Blogger > Jennifer Neutel

With 2012 being the UN-declared International Year of Co-operatives (IYC) Axiom News has been continuing our commitment to the movement through sharing stories highlighting the unique and real contributions the co-op model makes to society.

I had the opportunity to attend the Jan. 12 Canadian IYC launch events in Calgary, thanks to an invitation from Alberta co-ordinator Sarah Arthurs. The events were at the Calgary Farmers’ Market and included a morning national broadcast and evening gala.

The Calgary Farmers’ Market was an apt location for the event. It’s obviously rooted in local — with more than 80 vendors selling fresh local produce, arts, crafts and more — and is itself a co-operative.

It was neat to observe people who usually come to the market for a morning coffee or breakfast notice the area that was set up for the IYC launch, with the large cameras ready to take part in the national webcast. I overhead some ask one another what’s going on.

From those local bystanders, who may have learned a bit more about co-operatives that day to the larger public, it is clear that people in the movement want to share their stories and spread the word.

Sarah remarked at the morning event the theme that keeps coming up is “this is our year to turn a secret into stories.”

We agree wholeheartedly.

At the Calgary launch, every participant received a small red box and a piece of paper with three questions on it.

The red box symbolizes the box in the official IYC logo. Sarah said the box is like the gift co-operatives have been given from the United Nations this year, and “what we do with this year is up to us.” She encouraged people to answer these three questions, put that in the box and put it on their desk as a reminder and add to it throughout the year.

The three questions:

1- What have been the gifts of co-ops to you and your community?

2- What are the current gifts that co-ops could have for your community and Alberta? Are there needs or opportunities in your community that might be a good fit for the co-op model?

3- During the International Year of Co-operatives how would you like to participate in the co-operative community?

These are awesome questions, and ones we may borrow in our interviews throughout the year. If you’re in the movement consider writing down your own answers, and sharing the answers with someone else.

Axiom News will continue sharing stories, and encourage other media to come along as well. For our part, we’re most excited about the idea of working with co-ops to co-create communications and ensure their stories are shared. For more on this, check out this recent editorial.