Top Co-op Educator in Australia

Last Updated on Sunday, 04 March 2012 05:04 Written by David Griffiths Sunday, 12 February 2012 00:16

The Chief Executive  and Principal of the UK Co-operative College, Mervyn Wilson, will be visiting Australia between 26 February - 10 March 2012.

Mervyn Wilson has worked in the co-operative sector for over thirty years, primarily in the field of member education, co-operative identity and governance. He has worked with co-operatives throughout the world and led the development of co-operative trust schools and their national network.  His work to secure the co-operative movement's heritage and use it as a learning resource included the development of the National Co-operative Archive and the establishment of the Co-operative Heritage Trust. Mervyn is a co-chair of the global Human Resources Committee of the International Co-operative Alliance, a Trustee of the Co-operative Heritage Trust and the Reddish Vale Trust and a Fellow of the RSA.

The Co-operative College in the UK is an educational charity based in Manchester with learners and co-operatives all over the world, from schoolchildren to African worker co-operatives. The College is dedicated to the promotion of co-operative values, ideas and principles within co-operatives, communities and society.

The highlights of Mervyn's visit will include presentations to:

A  General Meeting of members of the SouthEast Housing Co-operative Ltd (27 February 2012)

The Australian Mutual Institute Business Strategy Forum (3 - 4 March 2012).

A National Housing Co-operative Conference ( 8 March 2012)

Workshops on co-operative schools  (2 and 6 March 2012 )

Mervyn will also be facilitating a workshop for the board of Co-operatives Australia on 29 February 2012.

 

During his visit Mervyn will also be launching a book recently published by Manchester University Press - The Hidden Alternative: Co-operative values, past, present and future. Chapters include discussion of education, Fair trade, politics and governance, planning and sustainability and how co-operatives have coped with the global economic crisis. The book ranges beyond developments in the West to examine those in Africa and Asia, offering a genuinely global perspective on the fortunes of co-operation.