Building Bridges: Germany-Ukraine

Consumer co-operatives and Euro Coop build bridges across the Continent! That is the case of the most recent visit organised by Euro Coop Vice-President Illya Gorokhovskyi, PhD, Chairman of Coop Ukraine, and Euro Coop Board member Mathias Fiedler, CEO of ZdK Germany (Zentralverband deutscher Konsumgenossenschaften e.V.).

On January 22, 2019, the Poltava University of Economics and Trade (PUET), a leading Ukrainian academic institution was visited by distinguished co-operative scholars and practitioners from Germany. Mathias Fiedler was joined by Markus Heinish, Professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin (HUB). The theme of the day was a workshop focusing on two main areas of co-operation:

1. Preparation of materials for submitting a joint project application within the framework of the EU Erasmus Program: "Collaborative Projects for the Development of Innovation and the Exchange of Best Practices in Higher Education";

2. Academic collaboration between PUET and HUB.

The first step in the realization of the planned scientific plans will be the participation of a group of PUET’s academics in the scientific conference dedicated to the challenges of the cooperative movement, which will be hosted by HUB under the auspices of the International Cooperative Alliance in August 2019. This will be within the framework of the celebrations of 175th Anniversary of the Rochdale Pioneers.

At the same time in Berlin, work on the Erasmus + project will be initiated. This co-operation has a good perspective thanks to the active support of the colleagues in Germany for the activities and initiatives of the PUET.