believe that great things happen when people co-operate. As an educational charity we are empowering and inspiring individuals and communities to build a fairer world.
Our innovative project work has a wide reach, from international co-operative development in countries such as Malawi, Sri Lanka, Zambia and Rwanda to partnering in a range of European co-operative education programmes. We also work closer to home in the UK, supporting the regeneration of co-operative roots in Rochdale.
We believe in researching every aspect of global co-operation in order to understand the role, place and potential of co-ops in the 21st century.”
“[In the Social Haunting projects] what we have learnt is that beneath violently disrupted appearances and surfaces, people and place are haunted by (and thus conscious of) notions of collectivity, hope and agency.”
Dr Cilla Ross, Vice-Principle, The Co-operative College
Find a selection of posts from across the three social haunting projects on The Co-operative College website here
UNITE COMMUNITY
“Unite’s mission is to organise people to strive for a society that places equality, dignity and respect above all else.
Even now in the 21st century, too many people in our country are being pushed to the margins of society. They deserve to be heard; they too deserve the support to organise collectively.
Organising and activism are at the centre of strong communities, which is why Unite’s community membership provides a way people can find and use their political voice. Whether it is taking a stand against a service closure or coming together to improve your living environment, as a community member, Unite will be on your side.”
“Social Haunting has been a very popular aspect of our work over the last couple of years, and has enthused both our own activists and people in the wider community who we are seeking to engage with. It has helped Unite Community build links between our branches and regions.”
John Coan, Community Coordinator, Unite the Union, North East, Yorkshire & Humber region
WHY THESE PARTNERS?
Unite Community
Pioneering a recent move towards community trade unionism, Unite Community is part of the UK’s biggest trade union, Unite. The initiative bridges the gap between issues faced in the workplace and in neighbourhoods, towns and cities, and seeks to respond to immediate political aspects of working class precarity.
Co-operative College
Preserving the history of, but also defining contemporary co-operativism in political, educational and international development settings, The Co-operative College is rooted as much in its Pioneers of Rochdale in the 1840s, as it is in its new secondary schools.
In explaining the projects’ strong bonds with these partners, we acknowledge both their assets and knowledge, and their current experiences negotiating change in the political, economic and social contexts in which they operate. It feels particularly relevant to our work that they both explicitly look back in all their looking forward as they navigate these processes of change.