Last week was an incredibly frantic, but inspiring one. Yet despite the variety (visits to the Lake District, Oban and Co-op Congress, as well as meetings with Energy4All, Community Retailing Network and Reading University), one moment stood out.
That moment came at Co-op Congress (Co-operatives 2009 in new money). Jo White from Co-operative Futures and I were running a workshop to share the launch of the Co-operative Development Network with delegates. Rather than just launch into a stand-and-deliver lecture, we asked the audience to share in groups all the co-operative eneterprises that they'd be proud to see formed over the next ten years. It was only a warm-up activity, but the passion it unlocked was incredible. Groups filled up flipcharts with incredible ideas (many of them designed to tackle rural issues) and could have filled many more.
It showed how much could be achieved if we could line up the right resources. Jo shared the current barriers and I introduced the new network which will see a wide range of organisations committing to work together to create new co-operatives and support existing ones.
Working at the front, the energy from the audience was incredible and Plunkett looks forward to helping making some of those flipchart ideas become real.
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Peter Couchman is the Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation.
The Plunkett Foundation is the organisation which promotes and supports co-operative and social enterprises in rural communities both in the UK and internationally. It provides support, networks and knowledge which offers practical solutions for rural communities that helps to create thriving places where people live and work now and in the future.
The Plunkett Foundation is the organisation which promotes and supports co-operative and social enterprises in rural communities both in the UK and internationally. It provides support, networks and knowledge which offers practical solutions for rural communities that helps to create thriving places where people live and work now and in the future.
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Peter Couchman
About Me
- Peter Couchman
- Peter is Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, which supports rural communities to take control of the issues that matter to them, such as saving their shop or supporting local food. As part of this role, he is the Director of Making Local Food Work, the BIG Lottery funded programme. He came to the post after spending his career so far in the Co-operative Movement, where he was best known for helping to make Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-op an internationally recognised example for engaging members and marketing its co-operative identity. He also helped to create Local Harvest, Midcounties Co-op's local food sourcing scheme. He serves the Social Enterprise Coalition Council, DEFRA’s Third Sector Advisory Board and the International Co-operative Alliance’s Communications Committee. He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). He tweets @PeterCouchman
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