Loomio
Tue 2 Jul 2019 4:03PM

Should Platform 6 join up with this European project?

G Graham Public Seen by 60

Someone over on the CoTech chat site flagged up this project - CoopStarter - which I thought was interesting, and in some ways similar with what we're doing with Platform 6. Anyone know anything about this project? Looks like there is an option to become involved with the project at some level (http://starter.coop/wp/contact-points/) - should Platform 6 sign up?

JR

Jeff Regino Tue 2 Jul 2019 4:25PM

I think it's a great fit. And they don't seem to have a contact point yet in the UK: http://starter.coop/wp/coopstarter1/

JDL

James de le Vingne Wed 3 Jul 2019 7:28AM

Hi @leosammallahti CUK are listed on the CoopStarter Directory, I'm the primary point of contact. Let me know if an intro to the team behind this would be helpful.

G

Graham Wed 3 Jul 2019 8:35AM

I'd be interested to know more about what this project has actually achieved to date, how many enquiries it has received and handled, etc. Would be interested in learning more about what participation would actually mean in practice for an org like Platform 6.

JDL

James de le Vingne Wed 3 Jul 2019 8:43AM

We've had less than a dozen enquiries in the past 24 months, and very few of these have come from groups starting enterprises, it's predominantly researchers who find this site useful.

G

Graham Wed 3 Jul 2019 8:47AM

Thought so.

NBC

Nathan Brown (Co-op Culture) Wed 3 Jul 2019 7:57AM

Sorry to be all boring and business advisor rather than excited. My first question would be whether p6 has the resourcing to meet the commitment including "Provide business support services to people who want to start a new cooperative enterprise
Provide an appropriate answer to all requests coming to you from people who want to start a cooperative". What is the P6 business model moving forward beyond "someone will find the time as a volunteer to provide the answer/support". I'm not aiming to be a blocker, just a tester.

G

Graham Wed 3 Jul 2019 8:46AM

As I read it the commitments as published on the website are vague. I'm assuming that any form of engagement would include some dialogue about what they really mean in practice, and the costs/benefits of said engagement. James's comment above is unsurprising.
In therm so P6' business model, it's essentially about exploring and developing diverse revenue streams and building new outreach opportunities, and this project - on the face of it at least - seems like such an opportunity.
Also interesting to note that not one UK-based CDB-type organisation appears to be involved, which is perhaps indicative of a) marketing failure on the part of the project partners, b) a lack of funding to enable contact points to get compensated for any work they deliver, or maybe both.

AB

Alex Bird Wed 3 Jul 2019 9:06AM

This is a project funded by the EU's Grundtvig Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grundtvig_programme One of those funding streams we never get to hear about in the UK because our glorious government can't be arsed to send people to Brussels to find out about what's going on. It was a trans-national lifelong learning project. http://www.europeansharedtreasure.eu/detail.php?id_project_base=2013-1-IT2-GRU06-51896 and the funding will have been spent with the partners, who have produced a mentoring guide. http://starter.coop/content/uploads/2018/06/CoopStarter_EN.pdf in 7 languages.
The project is finished and only the website remains. In my personal experience of EU trans-national projects it's a grant condition the website remains active for a number of years afterwards, and so the project pays the hosting fees upfront before the budget closes. Whether the final result (the publication) was worth the EU funding spent on it is a matter of debate, but look at it positively - it's paid the wages of staff at co-operative organisations across Europe who have been able to provide other support to a whole range of co-operatives, and supported inter-organisation communications that have shared knowledge and made connections.
That's how EU funds work in mainland Europe (and Ireland)! Pity we so rarely get to join in.

JR

Jeff Regino Wed 3 Jul 2019 5:50PM

That's really pitiful and depressing.
So many worthwhile projects given limited funding and/or done just to show off