Strengthening relations between young researchers and practitioners
26 Nov 2025
By Luis Camilo Oyarzún
From 5 to 7 November 2025, I had the honour of representing the CCR Young and Emerging Scholars on Cooperative Studies (ICA CCR-YES Network) at the Young European Cooperators Network (YECN) General Assembly in Porto, Portugal. The gathering brought together participants from the UK, Norway, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Chile, and other countries, creating a rich and diverse space for exchange. A key milestone of the meeting was the unanimous approval of the YECN Terms of Reference on 6 November.
The Terms of Reference is a historic step to establish the YECN as democratic voice of young cooperators in Europe. This empowers the YECN to legitimately claim a space for the concerns of the youth on the European and global level of the ICA.
The event was generously hosted and sponsored by CASES, who provided an excellent environment for dialogue and collaboration. The programme included visits to several cooperatives in the Porto region, such as Cooperativa Povo Portuense (services), Cooperativa Maieutica (education), and CERCIGaia (social solidarity), who welcomed us with a wonderful musical performance featuring their brand-new official anthem. These visits offered a valuable opportunity to learn from different cooperative models and gain insight into the community-oriented work being carried out across the region.
Overall, the experience was particularly inspiring and nurturing for me, both as a scholar working in cooperative studies and as someone who recently co-founded IMPACTIA+, a cooperative focused on supporting other cooperatives and associative organisations in strengthening their organisational development and sustainability pathways. The discussions and exchanges highlighted the importance of youth participation, shared learning, and transnational cooperation in advancing the global cooperative movement. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute and look forward to continuing the collaboration with the network.
