The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is bringing together business leaders from around the world to explore ways to expand the co-operative and mutuals market share as part of the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and beyond.
“Cooperatives and Mutuals 50 (CM50) is a leadership circle to bring co-op and mutual leaders together during the International Year of Cooperatives,” says Joseph Njuguna (pictured), the ICA’s director of policy, “to collaborate and develop advocacy work, to ensure that co-ops can position themselves to be represented at the UN World Social Summit in November.”
The summit, in Doha, Qatar, on 4-6 November, has the primary objective of advancing social development globally and providing renewed momentum for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are currently lagging behind target.
“This a very high-level UN event where heads of states will be coming together to adopt a declaration on social development and chart the way forward to see how the SDGs can be accelerated,” says Njuguna. “We want to ensure that co-operatives are represented there.”
The project builds on the World Cooperative Monitor, the annual report produced by the ICA and the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse) which collects economic, organisational and social data about the world’s largest 300 co-operative businesses. Many of the leaders shortlisted for the CM50 feature in the monitor, but the criteria is not limited to this.
Related: Fairtrade co-ops are better for forest conservation, says report
“We also work with other large co-ops through the International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Think Tank (Icett),” says Njuguna, adding that Icett members are not necessarily listed in the monitor but have the perspective of large organisations – for example, by having a net worth of over $1bn or a membership of more than 1 million individuals.
Icett was founded in 2018 and brings large co-ops together for discussions. It has directly inspired CM50, but while it focuses on co-operative entrepreneurship and innovation, CM50 is an advocacy platform.
“So in a way, their role is complementary,” adds Njuguna, “but CM50 has one objective: the advocacy towards ensuring co-ops are recognised by governments and the UN.”
The CM50 selection process was a collaborative effort between the ICA and its regions and sectors. “So far we have 50, but it is not limited to 50, we are planning to go beyond that.”
A kick-off meeting was held on 22 January, with another online meeting planned for 20 March to discuss the engagement strategy and roadmap towards Doha, and a physical meeting on 22 May in Madrid. Alongside collaborations between individuals, the plan is to co-produce two public outcome documents by November, including a co-op charter and a commitment plan.
“The charter, which we hope to have ready in May, is a way of bringing the co-operative identity to life,” says Njuguna. “It’s them coming to declare that this is what we want to do and this is what we’re seeking to elevate the co-operative identity. The commitment plan will be the five-year strategy on how we’re going to work together and collaborate with the UN and governments to ensure we accelerate the SDG agenda because we are in the last five years of the SDGs. The plan will be finalised in September, ready to be presented to governments at the World Social Summit.”
The ICA is hoping to have the closing event for the International Year of Cooperatives in Doha, he adds. “We’re going to engage with the summit and tell them: ‘This is our commitment plan and this is how we are looking forward to working with you’.”
This year’s World Cooperative Monitor will also be launched in Doha, as a special edition pulling together activities undertaken during the International Year of Cooperatives, and including interviews with several members of the CM50 group.
“The analytical side of the monitor will still focus on analysing the data in terms of showcasing tangibly how co-ops are contributing to the implementation of social, environmental and economic aspects,” says Njuguna. “But it will also, for the first time, have a journalistic side – interviews with 15 CM50 members who will share what kind of contribution and difference their organisation is making.”
This is also a subject being looked at by the ICA’s research team which, supported by its framework partnership agreement with the EU, is cataloguing what kind of impact co-operatives have created in the world since the first International Year of Cooperatives in 2012.
“When we say that ‘co-ops build a better world’, we need to evidence this,” says Njuguna. “We are developing a series of SDG policy briefs – not just to do a report, but to really look at what kind of contribution co-ops have made.
“And once it is ready, we will be able to publish and showcase the impact co-ops are creating in society, and what kind of possibilities and opportunities can help scale up their impact.”
Although they will be looking at co-ops’ contributions to all of the 17 SDGs, starting in March, there will be a focus on five specific SDGs: health (SDG3); gender equality (SDG5); decent work (SDG8); life underwater (SDG14); and partnerships (SDG17).
“And we are not leaving out the environmental contribution, either,” says Njuguna, “because two weeks after the Doha event, we have the COP30 in Brazil – and there we want to showcase how co-ops are contributing to climate action.”
All of this activity has the purpose of ensuring the ICA “has a successful International Year of Cooperatives and that co-ops are recognised,” he says. “And we have some inspiration cases. One is the UK government’s pledge to double the co-op sector.
“We want to see if more governments can make these kinds of pledges,” says Njuguna. “The CEOs of the CM50 can help build this kind of network.
“Through this, we want to see how we can influence global policy outcomes and position co-operatives as catalysts in terms of accelerating the implementation of the SDGs.”
