NASCO to speak at United Nations

On February 2nd (1:15-2:45pm Eastern) NASCO staff will present on a panel during the 50th Session of the Commission for Social Development at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The panel, titled “Youth employment through entrepreneurship: the role of cooperatives,” was organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with NASCO, the University of Massachusetts Center for Student Business, and the YES-JUMP Coop Challenge Fund

The purpose of the panel is to highlight the potential of cooperatives to empower, employ and engage youth, and to demonstrate how young people can utilize the cooperative enterprise model to advance issues that are important for them. Panelists will have 10 minutes each to present on these topics and facilitate interactive discussion with attendees. 

The event will be webcast via http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/ and there will also be live tweets via www.Twitter.com/CoopsYear and posts via www.Facebook.com/CoopsYear. The moderator will be accepting questions and comments from both live and online audiences.

The event will promote dialogue on the real and latent agency of cooperatives as part of a sustainable solution to the problems within youth employment, as well as showcase initiatives that have empowered young people to take action in establishing, managing and participating in cooperatives. It is anticipated that the event will provide an important input to the Commission for Social Development, addressing both the priority theme (poverty eradication) and the emerging issue (youth employment) at their intersection.

This will be the second in a series of interactive panel discussions, to be hosted by the coordinating committee of the International Year of Cooperatives, aimed at raising awareness among national governments of the diverse strengths of cooperative enterprise and encouraging dialogue between national governments and the cooperative sector.

For more information about the UN’s work with youth:
UN International Year of Youth 
Secretary-General priorities - Women and Youth
World Program of Action for Youth
Remarks of Ban Ki-moon, January 25th, 2012, committing to appoint a Special Representative for youth