Hi folks, just sharing our news about a successful mission to take a delegation of North-East Syria’s women’s and mixed gender economic committees responsible for developing coops in Rojava to the 2026 Global Conference of the International Cooperative Alliance in Panama. We’re hoping to get some more comms about Rojava and the shifting and uncertain situation for coops in the region, which are not currently included in the integration process with the new Syrian state. Do let us know any comms ideas for this.
Here’s a Coop News article that has already been published, which you can share.
Thanks so much @JoSEA - hope they had a good time and their minds weren’t blown by the strangeness of an ICA Congress. Great you were able to facilitate.
I’m in very early stages of advising a UK-based Afgani weaver and reseller (here 20+ years, came as a refugee) and his son on promoting the formation of a co-op consortium of (mainly women) village-based weavers’ enterprises making kilim etc rugs in the Uzbek/Turkmen regions in NE regions of Afghanistan. The Taliban have indicated no objection (as long as women and men work in different rooms ) but there is really nobody (yet) in-country to discuss/advocate with the grass roots enterprises and the UK guys can only go over occasionally.
The benefit is 2-way. Massoum Loom in the UK to be able to place orders with the co-op and be able to commission higher-value products, among other potential clients of the co-op. The co-op, to get international market/design intelligence and cashflow better quality raw materials.
WIEGO/SEWA, ILO Coops Unit, etc haven’t come through (yet) with anything useful about who they could get support from.
Any ideas? The more solidarity and less ‘NGO’ the better.
PS I told them the modern co-op movement was founded by weavers
) but there is really nobody (yet) in-country to discuss/advocate with the grass roots enterprises and the UK guys can only go over occasionally.