January 23 – February 10, 2012
This course is open for bookings.
Teachers:
What went wrong and what can we learn from the financial crisis?
The chaotic and alarming financial crises of recent years have highlighted vividly how unstable, unsustainable and unjust our existing economic system is. The credit crunch started with the banks, but the impacts in the form of rising unemployment and prices, lack of credit and greater inequality are being felt throughout society as a whole.
Now more than ever we need to understand what went wrong and what kind of alternative financial models would provide stability and genuine prosperity. This series of courses starts with the big picture, looking at the lessons of the financial crisis, moves on to examine how business and enterprise are addressing problems of finance and sustainability, and finally looks at cooperative and community-based models of enterprise as the basis for a fairer financial system.
Mary Mellor and Tony Greenham
In order to understand how we could manage finances differently, we need to understand the system as it is. During this week, Mary Mellor looks closely at the nature of money and debt. She relates different theories about the role of money to the emergence of modern banking and the “financialisation” of society, whereby in recent decades the financial sector has come to take precedence over the productive sector. These historical trends shed light on how the credit crunch happened and in particular the relationship between governments and the financial sector.
Mary will ask if the current debt-based money system can be reformed or whether a new way must be found that makes money the servant of a socially just and sustainable society. On the final day of this week, Tony Greenham will reflect on his work with nef towards evolving a new ecology of finance, addressing issues such as the appropriate scale for finance, democratic control and needs-based approaches. What would sustainable finance look like and how can we get there?
Week 1 Teachers:
Mary Mellor is Emeritus Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Northumbria University in Newcastle. She was born in Cornwall and studied at the universities of Salford (undergraduate programme in social science) and Newcastle (PhD study of the British Co-operative movement). Her academic career has been spent at Newcastle University and Northumbria University. Her teaching areas have included research philosophy and research oriented to social change, social theory, gender, development and the environment. She was founding chair of the Sustainable Cities Research Institute at the University of Northumbria where her main research areas were financial inclusion and alternative economic development. She is a founding member of the newly formed World Economics Association and is on the editorial board of several journals. She has served as a Councillor (Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Council) and has been a member of a number of organisations and networks around peace, green, feminist and socialist issues. She has also been actively involved in co-operative development and has published extensively on money and finance, financial exclusion, co-operation, sustainable cities, ecofeminism and social/ist economics. Her most recent books are The Future of Money: From Financial Crisis to Public Resource (Pluto 2010) and The Politics of Money: Towards Sustainability And Economic Democracy (Pluto 2002 with Frances Hutchinson and Wendy Olsen) Feminism and Ecology (Polity 1997) .
Tony Greenham is Head of Finance and Business at nef, the programme of research into reforming the financial sector and aligning the interests of society and business. He brings to this role his experience as a corporate stockbroker, commercial accountant and sustainability consultant. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, he worked in UK Equity Capital Markets first with Barclays Bank and then Credit Suisse where he advised household names such as Sky, GlaxoSmithkline and Debenhams. Prior to joining nef, Tony was working with the Transition Towns movement as a director of Transition Town Totnes and a business consultant for Transition Training and Consulting.
Teachers David Wheeler, Yasmin Crowther, Nigel Topping and Ed Mayo*
Can business re-invent itself so that its operations balance the need for economic development, environmental sustainability and social justice?
During this week, a range of experts bring their insights to bear on this challenging question:
Week 2 Teachers:
Professor David Wheeler is Dean and Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Plymouth Business School. He joined the University from one of Canada’s most prestigious academic institutions, Dalhousie University, in Nova Scotia, where he was Dean of the Faculty of Management. David is an internationally recognised academic and business leader with more than two decades of senior executive level involvement in change management and sustainable business practice, research and teaching. He graduated with a BSc in Microbiology, holds a PhD from the University of Surrey and has worked for private, public and third sector organisations around the world including The Body Shop International, where he was a membership of the executive leadership team for seven years. In addition to consulting with many private sector organizations, he has advised the World Bank and the governments of the UK, Canada, Botswana, Nicaragua and Peru. David’s work with the third sector has embraced a wide range of assignments for organisations such as the Red Cross, Oxfam and Greenpeace.
Yasmin Crowther has worked with businesses seeking to address the challenges of sustainable development for over two decades. During the mid-90s, she worked for Shell, as they grappled with the consequences of the Brent Spar and Nigeria crises, to understand society’s changing expectations for their business and the implications for the company’s approach to governance, transparency and accountability. She subsequently worked for the environmental management consultancy, URS/Dames & Moore; for the global communication company, Ketchum; and for the think-tank and strategy consultancy, SustainAbility. Her clients have included many of the world’s most high-profile brands – BP, Shell, Ford, Microsoft, Toyota, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Nike and others – and her work has always focused on helping business to understand and embed sustainability into their core. While at SustainAbility, she also edited and co-wrote a wide range of thought-leading publications. After years of work in the corporate sector, Yasmin now works for the National Trust, a private charity, that is committed to managing its estate, properties, land and enterprises for the benefit of the nation, ‘for ever, for everyone’.
