International Year of Cooperatives

Last updated

2012 was designated as the International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 2009. [1]

The designation has honored the use of cooperative organizations to contribute to socio-economic development across the world. [2] It officially launched on 31 October 2011 with the theme "Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World". [3] United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was invited to speak at the November 2011 summit of the International Co-operative Alliance to celebrate the designation. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kofi Annan</span> Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006

Kofi Atta Annan was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as chairman of The Elders, an international organisation founded by Nelson Mandela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations</span> Intergovernmental organization

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization. The UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City, and has other main offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, and The Hague.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Health Organization</span> Specialized agency of the United Nations

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health". Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.

Cooperative Autonomous association of persons or organizations

A cooperative is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors. Cooperatives may include:

A United Nations General Assembly resolution is a decision or declaration voted on by all member states of the United Nations in the General Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mondragon Corporation</span> Spanish cooperative federation

The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain.

A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner who each have one vote.

The United Nations General Assembly has granted observer status to international organizations, entities, and non-member states, to enable them to participate in the work of the United Nations General Assembly, though with limitations. The General Assembly determines the privileges it will grant to each observer, beyond those laid down in a 1986 Conference on treaties between states and international organizations. Exceptionally, the European Union (EU) was in 2011 granted the right to speak in debates, to submit proposals and amendments, the right of reply, to raise points of order and to circulate documents, etc. As of May 2011, the EU was the only international organization to hold these enhanced rights, which has been likened to the rights of full membership, short of the right to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Phone Co-op</span> UK based co-operative telecoms supplier

The Phone Co-op is a consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom, which provides landline, mobile telephone and Internet services, including web hosting and broadband. Now part of the Midcounties Co-operative, the largest independent co-operative in the UK, it is owned by its customer-members who democratically control the business and who share in its profits. This makes The Phone Co-op the only telephone co-operative in the UK.

The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) is a non-governmental co-operative federation or, more precisely, a co-operative union representing co-operatives and the co-operative movement worldwide. It was founded in 1895 to unite, represent and serve co-operatives worldwide. The Alliance maintains the internationally recognised definition of a co-operative in the "Statement on the Co-operative Identity". The ICA represents 318 co-operative federations and organisations in 112 countries.

Consumers co-operative Autonomous association owned and managed democratically by its clients

A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a form of mutual aid, oriented toward service rather than pecuniary profit. Consumers' cooperatives often take the form of retail outlets owned and operated by their consumers, such as food co-ops. However, there are many types of consumers' cooperatives, operating in areas such as health care, insurance, housing, utilities and personal finance.

Cooperative banking Type of retail or commercial bank organized cooperatively

Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maraba coffee</span> Brewed beverage

Maraba coffee is grown in the Maraba area of southern Rwanda. Maraba's coffee plants are the Bourbon variety of the Coffea arabica species and are grown on fertile volcanic soils on high-altitude hills. The fruit is handpicked, mostly during the rainy season between March and May, and brought to a washing station in Maraba, where the coffee beans are extracted and dried. At several stages, the beans are sorted according to quality. The farmers receive credits based on the amount and quality of the beans they provide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Co-operative economics</span> Study of autonomous associations interactions with production and distribution

Cooperative economics is a field of economics that incorporates cooperative studies and political economy toward the study and management of cooperatives.

CICOPA is a branch of the International Cooperative Alliance. Founded in 1947, CICOPA has a membership of 46 national and regional cooperative federations or support organizations. CICOPA is active in 30 countries, promoting worker cooperatives, social cooperatives and producers' cooperatives in industry and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community wind energy</span> Local ratepayer-owned air current power

Community wind projects are locally owned by farmers, investors, businesses, schools, utilities, or other public or private entities who utilize wind energy to support and reduce energy costs to the local community. The key feature is that local community members have a significant, direct financial stake in the project beyond land lease payments and tax revenue. Projects may be used for on-site power or to generate wholesale power for sale, usually on a commercial-scale greater than 100 kW.

National Agricultural Cooperative Federation

The South Korean National Agricultural Cooperative Federation was established in 1961 to enhance the social and economic status of its membership and to promote a balanced development of the national economy. Its role is divided into three areas: marketing and supply, banking and insurance, and extension services.

International Co-operative Day is an annual celebration of the co-operative movement observed on the first Saturday in July since 1923 by the International Co-operative Alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Lowcock</span>

Sir Mark Andrew Lowcock is a British economist and accountant who served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator between 2017 and 2021. Prior to his appointment by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on 12 May 2017, Lowcock was the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development (DFID) from June 2011 to September 2017. He is currently a Visiting Professor in Practice at the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. He is also a Trustee/Director of The Howard Partnership Trust, a multi-academy trust of schools in Surrey.

Cooperatives Europe

Cooperatives Europe is the European regional office of the International Co-operative Alliance and acts for cooperative enterprises in Europe. Representing 83 member organisations from 33 European countries, across all business sectors. Cooperatives Europe promotes the cooperative business model in Europe and advocates for a level playing field between cooperatives and other forms of enterprise. Its members represent 123 million individual member cooperators owning 160.000 cooperative enterprises and providing jobs to 5.4 million European citizens.

References

  1. "United Nations General Assembly Resolution 64/136: Cooperatives in social development" (PDF). United Nations General Assembly. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  2. "2012 – International Year of Cooperatives". United Nations . Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  3. "United Nations Launches Year-Long Celebration of Vital Role of Cooperatives in Sustainable Development" (Press release). United Nations. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  4. "International Co-operative Alliance launches 2012 International Year of Co-operatives" (Press release). International Co-operative Alliance. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2017.