A draft World Social Summit Political Declaration agreed by UN General Assembly members states on 9 September mentions co-operatives.
The statement, which follows an intergovernmental negotiating process at the UN, commits signatories to promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. As part of this, they pledge to create an enabling environment for entrepreneurs, and support “innovative mechanisms, micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), cooperatives as well as the social and solidarity economy”.
The declaration also highlights the role the social and solidarity economy can play in eradicating poverty, promoting social inclusion and catalysing social transformation, and “helping to achieve the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, while ensuring social development for all”.
“As a core component of the social and solidarity economy, co-operatives remain firmly committed to contributing to the realisation of the UN 2030 Agenda and the SDGs across their economic, social, and environmental dimensions,” reads the declaration.
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The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), which represents more than 300 co-operative organisations around the world, welcomed the declaration.
“The explicit recognition of co-operatives in the Doha Political Declaration reinforces our conviction that the co-operative model is indispensable to overcoming today’s global challenges of inequality, unemployment, and climate change,” said ICA president Ariel Guarco. “In this International Year of Cooperatives, and in the spirit of the second World Summit for Social Development where world leaders will reaffirm their commitment to the Copenhagen Declaration and advance global social justice, we are ready to work with governments and the UN to turn commitments into action.”
Earlier this year, the ICA launched the Cooperatives and Mutuals Leadership Circle – CM50, a network bringing together leaders of the world’s largest co-ops and mutuals, which will present a manifesto and commitment plan in Doha, Qatar, on 3 November.
The second World Summit for Social Development will be held in Doha from 4-6 November, 30 years after the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen.
The summit aims to convene governments, international organisations, the UN system, civil society, co-operatives, academia, the private sector, and experts to strengthen international co-operation for inclusive social development.
