Cooperatives NorthWest

Conference report: Co-operative opportunities and support
The first joint conference organised by Co-operatives North West in partnership with Business Link was held last Friday, 2 July at New Century House in Manchester city centre. It included various workshops, speakers and a facilitated networking session, giving almost 50 delegates the opportunity to promote their involvement in the regional network and refer help to others. All information shared at the conference via workshops and presentations can be found here

Resources: New creative co-operatives website and guide launches
Co-operatives UK has launched a new website, www.uk.coop/creative and guide for co-operatives working in the creative industries: Co-operatives in creative industries  . The new website and guide sets out advice for established freelancers, newly self-employed people and recent graduates on setting up creative co-operatives. It contains fascinating interviews from people who already work in creative co-operatives.

International Co-operative Alliance appoints new Director General
Charles Gould has been selected to serve as the ICA’s Director-General. Mr Gould comes to ICA after serving as CEO of Volunteers of America, a Washington-based health care, housing, and human services organisation. Charles follows Iain Macdonald, who served as Director-General during the past eight years and, in anticipation of the changing economic environment, positioned the world cooperative movement to take its proper place in the global economy. 
 
The International Co-operative Alliance is an independent, non-governmental association which unites, represents and serves co-operatives worldwide, promoting co-operative enterprise as a better business model. The ICA was founded in London in 1895 and its members are national and international cooperative organisations in all sectors of economic activity. The ICA has 240 member organisations from 91 countries, representing nearly one billion individuals worldwide and providing more than 100 million jobs. www.ica.coop

Training: Financial Diversification workshops
Selnet is putting on a series of Financial Diversification workshops from July 2010 to February 2011 across the North West. Last year’s workshops were very successful and the evaluations were overwhelmingly excellent.

Each workshop runs from 9.30 to 4pm and includes lunch. Workshops are fully funded by Capacity Builders and the European Social Fund (ESF); however participants who fail to attend or cancel with less than 24 hours notice will be invoiced for an administration charge of £20. Dates of workshops and booking form

Policy: Abolition of RDAs and focus on Local Economic Partnerships
Following the proposal to abolish the regional development agencies (RDAs) and replace these with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) included in the Queen’s Speech and the Budget, Vince Cable, secretary of state for business, and Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities, have written jointly to all local authority and business leaders setting out the key aims and criteria for LEPs and inviting authorities’ proposals by 6 September 2010. The full letter is here

RBS Social Enterprise 100: In it to win it
Social enterprise might sound good but how do we prove it really has the goods? The RBS SE100 Index is gathering facts and figures about great social businesses, charting both growth and social impact. The top performing social enterprises will receive prizes totalling £50,000 so it’s a great way to raise your profile and be in with the chance of getting some cash. FRC Group was one of the winners last year, and we’d love for the North West to be up there again and claim the title of social enterprise capital of the UK.  This closes end of March 2011. www.socialenterpriselive.com/se100

Co-operatives North West is funded by trading income, the Co-operative Enterprise Hub and the North West Development Agency