Friday, 1 July 2016

International Day of Co-operatives 2016, July 2nd.

International Day of Co-operatives 2016, July 2.
合作社國際日, 7月2日.
Международный день кооперативов, 2 июля.
Día Internacional de las Cooperativas, 2 de Julio.
Journée internationale des coopératives, 2 Juillet.
.اليوم الدولي للتعاونيات، 2 يوليو


Cooperative artisanal, industrial and producers services


Theme 2016: “Cooperatives: The power to act for a sustainable future”.

Statement by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the International Day of Cooperatives 2016, July 2nd.

Cooperative endeavour is about empowerment, inclusion and sustainability. It is designed to uphold the principles of equality and democratic participation. It embodies the principle of the Sustainable Development Goals that no one should be left behind. Cooperatives play an important role in many societies.
The United Nations estimates that one person in every six is either a member or a client of a cooperative. Worldwide, some 2.6 million cooperatives employ 12.6 million people. Their assets are worth about $20 trillion and they generate about $3 trillion in annual revenue. Like the Sustainable Development Goals themselves, cooperatives are people-centred. Owned and run by their members, cooperatives are strongly committed to the communities they serve. Agricultural cooperatives help to improve the productivity of small producers by facilitating access to markets, credit, insurance and technology.
Social cooperatives can provide an important safety net in the face of declining or minimal public welfare. In the financial sector, cooperatives serve more than 857 million people, including tens of millions of people who live in poverty. Since the 2007-2008 global financial and economic crisis, financial cooperatives have proven their strength and value. They have maintained good credit ratings, increased their assets and turnover, and experienced growth in membership and customer base. With their offer of economic, social and environmental resilience, the potential contribution of cooperatives to sustainable development is clear.
This year, we celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives under the theme “Cooperatives: The power to act for a sustainable future”. We believe cooperatives can make significant contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals on employment, poverty, hunger, and equality. On this International Day of Cooperatives, I urge Governments to create an enabling environment for cooperatives to thrive and grow. Let us harness the power of cooperatives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and create a world of dignity and opportunity for all.
 
Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General








Statement by the ILO Director-General Guy Ryder on the occasion of International Day of Cooperatives 2016.

“Cooperatives: The power to act for a sustainable future”,
I am pleased to join the cooperative movement around the world in celebrating this International Day of Cooperatives.
The theme for this year’s international day, “Cooperatives: The power to act for a sustainable future”, is not only timely following the unanimous adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015. It also offers an important opportunity to highlight the outstanding work of cooperatives, and their major contribution to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Cooperatives are not a new idea, but are more relevant than ever if we look at the development challenges and opportunities the world faces over the coming decades.
Today, the world of work is at a crossroads, with the need to create over 600 million new jobs globally by 2030 to keep pace with the growth of the working population. What is more, the quality of jobs will need to be improved in order to enable women and men to lift themselves out of poverty and informality.
Many cooperatives worldwide have shown their capacity to provide quality jobs and thus support sustainable development. They contribute to SDG 8 , as livelihoods of millions of people around the world depend on cooperatives, but also to a number of other goals, including those related to poverty reduction, zero hunger, gender equality, and peace and justice. Over decades, cooperatives have offered a resilient, democratic, sustainable and economically viable model of doing business in all sectors of the economy.
To highlight these achievements, and in collaboration with the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) , the ILO issued a study in 2014 showing examples of how cooperatives help achieve sustainable development
. This research contributed to the discussion leading to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Agenda.
Cooperatives, together with other micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, will continue to play a key role in providing decent jobs for all, including young people.
 
They offer a low-barrier entry to the world of entrepreneurship, and play a key role in formalizing work in the informal economy. This leads to better working conditions and enhanced livelihoods for millions of workers and their families around the globe. For these and other reasons, the ILO recognizes the role of cooperatives as drivers of sustainable development, and remains a strong supporter of the cooperative enterprise model.

We look forward to continue working with the cooperative movement in making sustainable development and decent work a reality for all women and men.

Guy Rider, ILO Director-General.
 
 
 


 
Distinguished guests,
Dear co-operators, dear partners,
It is a great honor for me to be here at the United Nations in New York as we celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives.

Today, by our presence at the United Nations, the cooperative movement is taking a pledge to contribute actively in reaching the UN’s goal to ensure a sustainable future for all of us.
With our values and principles of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity, co-operatives are strong and lasting businesses that bring communities together.
Cooperatives are created from a collective need making them true builders of sustainability as they help people reaching their aspirations and offer access to goods or services without exploitation.
 
Cooperatives are significant economic and social actors.
 
Across the world, there are more than:
 
- 1 billion members of cooperatives.
- 2.6 million cooperatives businesses that generate more than 3 trillion USD in annual revenues and creating more than 250 million jobs.
 
In Canada, my home country, there is more than 18 million co-operative members and we count close to 155 000 jobs in Canada’s co-operative movement. According to the Financial Post magazine, La Coop fédérée based in Quebec is the 2nd most important agri-food business in Canada with more than 18 000 employees with 7,4 billion USD in annual revenues. The Desjardins Group, also based in Quebec, is the leading financial cooperative in Canada with more than 7 million members and clients, recognized by Bloomberg as being the most solid banking institution in North America.
 
  • In Mongolia, agricultural cooperatives are a fundamental structure to ensure revenues for rural communities.
  • In Brazil, agricultural cooperatives are involved in 50% of all agricultural trade and export 5.3 billion USD of their products to 143 countries. Also, 35% of all Brazilians with a health plan are served by health cooperatives.
  • In Germany, 65% of the population is member of a cooperative, getting financial services, consumer goods and energy.
  • In Sweden, cooperative members represent almost half of the population and the 100 largest cooperatives have annual revenues of more than 40 billion USD with more than 70 000 employees. Cooperatives have been at the center of economic and social development for many years providing food, housing, financial services and jobs to a large part of the Swedish population.
  • In China, the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing to Farmers, represents and provides services to more than 85 million members and jobs to over 2 million employees.
 
