Democracy

Young officers at Desjardins

In 2007, some 700 young men and women age 18 to 34 helped make decisions affecting their caisse by sitting as elected or intern officers on their caisse's Board of Directors or Board of Supervision.

The Young Intern Officer program is one of the means established by Desjardins to give young people a greater role in the organization's democratic process. By taking an active part in meetings and discussions, they discover all the facets of a Board member's role and develop a valuable network of contacts. In short, this unique experience gives young people, students and young workers the opportunity to acquire valuable knowledge and skills.

Cooperation as an entrepreneurial principle

Promoting cooperation as an entrepreneurial principle remains a main priority for us, and one that we aim to further through 2 youth cooperative programs, Coopérative Jeunesse de services and Jeune COOP, in partnership with the Conseil québécois de la coopération et de la mutualité (Québec council for cooperation).

Jeune COOP is a youth program that helps young people establish cooperatives at school. The program attracts a lot of interest: in 2007, 84 cooperatives were created in schools. Meanwhile, 1,722 students created their own summer jobs by starting up 154 Coopérative Jeunesse de services youth services cooperatives.

Desjardins is also affiliated with several Fondation Desjardins cooperative and reciprocity education programs, such as the La Relève en action (Emerging Professionals in Action) program, recognizing efforts made by young cooperators to promote cooperation in their communities.

Desjardins is also a partner in the Quebec government's Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge program, which strives to promote the entrepreneurial spirit and the development of cooperative attitudes and skills among future entrepreneurs.

The "Jeunes ambassadeurs coopératifs" edition of the Camp Leadership Coopératif de l'Ontario¹ (LCO) encourages youth leadership by creating a strong and dynamic new generation. Its mission is to develop young people's commitment potential and provide them with the tools they need to learn about their collective responsibility and how they can change their environment to meet their needs and aspirations.

The program offers young people of the mouvement coopératif francophone de l'Ontario:

• training workshops on management principles of cooperatives by promoting mentoring relationships with community partners;
• the creation of local committees to support initiatives by and for young people;
• integration as members, employees and volunteers in French-speaking cooperatives.

Recognizing and encouraging personal commitment

Desjardins Group is proud to partner with Forces Avenir to allow the organization to extend its program recognizing personal commitment to include Quebec high school students.

Forces Avenir recognizes, honours and promotes the commitment and entrepreneurship of young people.

1. Available only in Ontario.