Leaders of the world’s largest cooperatives and mutuals met in person in Manchester on 4 July, where they continued working on a commitment plan that will be presented at the United Nations’ Second World Social Summit in Doha in November.
The meeting, which took place at the Co-op Group’s HQs in Manchester, was the second in-person meeting for the group, after its Madrid meeting in May and two online meetings before that.
Welcoming fellow CM50 leaders to the Co-op Group’s headquarters, Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq said it was important for the group to speak as a collective and provide a counter voice for some of the things happening in the world.
She was echoed by the ICA’s Director General, Jeroen Douglas, who argued 2025 is a tipping point year.
“A paradigm shift taking place under our own eyes every day, the geopolitical world is changing rapidly,” he said.
He talked about existing global issues such as climate change, conflicts, migration, growing inequality, and the erosion of democratic values, adding that cooperatives can help to address all these issues. He explained that by bringing the leaders of the world’s largest cooperatives together, the ICA aims to build its own Davos that can deliver on its alpha - the cooperative identity- and omega - increasing cooperatives’ and mutuals’ share in the global economy.
Shaun Tarbuck, former CEO of ICMIF, co-initiator of the CM50 and Chair for the meeting, explained that the lobbying before the World Social Summit in Doha is just the beginning.
The meeting also heard from Andrew Allimadi, Social Affairs Officer at the United Nations, who talked about the Common Agenda Report published in 2021 by the UN Secretary General. The report identified a tendency towards individualism, away from a common agenda, solidarity and global collectivity.
“That was 2021 and it seems the situation seems to be getting worse,” he said. In proposing the world social summit, the UN was looking to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“This International Year of Cooperatives is giving us another chance to show the values, principles and the work cooperatives are doing and bring this work to Doha and show the leaders the solutions they are looking for already exist within cooperatives. Cooperatives are practicing these solutions every day,” he said.
He added that increasing mentions of cooperatives within the final World Social Summit Declaration needs to come from interactions between cooperatives and their national governments. The UK government’s commitment to double the size of the cooperative and mutual economy, he said, was a good example of mentioning the World Social Summit’s facilitators are looking to include.
He encouraged cooperative leaders to encourage their governments to include more action-oriented recommendations.
The meeting agreed to write a joint CM50 letter to distribute to UN colleagues to highlight the movement’s commitment to building a better world via concrete examples.
Cooperatives are mentioned in the UN Social Summit zero draft declaration, however ICA Director of Policy, Joseph Njuguna, said a stronger recognition is needed and encouraged cooperative leaders to continue engaging governments, suggest action oriented recommendations to them and call on them to integrate co-ops and mutuals in national plans.
During the meeting, the CM50 leaders also shared how they are engaging with their governments to ensure cooperatives are mentioned in the final World Social Summit Declaration.
Cooperative leaders from Canada, Kenya, India, UK, Spain, Bulgaria, Philippines, Chile, and Australia shared how they are engaging with different governments to promote the cooperative agenda ahead of the Summit.
The meeting also featured an update on the previous meeting in Madrid, where leaders decided to focus on three work streams: rebuilding post conflict, promoting cooperative education and governance; and building a cooperative marketplace.
One way in which cooperatives can help scale the cooperative economy is Coop Exchange, a new platform that facilitates investment in cooperatives.
“If we as a movement don’t design the financial tool to scale our model, no one else will,” explained Steve Gill, CEO of Coop Exchange.
“So let’s go to Doha with something real and say we didn’t just call for change, we created the system to deliver it,” he added.
Bringing the meeting to a close, Mr Douglas highlighted the inclusivity in terms of gender, sectors and languages of the CM50.
“Let’s make this a success,” he concluded.
The ICA is planning to convene the next CM50 gathering in Doha during the World Social Summit from 3-6 November, where the cooperatives and mutuals leaders will officially launch the CM50 Manifesto and Commitment Plan, alongside the special edition of the World Cooperative Monitor and the Legacy event for the International Year of Cooperatives. More information regarding the Second World Summit for Social Development can be found here: https://social.desa.un.org/world-summit-2025/about.
Photo: CM50 leaders at the Co-op Group's HQs in Manchester
