Cooperatives: Building multi-stakeholder partnerships on sustainable development

The Asia-Pacific Co-operative Development Conference will focus this year on the theme “Building Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships on Sustainable Development.” The conference will take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 26 February to 1 March 2018. It is being co-organized by the International Co-operative Alliance - Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP), ICA-EU Partnershipi on Co-operatives in Development: People Centered Businesses in Action (#coops4dev?) and the Sri Lankan co-operative movement led by the National Co-operative Council, Consumer Co-operative Federation, SANASA Federation, Kotikawatta Thrift & Credit Co-operative and National Institute of Co-operative Development.

The Conference is a strategic dialogue among stakeholders on development policy, which is aimed to create structured exchange and development partnerships among co-operatives and stakeholders in the pursuit of Sustainable Development. It will feature four thematic sessions on Eradicating Poverty: Opportunity, Protection and Empowerment; Building a more Sustainable Food System: Hunger, Food Security and Livelihoods; Improving Access to Basic Goods & Services: Economic, Social and Cultural aspects; Protecting the Environment: Concern for Community along with working sessions on the three Asia Pacific Strategic Development Priorities namely, Sustainable Development Goals; Youth Inclusion and Exploring ‘Work’ and ‘Ownership’ Structures in Co-operatives.

The conference will also host a ‘development meeting’ of representatives of Alliance members and friends of the co-operative movement, who are currently engaged in and/or have the potential for international development, to explore creating a physical co-operative network with its primary focus on co-op led (sustainable) development, in Asia Pacific. The Alliance and the US Overseas Development Council jointly organized the global co-operative development meeting, under the mandate of the ICA-EU development partnership, on the theme: Co-operatives and International Development: How can Co-operatives and Mutuals do more and better together? The meeting was organized on the side-lines of the International Summit on Co-operatives in October 2016 in Quebec, Canada.

Latest Background Note and Proposed Agenda.

For more information about this Conference, please visit: http://bit.ly/ica-apcdc2018.

Source: ICA Asia and Pacific