The Cooperative Society Newsletter
June 2025, Issue 53
By E.G. Nadeau, Ph.D.
Co-ops Day
The International Day of Cooperatives isn’t until Saturday, July 5, but I thought I would give you an early heads-up. 2025 marks the 103rd celebration of this event. The theme this year is “Driving Inclusive and Sustainable Solutions for a Better World.” In its Co-ops Day announcement, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) stated that “Cooperatives operate in every sector of the economy worldwide—agriculture, finance, housing, health and care, education, energy, retail, industry and services . . . and have consistently demonstrated their ability to advance social justice, economic democracy, and ecological sustainability while offering efficient, innovative and inclusive solutions to community needs.”
Co-ops Year
2025 has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Cooperatives in a resolution that states, in part, “cooperatives . . . promote the fullest possible participation in the economic and social development of local communities and all people, including women, young people, older persons, persons with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples, whose inclusion strengthens economic and social development, and contribute[s] to the eradication of poverty and hunger. . . . “
The resolution also “encouraged all Member States, as well as the United Nations and all other relevant stakeholders, to take advantage of the International Year as a way of promoting cooperatives and raising awareness of their contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.” (More about the Sustainable Development Goals below.)
So, why celebrate these events?
Co-ops are a big deal in the world economy. As democratically owned enterprises that put service above profit, they are a stark contrast to large stockholder- and state-owned corporations that currently dominate the global marketplace. The International Cooperative Alliance reports that there are more than 1 billion members of about 3 million cooperatives worldwide, and that 10% of the global employed population works for cooperatives.
There is plenty of room for exponential growth in the cooperative movement in the next couple of decades. The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, concluded in a post-pandemic report that “more than 4 billion people [over half the world’s population lack] . . . access to health care and income security, particularly in relation to old age, unemployment, sickness, disability, work injury, maternity or loss of a main income earner, as well as for families with children.”
This analysis is consistent with the estimated need for reducing extreme poverty and hunger, and achieving a range of health, social service, economic and energy goals by 2030 identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals program.
A joint announcement by several UN agencies and co-op apex organizations recently stated that “[c]ooperatives are uniquely positioned to drive sustainable development, embodying principles of inclusivity, equity, and people-centered growth. By prioritizing the needs of their members and communities, cooperatives contribute directly to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs].” The announcement went on to list the roles that co-ops can play in advancing each of the 17 SDGs.
Because of the effectiveness of co-ops in addressing these problems, there is excellent potential to double the number of cooperative members to 2 billion by 2050.
For this rapid growth to occur, however, the international cooperative community will need to make some fundamental improvements in supporting and coordinating cooperative development projects.
These improvements are a key component of transitioning to a more cooperative world economy in the coming decades.
Conclusion
The good news is that millions of co-ops and more than a billion co-op members are already in place. We know the model works, and that many opportunities are available for expanding the size and number of these cooperatives.
The less-good news is that there is a need for much greater coordination among cooperative development organizations and other organizations supportive of co-op development to increase the effectiveness of fundraising, planning, organizing, financial networking, and applied research in order to realize the potential for exponential growth in the next quarter century.