The Working Women’s Forum (India)-Indian Cooperative Network for Women (WWF-ICNW) has been selected to organise a high-level side event during the 64th session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (CSocD64), scheduled to be held from February 2 to 10, 2026, at the UN Headquarters in New York. The side event will take place virtually from WWF’s headquarters in Chennai on February 5, 2026, between 10.00 a.m. and 11.15 a.m. (EST).
Titled *“Strengthening Grassroots Cooperative Institutions as Catalysts for Social Justice, Economic Resilience and Gender Equality”, the 75-minute session has been officially allocated to WWF-ICNW by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The event marks a significant global recognition for the Indian women-led cooperative movement.
WWF-ICNW, which holds consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), described the selection as a proud milestone in its three-decade-long engagement with the United Nations system. Notably, it is currently the only cooperative network worldwide to receive such recognition during this session of the Commission, underscoring the growing international acknowledgement of grassroots women’s cooperatives as engines of inclusive development.
A total of 45 side events have been approved during CSocD64, and the WWF-ICNW programme has been placed in the first session on the fourth day of the Commission, ensuring visibility across regions and continents. The event highlights nearly five decades of WWF-ICNW’s work in organising poor and working women into sustainable, member-driven cooperative institutions.
The session will bring together a diverse and influential panel of speakers and participants from across the globe. Representatives from the International Raiffeisen Union, Germany, the world’s oldest cooperative union, will join discussions alongside delegates from the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO). Other participants include officials from the CARICOM Secretariat’s Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Development division in Guyana, Mme Ghada Ahmadein from the Africa-based Regional Nile Women’s Network (RNWN), and women cooperative leaders from South Africa, Brazil, Latin America, Asia, and Korea.
In addition, several UN bilateral agencies, cooperative unions, international networks, and civil society organisations are expected to participate. Around 500 grassroots cooperators, primarily women leaders associated with WWF-ICNW, will also join the live virtual programme, offering a strong grassroots perspective to global policy discussions.
The side event aims to showcase how cooperative institutions rooted at the community level can advance social justice, enhance economic resilience, and promote gender equality, particularly among marginalised women.
Participation in the event is open to stakeholders worldwide through prior registration, reflecting the global and inclusive spirit of the Commission for Social Development.
