The ICA-AP Committee on Cooperatives in Educational Institutions (ICEI) held its 14th annual statutory meeting in New Delhi, India on 21 December at the headquarters of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI).
 

The Committee discussed two main agenda items – how to increase its membership and what should be the focus of Committee’s activities moving forward.  Presently, the Committee does not have a formal strategy and conducts different activities such as webinars/seminars, workshops, competitions, etc. with a prime focus to educate and spread awareness about cooperatives among youth. In 2022, ICEI conducted a webinar on ‘Making Cooperative Education Attractive for Millennials: Gaps and Opportunities’ and a roundtable conference on ‘Cooperative Identity in Practice and Way Ahead for Cooperation.’ Both activities witnessed good participation and the discussions held were rich and insightful. In this meeting, attended by members and observers from India, Malaysia, Japan, Nepal and the Philippines, it was discussed that the ICEI should continue focusing its activities on education and awareness to attract more youth to the cooperative sector. The Office Bearers emphasised on Cooperative Identity, Youth and Environment as three key focus areas for the Committee in coming years. From next year onwards, the Committee will streamline its activities focussing on these areas while continuing its efforts to increase its membership in the Asia and Pacific region.

After the statutory meeting, the participants visited the NCUI Haat, a new initiative of NCUI to promote products made by small cooperative societies across India. The participants enjoyed visiting the store and purchased many gifts and food products for their family and friends. The 15th annual statutory meeting will be held in conjunction with the ICA-AP Regional Assembly in the Philippines in November 2023.

Seminar on ‘Cooperative Business and Opportunities for Youth Entrepreneurship in Asia and Pacific’

On the 2nd day of ICEI meeting, the Committee conducted a seminar in partnership with Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), University of Delhi. SRCC is a premier institution for commerce studies in India and boasts of many distinguished alumni in the country and abroad. The college campus used to have a consumer cooperative store which has now been privatised. However, it still has a cooperative bank which is actively run by and for the faculty and management.
 

The seminar aimed to showcase the university and school cooperative models from Japan, Philippines and Malaysia to the students of SRCC and learn from them about the functioning of their cooperative bank. It was also an opportunity for the students and faculty to interact with ICEI members, some of whom are senior cooperators from India and abroad and learn more about the model in general.

NCUI’s Deputy Chief Executive, Mrs. Savitri Singh, delivered the keynote address and presented NCUI’s efforts to engage youth in the cooperative sector. She explained how NCUI can help SRCC with setting up a campus cooperative, should there be interest from the students and the management.

The seminar was attended by about 100 people comprising of students, faculty and ICEI members/observers. After the presentations made by the ICEI members, the students asked questions about different kinds of businesses that they can explore through the cooperative model, whom to approach for registration, registration process, etc. Most of these queries were address by Dr. Yashwantha Dongre, ICEI Co-Secretary and expert advisor on cooperatives from India.

As a follow-up to the seminar, the Office of International Programs, the organizing society at SRCC plans to conduct a survey with students to explore their needs and interest in cooperatives. As organisers, they have expressed interest in holding another detailed session with students in partnership with ICA-AP for the students to learn more about the cooperative model.