On 20 February, the International Cooperative Alliance was invited to attend the Seminar of EU Delegations (EUDs) Focal Points for Human Rights & Democracy, Civil Society and Gender Equality as signatory of a new ICA-EU Partnership Agreement (2024-2028), the second phase of the ICA-EU Partnership (2024-2028), also called #coops4dev.
During the seminar, the ICA underlined the importance of constructive dialogue and good collaboration for sustainable partnerships with the European Union across the globe. The ICA was represented by Marc Noël, Director of Partnerships, and by Annalisa Vallone, International Development Coordinator at Cooperatives Europe, one of the ICA regional organisations.
Marc Noël delivered a presentation on the ICA-EU Partnership, exploring how to initiate and maintain constructive dialogues at local level, fostering synergies between EU Delegations and ICA Member Organisations to ensure localisation of the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The ICA representatives also met with EUDs representatives to discuss the UN International Year of Cooperatives and the upcoming regional initiatives, the ICA’s engagement in the European Commission’s Development Policy and Global Gateway under #coops4dev, and its participation in EU consultations and dialogue at country level.
What is #coops4dev?
The ICA-EU Partnership (2024-2028) - also called coops4Dev- is a five-year international cooperative development programme that aims to strengthen the ICA network and position cooperatives as international development actors in the EU Development Agenda. This is the second partnership between the ICA and the European Commission (DG International Partnerships, DG INTPA), following its successful predecessor 2016-2021. All information on this programme can be found at www.coops4dev.coop.
