TOKYO, Feb. 3 — The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the apex global cooperatives’ body, has said this year’s International Day of Cooperatives will be themed “sustainable consumption and production”.
The day, celebrated annually to raise awareness of cooperatives, is held on the first Saturday of July. This year it falls on July 7.
“We believe that co-operatives are an important and efficient instrument to fight poverty,” said ICA President Ariel Guarco at the UN headquarters in New York.
“Cooperatives bring people together in a democratic and equal way. They allow people to take control of their economic future and the economic and social benefits of their activity stay in the communities,” he added.
Guarco also announced some recent results of ICA’s pledges that cooperatives around the world have committed to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Cooperators are now invited to participate in selecting one from three slogan proposals for the day: Sustainable societies through co-operations; Choose a coop for a greener planet, for a common future, for a better world; and Choose a coop, together for the planet.