Trademark Belfast is a Belfast based training organisation dedicated to social justice. It is also the anti-sectarian unit of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.  Aside from its work in providing training to trade unions and the community, Trademark has developed a strand of cooperative development and support.

Dr Stephen Nolan, Alice McLarnon and Tiziana O’Hara are the founder members of Cooperative Alternatives, a cooperative support organisation that provides legal, financial and governance advice in the field of cooperative (worker, consumer, producer and other forms of cooperatives) development.  The three members of Cooperative Alternatives are cooperative developers, trained by the Cooperative Hub in Manchester.

Dr Stephen Nolan and Alice McLarnon now work mainly through Trademark but continue to provide support to those who want to create or are running a cooperative. They have been influential in the creation of the Farmageddon cooperative and Union taxis. Alice McLarnon is also a founder member of the Belfast Cleaning Society.

Contact:

Twin Spires Centre,

155 Northumberland Street,

Belfast BT13 2JF

+ 44 (0)2890331053

Email: stevie@trademarkbelfast.com

alice@trademarkbelfast.com

Website: www.trademarkbelfast.com

PRAXIS is a mix of community activists, academics and other individuals working collectively to reinvigorate popular education in Ireland. It was established in 2008 with a firm belief in the concepts of critical reflection, social and political action, and the central role of popular education in achieving a society based on equality and social justice.

http://praxiseducation.weebly.com

Meitheal Mid West was setup in May 2011 to promote worker cooperatives, and multi stake holder co-op’s (MSC) – as sustainable job creation engines in our region.

In June of 2012 we combined with other interested parties to create the Workers Cooperative Network (WCN).

Contact:

Meitheal Mid West
The Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre
Limerick Institute of Technology Campus
Limerick
Ireland

Tel +353  61 208353
Mob + 353  87 6474230
Email: meitheal.midwest@gmail.com

Website: http://www.meitheal-midwest.org/

Co-operative Support Services (CSS) is a social enterprise development agency serving the diverse communities of island of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its work is focused on development and support for democratically managed models of enterprise to meet the needs of local communities. The key function of CSS is the promotion, development and support of co-operative/social enterprise sector as part of local sustainable economic development. CSS encourages and supports potential community entrepreneurs to put their ideas into practice. The approach creates ownership of the proposal amongst all involved and commitment to the long-term sustainability of the enterprise.

Contact:

10 Cornmarket,

Dublin 8, Ireland

Phone: +353-1-6713639

Fax: +353-1-6773887

Mobile:353-857864995

E-mail: info@css.coop

Website : http://coop-entrepreneurship.com/co-op/index.php