Toward Co-operative Commonwealth: Transition in a Perilous Century (MOOC)

4th Edition

Registration opens: December 15, 2021
Start Date:  February 7, 2022

Synergia Co-operative Institute is a community service co-operative whose purpose is to promote transition to a sustainable political economy that is democratic, socially just, and based on the principles of co-operation and the common good.

Synergia unites academics, activists, practitioners, and policymakers in a common effort to identify and implement models of economic, environmental, and social practice that focus on  institutional and systems-level change based on Co-operative economic democracy –  a framework of concepts, values, and practices that give priority to

• resilience over economic growth
• co-operation over competition
• sufficiency over efficiency
• well-being over the right to possess
• fairness and equity over the primacy of markets, trade, and capital
• decentralized and democratic ownership over centralized power and private ownership
• the commons over the rights of private property, and
• our dependence upon nature over our right to dominate it.

These are not merely theoretical propositions. They are choices about what is paramount for transition in a perilous century. They are the basis for a comprehensive alternative to the status quo – a compendium of ideas, models, and movements that are essential to our collective capacity for transition and survival. These alternatives, and the means to apply them, are the focus of our work.

Several questions frame our thinking and guide our work:

• How can we meet our basic needs in ways that advance fairness and resilience where we live and contribute to the restoration of ecosystems and GHG reduction?
• How do we shift the narrative from the mantra of endless growth to one of well-being, sufficiency, solidarity, and living within the natural limits of the planet?
• How can citizens, communities, organizations, institutions, movements, and progressive businesses co-operate to craft and execute strategies that build solutions that counter the status quo?
• How do we diffuse and amplify the impacts of existing models and solutions to advance system change?

Our contribution to this global call for a transition to sustainability is threefold:

• Designing accessible, high-quality educational resources and training programs that can be leveraged by change agents everywhere to create system-changing solutions fitted to local contexts.
• Providing training and education programming through intensive, face-to-face courses.
• In collaboration with our network of experts and practitioners, provide research, advice, and technical support to policymakers, governments, and NGOs on the development and implementation of transition models for system change.

Synergia’s mission to inspire, educate and animate people to take action is relevant to those beginning the transition journey as well as those who have been in the trenches for years.

Our invitation to the 2022 MOOC embodies these principles and aims.

Course info: https://synergiainstitute.org/2022-mooc-information/

Registration info: https://synergiainstitute.org/registration/

Sliding scale pricing

(From Synergia Institute website)