Nigel Topping is Chief Innovation Officer at the Carbon Disclosure Project. He launched CDP’s Supply Chain program and is now responsible for new programs and major development projects. Previously he worked for Lucas Industries before moving into operations and, subsequently, general management for BBA plc. Nigel was also a member of the MBO team and Group Supply Chain Director of TMD Friction, a global automotive component manufacturing company. Having worked in Spain, Germany, India, China, the US and the UK, he has extensive international experience and holds an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University. He recently completed his MSc at Schumacher College, where he studied climate science and the industrial response to global warming.
Ed Mayo is Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, the membership network for co-operative businesses, and has spent his career working to bring together economic life and social justice. From 2003-2009, he was Chief Executive of the National Consumer Council, and before that he rose to prominence as director of the New Economics Foundation (nef). He led nef from two to fifty staff, creating the leading ‘think-and-do tank’, looking at ethical market activity, local economies and public service reform. He was described by the Independent as “the most authoritative voice in the country speaking up for consumers”, while the Guardian has nominated him as one of the top 100 most influential figures in British social policy.
Teachers: Pat Conaty and Tim Crabtree
Can co-operative stakeholder organizations decentralize and democratize the economy?
Can co-operative stakeholder organizations decentralize and democratize the economy? Pat Conaty will discuss the latest ideas and practices related to the development of social enterprises which can enable low-carbon solutions to local housing, energy and finance needs. The first day looks at land reform and community land trusts for housing, food and workspace, the second day day considers economic democracy in relation to local businesses and the role of co-operative structures, and the third day looks at the ecology of social and community finance and how to develop co-operative capital that is non-usurious. Pat will put current activity in the broader historical context laid down by E.F. Schumacher and Ivan Illich. He will reflect on the challenges of setting up effective social enterprises and discuss how a method called the Wheel of Fortune can help with this process. Tim Crabtree will join the course for a day to discuss his work creating community enterprises in the areas of local food, housing and energy, and the barriers they have had to overcome.
Pat Conaty worked as a researcher at nef for eight years, becoming a nef fellow in 2007. Educated at the University of California with a degree in Political Economy, Pat is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, a Research Associate at the University of Salford and an Executive Director of Rebuilding Society Network, a social enterprise in Mid Wales. Formerly the Development Director of Birmingham Settlement, an inner city community regeneration organisation, Pat played a pioneering role in setting up several social enterprises fostered there: including Business Debtline and the Aston Reinvestment Trust – the first mutually owned, local Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) in Britain. He worked for many years in the debt advice field as Director of Money Advice Services for Birmingham Settlement and he is a founder and former Executive Director of the UK Social Investment Forum – the national association of socially responsible investment organisations. Pat also works as a community development finance trainer and consultant with NACUW (National Association of Credit Union Workers).
Tim Crabtree has been actively involved in the development of Community Enterprise and Co-operative Economic Systems since the 1980’s, when he was one of the first co-ordinators of the New Economics Foundation. He is an experienced social enterprise advisor, working with a range of initiatives such as development trusts, city farms, arts organisations and community nurseries. He developed and worked for one of the south west’s leading social enterprises – the Wessex Reinvestment Trust group, which is a community development financial institution. The Wessex group has pioneered the development of new financial mechanisms including community share issues – Wessex Community Assets has registered 39 organisations as industrial and provident societies using specially developed rules, and assisted 19 of them to raise £3.2 million in aggregate. Another Wessex company provides home improvement loans in partnership with 19 local authorities and has over £3 million out on loan. Tim was also the founder of Local Food Links Ltd, one of the UK’s most prominent community food enterprises. With Local Food Links, Tim set up Dorset’s first Farmers’ Markets, the UK’s first Local Food Centre, and an ethical catering enterprise serving meals to children at 23 schools. Recently, Tim has also been involved in the development of Bridport Renewable Energy Group CIC and Bridport Energy Services Ltd, an industrial and provident society. He is also a founder director of Bridport Area Development Trust, which is involved in two asset transfer projects.
Mary Mellor – Limits to Growth
Tony Greenham, The New Economics Foundation
Nigel Topping – Chief Innovation Officer for the Climate Disclosure Project
Ed Mayo introduces the Co-operative Economy 2011
Any One week £750
Any Two weeks £1,400 (Save £100 over weekly course price)
Three weeks £2100 (Save £150)
All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions.
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