With International Year of Co-operatives 2025 behind them, organisers are already looking forward to the future after 12 months’ hard work celebrating and strengthening the co-op movement worldwide.
The IYC 2025 theme – Cooperatives Build a Better World – aimed to highlight the unique role of co-ops in progressing sustainable development, inclusive growth and community resilience across the globe. Its success has been such that December’s UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming, among other things, an International Year of Cooperatives every 10 years.
Key tasks outlined at the beginning of the year included not only raising public awareness and showcasing how co-ops contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but also promoting overall growth and development and pushing for the legal changes and policy developments that allow co-ops to thrive.
Throughout the year, Copac – the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Co-operatives – served as the UN-designated lead organiser and coordinating body, acting as official host, convenor and promoter of activities showcasing co-operatives’ contributions to sustainable development.
Established in 1971, for over 50 years this UN-backed global partnership has brought together major international organisations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) to strengthen the impact co-ops can make.
Copac’s co-ordinator for the IYC 2025 Secretariat was Mattie Milliken, an international consultant who has worked for the UN and ILO for several years in the field of gender equity and the social and solidarity economy. She is delighted at the impact the IYC 2025 has made – and Copac’s contribution to that.
“Copac worked closely with UN entities, member states, and the co-operative movement to support policy dialogue, knowledge production, and visibility within key multilateral processes,” she says.
Related: Q&As co-operators looking back on IYC2025
“A cornerstone of this work was the joint policy brief series with the ICA, Building a Better World Together: Cooperative Contributions to the SDGs. The series documented co-operative contributions across the SDGs and created a shared evidence base that will continue to inform policy discussions beyond 2025.”
Another major milestone, says Milliken, was the global momentum around co-operative policy reform at the national level, with several countries advancing or revisiting legislation and strategies during the Year. Copac also supported a wide range of global and high-level UN events, including engagement at the UN Commission for Social Development, the Financing for Development Conference in Seville, the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), and the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha.
“These moments ensured that co-operatives were reflected not only as economic actors, but as partners in advancing decent work, social inclusion, and resilience,” adds Milliken.
“At the global policy level, co-operatives were explicitly recognised across major UN outcome documents. The UN’s HLPF 2025 Ministerial Declaration in New York referenced co-operatives under SDG 8 for their role in creating decent jobs and strengthening local economies.
“The Financing for Development Conference outcome in Seville called for increased investment in MSMEs, co-operatives, and the social and solidarity economy. The UN Secretary-General’s report on co-ops urged governments to reform legislation, integrate co-ops into national development plans, and support women- and youth-led initiatives. And the Doha Political Declaration from the World Social Summit in Qatar reaffirmed co-ops as key drivers of poverty eradication, social inclusion, and decent work.”
Related: International Year closes at World Summit for Social Development
The Social Summit programme included the closing ceremony of the IYC 2025 on 4 November, attended by a raft of distinguished guests including UN assistant secretary general, Bjorg Sandkjaer and ICA president, Ariel Guarco. Copac also hosted an exhibition booth in Doha, which provided a space to showcase co-operative contributions to the SDGs and to engage directly with member states, UN partners, and stakeholders attending the Summit.
“Overall, the International Year of Cooperatives 2025 marked a year of sustained global engagement, recognition, and collective action across regions and sectors,” Milliken says. “It helped position co-operatives as people-centred enterprises that contribute directly to inclusive, equitable, and sustainable development.”
The statistics in terms of the scale and engagement across the globe achieved by IYC 2025 are certainly impressive.
More than 200 IYC-related events were held in over 100 countries, ranging from policy dialogues and youth summits to co-operative fairs and research symposia. These activities connected co-ops, governments, UN agencies, and partners across regions and sectors. The official IYC website, 2025.coop, received over 80,000 visitors from more than 120 countries and served as a central hub for information, resources, and event listings. The IYC Events Portal also played a key role in connecting initiatives and showcasing co-operative action.
Over 1,000 organisations formally applied to use the official IYC 2025 logo – and a common message was amplified throughout the Year through the hashtags #IYC2025 and #CooperativesBuildABetterWorld, helping to elevate co-operative stories of innovation, resilience, and impact.
All that serious engagement will now be used to draw up a roadmap for the years to come. Copac is currently preparing a global IYC impact survey, launching shortly, to permanently capture valuable lessons and outcomes. It will gather feedback from member states, co-operatives, and other stakeholders on how the Year was used, what impacts were observed, and how the momentum can be sustained. The findings will then inform Copac’s follow-up advocacy and preparation for future International Years of Cooperatives.
As we go forward into 2026, what are the overall lessons the global co-op movement can learn from IYC 2025 and the legacy it can take forward? Milliken believes that “one of the clearest lessons from IYC 2025 is that co-ops gain the greatest traction when they are embedded within broader development frameworks, rather than treated as stand-alone actors.
“The year also demonstrated the importance of aligning co-operative action with priorities such as decent work, social protection, care systems, climate resilience, and financing for development. It reinforced the value of combining evidence with lived experience.”
Policy briefs, data, and UN outcomes were strengthened by concrete co-operative examples from communities and enterprises on the ground, she adds, while the next phase will be about “translating international recognition into concrete policy reforms, improved statistics, stronger institutional support, and capacity-building at national and regional levels”. The new ten-year cycle for the International Year of Cooperatives provides a clear framework for sustained engagement.
“One abiding memory of IYC 2025 is the breadth of participation, from small community co-operatives to global institutions, all engaging around shared values of solidarity, democracy, and inclusion. Another highlight was seeing co-operatives increasingly framed within UN spaces as forward-looking solutions to contemporary challenges, rather than as legacy models. This shift in narrative, reflected across major UN declarations and events, stands out as one of the Year’s most meaningful achievements.
“Ultimately, IYC 2025 stands as a reminder that co-operation is not only a principle, but a practical and proven pathway toward building more equitable, resilient, and people-centred economies.”
