cecop-cicopa

Better Jobs and Better Future: What cooperatives can do for young people?

February 2019

In the context of job insecurity and precariousness particularly among young people, cooperatives can be a solution to provide secure and valuable employment.

According to CECOP-CICOPA Europe, a cooperative is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise". The values are solidarity, self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity. Guidelines of cooperatives are based on 7 key principles:

  1. Voluntary and open membership
  2. Democratic member control (1 person = 1 vote)
  3. Member economic participation
  4. Autonomy and independence
  5. Education, training and information
  6. Cooperation within and among cooperatives
  7. Concern for Community

CECOP-CICOPA Europe promotes the integration of young people in cooperatives. For the excluded young people, cooperatives provide inclusion, autonomy and support to achieve common goals. They also support young entrepreneurs who lack financial resources to implement their project.

CECOP-CICOPA Europe gives a voice directly to young people in three videos showing that cooperatives provide youth with entrepreneurial opportunities across European Union.

See the videos: "Better Jobs and Better Future: What cooperatives can do for young people?"