ICA Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP) organized the Young Development Professionals’ Meeting (YDPM)and Coopathon 2.0 on January 29 and 30, 2019 respectively.  The two events were designed for development professionals and students interested in pursuing careers in local, national and international development, to come together, get to know each other and the work they do, share aspirations and discover the power of cooperatives! More than 100  university  students  and  researchers attended the event,  among whom,  Ms  Anahita  Eslahpazir  represented  Rah-e-Roshd.  At  these  meetings, she shared Rah-e-Roshd's involvement and experiences of working with young people, and engaging them in the cooperative education ecosystem.

The first day kicked off with opening remarks made by Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP, followed by country presentations made by co-operators from India, the US, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.  Thereafter,  participants  were  divided  into  groups  of  four  and  five  to  prepare  a cooperative  business plan  using the Canvas  Business  Model method.  By the end of it,  five  top ideas,  all  of  which  were  online  businesses  were  selected  by  the  jury (Ms. Eslahpazir was a member), and made it to Day two of the competition, from hwere three were declared winners. On  the  second  day, YDPM took place and was hosted by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO). During the meeting, international speakers, including Ms Eslahpazir,  shared  their  success  stories  with  the  youth  and  university  students. Meanwhile,   Mr. Yousefi   Moghaddam,   a   member   of   Barg-e-No   cooperative, represented  the ICA-AP Committee on Youth Cooperation (ICYC) and made  a  presentation  on  the  achievements  of  cooperatives in Chabahar city, Iran.