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September 9 - 15, 2012
Mondragon Seminar and Tour
Carl Davidson's Blog from Mondragon
Photos from 2010 seminar
Georgia Kelly's Huffington Post Article on Mondragon
Click here to download the Brochure in PDF format (2011 brochure - new one coming soon)
Click here for Georgia Kelly video on Mondragon
Praxis Peace Institute is organizing its fourth 5-day workshop/seminar with the Mondragon Cooperatives in the Basque country of Spain. The purpose of the seminar is to learn about worker owned businesses from the leading consortium of cooperatives in the world. Praxis organized two previous seminars at the Mondragon Cooperatives (2008 and 2010).
The Mondragon Cooperatives were founded in 1955 and now encompass 120 businesses and employ nearly 100,000 workers. Mondragon is a highly successful cooperative model with over 50 years of proven success. They have established research centers, bank and credit unions, a university, youth cooperatives, and small to large businesses
In June 2007, the Educational Director of the Mondragon Cooperatives, Mikel Lezamiz, spoke at the Praxis Peace Institute conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Due to the interest generated at the conference, we decided to collaborate with Mondragon in offering an in-depth educational opportunity for those who want more information on how to create cooperatives in their businesses and communities.
Who Should Participate
Green business leaders, educators, community leaders, journalists, environmentalists, business leaders, and all those who have an opportunity to make use of the Mondragon model in projects based in their communities or businesses. This program is a unique opportunity to learn cooperative models of business organization and to see first hand how they work over a long period of time.
The Seminar
The seminar will include 5 days of presentations and tours of Mondragon businesses, a youth cooperative, an incubator for cooperatives, the Mondragon research and development center, Mondragon University, and much more. Praxis Peace Institute will also host a day of discussion and brainstorming about how these ideas can be useful in our communities back home and how we can find support for cooperative business ventures.
Presentations include
- The history, culture, and ethics of the Mondragon Cooperatives
- Mondragon's corporate management and training models
- The cooperative incubation center and its functions in creating and developing new products and services
- Research and Developmet at Mondragon, the largest R & D center in Europe, with 13 separate centers
- The role of Caja Laboral, the Mondragon Cooperatives' bank and credit union
- Mondragon's projects in developing countries
- Democracy at Mondragon - how the cooperatives are organized
- Social systems at Mondragon
- How to transfer the Mondragon model to your community.
- Mondragon University and their degree programs in "Intrapreneurship."
Visits include
- Fagor, a large industrial worker co-op
- SAIOLAN, an incubation center for new products and services
- Mondragon University, the education center where the cooperative movement began. We will also learn about the graduate program in Intrapreneurship (cooperative business) and meet with students and directors of this program.
- A youth cooperative formed and operated by university students
- Eroski, the largest supermarket chain in Spain
- Baketik, the Basque Peace Center that teaches the ethical management of conflicts.
- Mondragon University and their new campus in Onati (beautiful medieval town near Mondragon) -- meet with students of Team Academy Program
Excursions
Included in the program are a dinner in the coastal city of San Sebastian, a visit to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, a trip to the Aranzazu Monastery and Baketik Peace Center in the mountains, a visit to Vitoria, the parliamentary seat of the Basque region, and/or Guernica.
Accommodations
All participants will stay at the Hotel Mondragon for 6 nights. Hotel and daily breakfast and lunch (main meal) will be included in the seminar prices. Wireless Internet access is available in all hotel and meeting rooms.
Scholarships - Two scholarships will be awarded through the Massena Fellowship Program at Praxis Peace Institute. An Application form and criteria will be available on this site by May 21. In the meantime, you can contact us directly for an application form: 707-939-2973 or georgia@praxispeace.org
Included in Conference Price: Six nights accommodations at our hotel, daily full breakfast and main meal, seminar, all excursions, transfers to and from Bilbao Airport (to our hotel in Mondragon), and travel arrangements through our agent. Airfare not included. Upon registration (with a $500 deposit), you will receive our travel agent's contact information. They are scheduling our arrivals and departures as close as possible so that most of us will be able to take our bus to the hotel from the airport.
Registration - A $500 deposit reserves your space. We are limited to 24 people, so we encourage interested people to register at their earliest convenient date.
Shared Accommodations - $2,450
Single Accommodations - $2,900
Click here to Register!
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