With the aim of providing a forum to share the knowledge and experiences among cooperatives, the event brought together more than 100 cooperatives and apex organizations operating in a range of sectors such as agriculture, artisanal production, food, logistics, insurance and finance. At the opening speech, Minister of Customs and Trade Bakan Tüfenkçi emphasized that cooperatives can be key to local development through creating and spreading capital base (Details of the opening speech are available here in Turkish).
The following six panels were organized to discuss each specific topic in depth:
The ILO’s presentation shed light upon the global good practices of cooperatives providing social care services to disadvantaged communities including informal workers, domestic workers and waste pickers. Guiseppe Guerini, President of CECOP presented a broad overview of legal and institutional aspects of social cooperatives in Europe and Italy and the Legacoop representative Carlo Francesco Salmaso provided a practical insight into the Italian experience focusing on a specific case of the provision of the shelter for homeless people.
Mehmet Kuzu from Youth Deal Cooperative elaborated on the role of youth-led cooperatives in improving youth’s access to decent work and preventing labour emigration. Levent Kahraman from Another School is Possible Association, coordinating body of nine education cooperatives across the country, explained key strengths of their cooperative alternative in Turkey’s education sector which is currently dominated by public and for-profit private actors. Gujan Şen, founding member of Map of Needs Cooperative, presented their globally unique cooperative experience featuring a nation-wide online sharing platform.
This first formal gathering on social cooperatives coincided with the country’s efforts for consultation, legislation and promotion of social cooperatives, which remains a strategic priority as emphasized by the Director-General of Cooperatives.
