Bridging the gap between practitioners and academics in cooperatives

INTRODUCTION
The Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) Cooperatives Working Group together with the Helper (a humanitarian arm of the Midlands State University, Department of Development Studies) is hosting a workshop on the 5th and 6th of May 2022. The workshops brings together development practitioners/co-operators with academics in an endeavour to craft strategies for cooperatives post- Covid 19 recovery. YSI which is part of the Institute of New Economic Thinking is an international community comprised of students, young professionals, and researchers engaging in critical economic thinking. The community is organized through a number of working groups (WG) set up along topical lines. In these groups, YSI create stimulating environments for new economic thought and inquiry in a wide range of subject matters. Additionally, the community is continuously brought together through workshops, conferences, webinars and other projects. One of the working groups of the YSI is the Cooperatives WG which brings together researchers interested in cooperatives from a wide range of disciplinary and regional backgrounds. The WG’s mandate is to get scholars interested in cooperatives and economic cooperation into a close knit, with the primary intention of sharing research, and developing new questions and ideas for better utilization of the cooperative model for sustainable development, from both the academia and as well as practitioners.
The other partner in the workshop is the Helper which is the humanitarian arm of the Department of Development Studies at the Midlands State University (MSU). Its mandate is to help improve the life of the youth in communities surrounding MSU campuses in the Midlands, Harare, Bulawayo and Masvingo Provinces in Zimbabwe. The Helper offers Students of Development Studies and Development Practice practical experiences of humanitarian work.

1. CONTEXT
   Academics in Zimbabwe have been working in isolation of development practitioners and co-operators who usually work in the field with the communities. On one hand, a number of publications (journal articles and books), dissertations, policy papers and academic conference papers have been produced but are failing to make impact in communities because practitioners are not involved and they do not read much academic work. On the other hand, academics are working and teaching students without having the necessary experience of practical issues happening on the ground in the communities. Hence, bridging the gap between academics and practitioners is very important in coming up with sound strategy for revamping cooperatives which were significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
   Cooperatives are member‐owned, member‐controlled, and member‐benefitting enterprises that provide services or goods to fulfil their members' economic, social, and cultural needs (Battilana, 2018; Levi & Davis, 2008). In essence, the members are, therefore, the cooperative users and, at the same time, they are its owners who democratically control the organisations. Cooperatives are categorized as social enterprises (Peattie, 2020; Périlleux, 2015). They incorporate both a business logic and a community logic (Battilana & Dorado, 2010; Doherty, Haugh, & Lyon, 2014), taking a unique position between non‐profit and for‐profit enterprises. Globally, around one billion people are involved in a cooperative and 10% of the global population works in a cooperative (Kaswan, 2014). These organisations were not spared by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has exposed much fragility in our economies, Africa in particular and deepened existing inequalities, while highlighting the need for resilience, innovation and cooperation. The pre-Covid 19 crisis problems, including the negative effects of HIV/AIDS, hunger, growing inequalities, and forced displacements are going to worsen significantly as a consequence of the measures taken to counteract the health emergency. Cooperatives have played a crucial role in response to various crises. Literature reveals that many cooperatives were formed in response to the Agricultural depression in 1860s in Germany, The Great Depression in the 1930s in the US, Sweden crises after price collapse of 1930, among other crises and their contribution to recovery was significant. Hence, cooperatives are crucial in the post Covid-19 economic recovery phase. Empirical evidence reveals that cooperatives in all sectors are more resilient to shocks than their competitors. Cooperatives are such institutions which can be trusted by the community and strengthen local governance.

2. Host
   The School of Social Work, Midlands State University, Harare Zimbabwe

3. OBJECTIVES
   The objectives of the workshop are threefold:
   (1) To bring together Academics and Practitioners to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
   (2) To facilitate exchange of experiences, lessons, learned good practices and other research outputs on the contribution of Cooperatives to the post covid-19 economic recovery.
   (4) To come up with strategies meant to revamp Cooperatives
   (3) To promote the Young Scholars Initiative Working Group among the University students and young practitioners at MSU.

4. EXPECTED OUTCOMES
   The workshop is expected to have the following main outcomes:
   (a) An analytical summary capturing best practices and lessons learned from the discussions on the current and potential contribution of Cooperatives in dealing with different crises.
   (b) The workshop is also expected to provide an important opportunity for young co-operators to interact and develop partnerships with senior co-operators, academics, key policy makers and other cooperatives researchers in the continent.
   (c) It is also envisaged that the deliberations will lead to actionable suggestions and follow-up actions for the relevant stakeholders in countries in the African region in the overall context of Cooperatives responses to social problems and vision 2030.
   (d) To set ground work for the Helper-MSU and YSI partnerships in the form of joint Conferences, Workshops and Webinars.

5. PARTICIPANTS
   Participants in the workshop will be primarily Young Scholars from the Southern African Region, academics from Sub-Saharian universities, government officials and leaders of local cooperatives. Accommodation and transport will be offered to a limited number of registered YSI members.

Prospective participants are supposed to send the following documents to coop@youngscholarsinitiative.org by 7 April 2020

#abstract of presentation related to the theme ( cooperatives post Covid-19 recovery). 250 words max

#Letter of intent; showing what you intend to share and benefit. 300 words max.