International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2025 - A time for celebration and action

What is a cooperative: 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.

Cooperative values: Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

Cooperative Principles: The cooperative principles are guidelines by which cooperatives put their values into practice. The following are the seven cooperative principles.

1. Voluntary and Open Membership: Cooperatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons who are able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.

2. Democratic Member Control: Cooperatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels are also organised in a democratic manner.

3. Members’ Economic Participation: Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing their cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.

4. Autonomy and Independence: Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.

5. Education, Training, and Information: Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public - particularly young people and opinion leaders - about the nature and benefits of co-operation.

6. Cooperation among Cooperatives: Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

7. Concern for Community: Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.

International Cooperatives Alliance: The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is an independent non-governmental organisation that unites, represents and serves cooperatives worldwide. The Alliance was founded in London, England on 19 August 1895 during the first Alliance Cooperative Congress. The headquarters of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is in Brussels, Belgium. The four Regional offices are in Brussels for Europe, Nairobi for Africa, San José, Costa Rica for Americas and New Delhi for Asia Pacific. There are eight sectoral organisations of ICA such as Agriculture, Banking, Retail, Fisheries, Health, Housing, Insurance and Industry & services. The ICA represents 315 cooperative federation and organisations in 107 countries.

The ICA Global Cooperative Conference was organised at Bharat Mandapam New Delhi from 25^th to 30^th November, 2024. The conference attracted delegates from over 100 countries who discussed how cooperatives build prosperity for all, focusing on four conference pillars: 1) Reaffirming the cooperative identity, 2) Enabling supportive policies, 3) Developing strong leadership and 4) Building a sustainable future.

The speakers at the conference include UN representatives, Indian government officials and cooperators. The launch ceremony was attended by about 3000 participants including India’s Prime Minister who delivered a keynote address in which he highlighted the important role cooperatives play in this country. India is home to 8,00,000 cooperatives including the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative (IFFCO), the world’s largest cooperative by turnover on GDP per capita. The Prime minister further said, “For India, cooperatives are a way of life, cooperation is the basis of our culture, it is a life style & cooperative spirit will be the life of the country. UN Secretary General said, “Cooperatives like the ones you represent demonstrate the importance of standing together to forge solutions to global challenges.” The ICA president thanked IFFCO along with the other ICA members in India for hosting the conference. He also said, “Let us go out to embrace the new generations, those who donot know the practice of organised cooperation.”

The launch of UN International year of cooperatives (IYC) 2025: The United Nations’ first International Year of Cooperatives was celebrated in 2012, when cooperatives worldwide highlighted their contributions to socio-economic development, particularly their impact on poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration.

During the ICA Global Cooperative Conference at New Delhi from 25^th to 30^th November, 2024, the International year of cooperatives (IYC) 2025 was launched by the United Nations’ General Assembly. The theme for the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2025 is declared as ‘Cooperatives build a better world’. This is considered as an opportunity for the global cooperative movement to engage in a year-long celebration of their impact and achievements, a plan for a future that builds prosperity for all.

Over the next twelve months, the ICA will work to increase the visibility   of cooperatives and raise public awareness about their contributions to sustainable development, advocate for enabling environment and supportive legal and policy frameworks for strengthening their entrepreneurial ecosystem and promote the growth and development of cooperatives through capacity building initiatives, knowledge sharing and collaborative partnerships. The ICA is also planning a range of activities to inspire young people to join the movement in 2025. The United Nations has unveiled the official logo for the 2025 International Year of Cooperatives (IYC), symbolizing unity and global collaboration.

"The International Year of Cooperatives 2025 is a time for both celebration and action. In India, the central Government, State governments and different cooperative organisations including Cooperative Banks have started making plans for year-long celebration through different activities, seminars, conference etc. At Mumbai, Union Home Minister & Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah inaugurated & released International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2025 calendar and launched the National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC) office in Mumbai on 23^rd January, 2025.

At Gangtok, the capital city of northeastern state of Sikkim, a function was organised by the state cooperation department on 24^th January, 2025 at Sahakari Bhawan in which different cooperative societies, organisations including Managing Directors & GMs of SISCO Bank and Citizens’ Urban Co-operative Bank were present and in that function the Sikkim Government’s Minister of Cooperation Shri Arun Kumar Upreti inaugurated & released the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2025 calendar and urged upon all present to strengthen the cooperative movement in the state of Sikkim.