Global Calendar

International Day of Co-operatives: first Saturday of July

The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) was formed on or around this Day in 1895, and since 1927 has observed the first Saturday of July as International Day of Co-operatives to highlight the contribution that co-operatives make across the world.

The ICA's definition of a co-operative 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". Co-ops range from small-scale to multi-million dollar businesses in over 100 countries across the globe, employ more than 100 million people and have more than 800 million individual members.

» For further information visit the ICA website at: www.ica.coop.

The theme for International Day of Co-operatives 2010 is ""Co-operative enterprise empowers women". You can find further information, including video clips, at www.ica.coop/activities/idc.html. To mark the occasion, Christian Aid published a photo-gallery of how its partner organisations are using cooperatives to transform people’s lives around the world, with a particular focus on women.

Through co-operative systems people can work together to support themselves in moving out of poverty, rather than being dependent on aid, for example. Studying co-operatives can link in with issues of trade, business management and workers' rights. To find ideas to celebrate the International Day of Co-operatives in your school, browse through the resources listed on our database with the keyword 'co-operative'.

The United Nations has declared the year 2012 to be International Year of Co-operatives.