06.02.2014
ICA e-Digest January 2014 * Co-operatives, business and state
Dear Fellow Co-operators, Welcome to the first issue of 2014. This year the Alliance will further progress the Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade. We want co-operatives to be the fastest growing form of business by 2020.
It is even more timely since signs are that the world shares our vision. This January, the World Economic Forum has taken place with the theme: “The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business.” One of the key conferences was social entrepreneurship, a topic again standing central at this month’s Social Enterprise and Employment Conference organized by the European Commission, which CICOPA, Cooperatives Europe and Euro Coop Colleagues attended. Both this and the Forum’s theme show that governments understand that a new vision for society and the economy is needed. If you attended any of those two meetings, please send us a note. We’d like to hear your impressions.
Further to the government – co-op debate, we look in this edition at how co-operatives are supporting the economy with stories from Canada and Afghanistan, and how the state promotes co-operatives in France and Tanzania. This partnership with governments shows how co-ops indeed act as a third pillar in society.
Through strengthening co-operation this year we will make sure this message is spread to governments and supra-national Institutions.