How has the last year been for you and the ICA?
It has been a year with a lot of activity, where I have had the opportunity to participate with our members in different activities.
As always, travelling long distances for many days requires a lot of personal sacrifice but the reward is enormous.
I continue to learn from every exchange, every dialogue, every moment in which I can listen first-hand to the experiences and testimonies of co-operating brothers and sisters from other parts of the world.
This year I participated in meetings in the four regions of the International Cooperative Alliance and I have also seen first-hand the growth of the organisations, the consolidation of leadership and the growing role of women and young people, which fills me with enthusiasm and optimism for what is coming.
What are your hopes for 2024?
I hope that we can continue to build a world in peace, with democracy, social justice, equity, inclusion and greater wellbeing within each of our communities and globally.
To achieve this, we will continue to strengthen the ICA, promoting the participation of members, integrating regions, sectors and committees, and strengthening links with different actors on the international stage.
In this way, we will continue to advance in the positioning of the co-operative paradigm in the world and will surely generate new recognitions such as this year’s various United Nations resolutions and reports and the proposal of 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives.
