The above image is from a staff meeting a few months ago at IMMA. In all the excitement of September Member’s Affairs Committee meeting we forgot to take photos!
Summary: The next two MAC meetings will take place on Saturday, October 9th 12:30 to 14:00 and the same time again on Saturday the 6th of November in the gardens of IMMA, at The People’s Pavilion. To get in involved and stay up-to-date with news please email the membersaffairs@dublinfood.coop and register your interest.
One of the things we pride ourselves on is the democracy we execute in Dublin Food Co-op. Democracy is one of our core values and therefore essential in giving the Co-op a purpose. But democracy is nothing without people, in our case the members, taking an active part.
As we know a functioning democracy needs to be nurtured, and this has been hard during the pandemic as we haven’t been able to get together to discuss topics important to us and the Co-op. We are hopeful though as the work of the Members Affairs Committee (the MAC) is going to bring fresh energy and new ideas.
The MAC is made for the Co-op community, by the Co-op community. And as we are experiencing the society starting to open up again, after a period where the pandemic made it impossible to connect in person, we have managed to get together and connect again through the MAC platform.
The first of many informal get-togethers happened in the lovely gardens of Kilmainham neighbours in IMMA. And as many might feel that we need to learn how to connect again, so do we need to learn how to use the MAC to re-activate our Co-op democracy.
So far there has been no specific agenda other than re-connecting, and what became very evident was that the hunger for exactly this is there. The meeting was mainly used to get to know each other and listen. We listened to small stories about members’ relationship to the Co-op, and why the Co-op matters to them.
These conversations will help us identify specific areas of the Co-op where members can have their say in how we form our democracy as we move forward. We will continue these conversations with the ultimate goal of strengthening our Co-op in order to secure the democracy we execute. Going forward topics such as how we can reduce our waste even further, how we can secure more local producers, and how we make the Co-op more inclusive for all parts of our society.
For this to work in favour of all our members we need as many as possible to take part in these conversations. We are very happy to raise any topics that you might feel could benefit our Co-op.
And the opportunity to have your voice heard will take place again on Saturday, October 9th 12:30 to 14:00 and the same time again on Saturday the 6th of November in the gardens of IMMA, at The People’s Pavilion.
Due to a specific interest expressed in our zero-waste and local producers policies, they will form the basis for this upcoming get together.
Here we will continue developing our ideas and making them flourish to ensure that we, the members, help the Co-op grow.
Should you want to get involved, or have any ideas for future topics to discuss. Get in touch on membersaffairs@dublinfood.coop or simply come and join us on October 9th.
Your Members’ Affairs Committee
