Cooperative youth: present, participating and leading
PANAMA CITY, September 15, 2026 — Young people are increasingly taking an active role in the global cooperative movement, participating in decision-making, leading youth committees and developing initiatives to address challenges facing their communities, delegates at the International Cooperative Alliance [ICA] Youth Assembly heard.
The assembly, held in Panama City on Sunday during the ICA Global Cooperative Conference week, received updates from regional youth committees and elected a new Youth Committee president and members-at-large representing the four regions.
Harsh Sanghani was elected unopposed as president, while Salma Hachimi [Africa], Samuel Mancilla [Americas], Rami al Kasassbeh Salameh [Asia-Pacific] and Ramil Nasybullin [Europe] were elected as members of the committee.
Representing the Africa Cooperative Youth Network, Mabruck Ismail Mpangule highlighted four key activities undertaken by the network: Youth Town Hall Meetings, participation in a cooperative conference in Kazan, Russia, the African Cooperative Entrepreneur Youth Ambassador Programme and the development of a school cooperatives concept.
The Youth Town Hall Meetings are intended to align regional youth priorities with global cooperative agendas.
The African Cooperative Entrepreneur Youth Ambassador Programme, described as a pioneering continuity initiative, seeks to address youth unemployment by training people aged 18 to 35 to establish, launch and register worker cooperatives in their communities.
The school cooperatives initiative is aimed at developing a model for introducing cooperative principles and practices among young people in schools.
“As we gather here in Panama City under the global banner of Building Bridges: Cooperative Contributions for a Peaceful World, we stand at a critical juncture for youth in the global movement,” Mpangule said.
“Panama itself is defined by the Bridge of the Americas, a landmark that connects its continents. That is precisely what our generation is called to do: bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical execution, between local grassroots initiatives and global cooperative networks.”
Americas
Nicolas Jacquet, representing the Cooperatives of the Americas Youth Committee, said the group comprises 24 cooperatives from 11 countries.
“For the last four years, we’ve been working a lot on building those bridges that exist between our countries — we share a lot of information between us, and we hold webinars and workshops online, but also in person,” he said.
Digital engagement has been an important part of the committee’s work, including social media development and an online map showing youth participation.
Jacquet said the map demonstrated the growing geographical reach of the youth movement, but acknowledged that gaps remained.
“We’re proud about how many countries are represented on the map, but we have a lot of work to do because we don’t have any countries that are from North America or that speak English or French, and that’s really a barrier that we want to cross,” he said.
He encouraged more young people to participate in their local youth committees.
“These meetings are a great opportunity to share together our knowledge, to share together the things that we’ve learned, but also to share together the burden of being young and being a cooperator,” Jacquet said.
Asia-Pacific
Dulce Bustamante Delmo, chair of the ICA Asia-Pacific Youth Committee, highlighted what she described as a major milestone for young cooperators in the region.
“Young people are now part of the decision-making table, because just during the 2025 regional assembly of the ICA Asia-Pacific, members unanimously voted to give us full voting rights,” she said.
The decision means the chair of the ICA-AP Youth Committee now sits on the regional board with full voting rights rather than as an observer.
The committee has 33 members from 10 countries, Delmo said.
Among its activities are participation in the Law Symposium and Cooperative Identity Meeting at the Manchester Festival of Cooperation in July 2025, the launch of the Go Green Campaign, participation in the We The Youth initiative with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development [UNRISD], and involvement in the co-drafting session of the Youth Declaration of Coops in Agrifood.
“Most of our topics are about the future or the next generation, because in Asia-Pacific we are advocating for intergenerational sustainability of cooperatives,” Delmo said.
“Youth should not be a separate conversation within the cooperative movement. Youth should be part of every conversation.”
Europe
Helena Gorroño, representing the Young European Cooperators Network [YECN], said 2026 had been a significant year for the organisation.
Established a decade ago, the YECN now has 50 members from 15 countries. Gorroño said maintaining a pipeline of younger members had been a major challenge.
“We have had a very engaged community. But it was not a renewing community, and that has proved a big challenge — because if all of them were the same age, guess what happened? Eventually, they all were above the age limit, so suddenly we had no community anymore,” she said.
During what she described as a transition year, the YECN established working groups, consolidated community calls and held its general assembly in Porto, Portugal, as well as a gathering in Budapest, Hungary.
In the days leading up to the Panama assembly, Cooperatives Europe also voted to recognise the YECN as an official committee, with its functions and rights set out in terms of reference.
Closing the meeting, Sanghani thanked delegates for attending and for contributing to what he described as an inclusive youth committee.
“I would rather say a youth family. This family that we have created is something special that I am privileged to take it forward,” he said.
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