I could go on with more examples of the cooperative contributions to the economic and social growth in different countries and all of them are builders of sustainability.
 
The slogan of the 2016 International Day of Cooperatives is “Cooperatives: The Power to Act for a Sustainable Future”, was chosen to emphasize the cooperative contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
As we celebrate the International Day of Co-operatives, let’s put the spotlight on the co-operative business model and explain how co-operative businesses are able to use their power to act to build a better living for all.
 
Here are some examples:
 
  • Cooperative economic success and democratic governance ensures that no one is left behind and therefore contributes to eradicating poverty.
  • Cooperatives are instrumental to achieve food security and help end hunger by allowing farmers to produce more and better quality food through the power of the collective.
  • Cooperatives help to empower women in the world, especially in countries where they are vulnerable. In particular, cooperatives provide women with employment opportunities, and contribute to financial inclusion and literacy efforts.
  • Another example in the insurance sector is the project 5-5-5 launched by the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation. This global cooperative initiative aims to reach 5 million people in 5 countries for a total of 25 million uninsured low-income households that will be covered with micro-insurance plans for risk and resilience.
 
And, of course, sustainability is also one of the five priorities of the Blueprint for a co-operative decade, the global strategy for cooperatives by 2020 where the movement has given itself a vision in order to reach their full potential.
On that matter, the International cooperative alliance is working with the FAO and the ILO to identify concrete targets and indicators for cooperatives to better evaluate our contribution to the SDGs. The outcome of this collaboration among many others with FAO and ILO and our work with the Blueprint will be shared with the UN.
 
In addition, in order to showcase our commitment, we are launching the “Coops for 2030” platform that will gather the pledges of cooperatives all over the world towards the implementation of the SDGs. We are asking all cooperatives to come together, share their targets and experiences and unite in a common framework that will show our power to act.
 
On the 11th of July, in collaboration with the Committee for the Promotion and advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) we will be hosting a side event at the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and cooperative solution initiatives.
Finally, the International Summit of Cooperatives, the world's leading event for business development in the cooperative and mutual community, has a rich program based on the theme: “Cooperatives: The Power to Act”.
 
 
The 2016 Summit will allocate a full day on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals while engaging cooperative leaders, global agencies, and world-renowned experts, towards resolving these global issues.
 
Together, they will focus on providing concrete solutions regarding food security, employment, access to health care and social service, poverty and financial inclusion and climate change and sustainable development.
 
You are all invited to come and join us next October in Quebec City to experience this unique opportunity of discussion and concertation, from which we hope to draw an action plan for the coming years. More than 3 000 cooperators from 100 countries are expected to participate.
I strongly believe in a plural economy, supported by a strong and efficient public sector, growing innovative companies and dynamic cooperatives.
Cooperatives are important for the people and communities they serve but are also a crucial pillar of the economy.
I believe that the cooperative business model is not sufficiently understood by policy makers, regulators and commentators.
As president of Alliance, I call for a formal recognition of the values that cooperatives and mutuals add to the global economy and society.
It is a call for action to translate this recognition into meaningful improvements to regulatory, legal and business support structures, both globally and at the level of national governance.
I am so please that we have today this opportunity for constructive dialogue.

On the International Day of Cooperatives, I encourage all cooperators in the world to share how we contribute to the Goals by making a pledge on our Coops for 2030 platform.
 
More than ever, the world needs cooperation.
 
Cooperatives are there to support people and communities.
Cooperatives are true builders of sustainable development.
I wish you a happy International Day of Cooperatives!
 
Monique Leroux'
Presidente of the International Coperative Alliance - ICA



The 2016 International Day of Co-opératives.


FORUM : International Day of Co-operatives - July 2.
" Cooperative enterprises are committed to the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations. "

Celebration of the 94th International Day of Cooperatives of the International Cooperative Alliance and the 22 th International Day of Cooperatives Nations,
 
This year celebrations will be dedicated to the contribution cooperatives provide to the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.


EVENTS :

The Power to act for a sustainable future: International Day of Co- operatives 2016.
Friday, 1 July 2016 - 12pm
 
 
 
On 2nd July we will be celebrating Interantional Day of Co-operatives. This year celebrations will be dedicated to the contribution cooperatives provide to the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The International Co-operative Alliance invites cooperators from all around the world to join the international campaign #coopsday. You can visit the website www.coopsday.coop to find useful information and resources to make the best of this day. 
 
Additionally, on July 2nd  www.coopsfor2030.coop will be launched, an online platform for cooperatives to learn about the SDGs, explore how co-operatives can help achieve them and make pledges to contribute to the SDGs. 


Decent Work & the Global Goals. International Labour Organization.

The ILO's Kevin Cassidy discusses goal 8 of the the 2030 sustainable development goals with Stephen Pursey, ILO Senior Policy Adviser and G20 Coordinator, and how we can achieve a fair globalization.


 
 
 
 

- Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
- Hungary Bankers Slam Government Savings Cooperatives Policy - Bloomberg
- The Green Movement and its Inconvenient Truths - Podcast Foreign Policy
- Wyoming Searches for the Technology to Save Coal, Can new technology clean up the dirtiest fossil fuel?
- Australia's regions already have an energy crisis – and a climate of investment is the answer
- Japan’s Prime minister also plans accelerated railway construction to boost economy - WSJ
- Track climate pledges of cities and companies. Nature Research Journal
 
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