ICA’s theme of 2018 “sustainable consumption and production of goods and services” was unveiled in the presence of its President Ariel Guarco in New York recently.
The theme gives an opportunity for co-operatives to show how they run successful businesses while respecting natural environment and resources it offers, claims a press release from ICA.
It was unveiled during an event “Cooperatives: Developing people-focused strategies to end poverty”, organized by the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) in the framework of the 56th session of the Commission for Social Development.
“We believe that co-operatives are an important and efficient instrument to fight poverty. Co-operatives bring people together in a democratic and equal way. They allow people to take control of their economic future and, because they are not owned by shareholders, the economic and social benefits of their activity stay in the communities where they are established. These are two very important characteristics of cooperatives especially when it comes to fighting poverty”, said Mr Guarco.
He mentioned several co-operative experiences and presented the latest results of the online platform called Coops for 2030, including examples of pledges that co-operatives around the world are taking to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There have been 300 pledges from 100 co-operatives in 40 countries so far.
With “sustainable consumption and production of goods and services” as the theme in mind, co-operators from around the world are invited to participate in selecting the #CoopsDay slogan. Until noon on the 8th of February (UTC?5), Twitter users can vote for one of three potential slogans:
- Sustainable societies through co-operation
- Choose a co-op: for a greener planet, for a common future, for a better world
- Choose co-op: Together for the planet
The 2018 International Day of Cooperatives will be celebrated on the 7th of July.
(Based on media release from ICA)