The first World Cooperative Monitor (WCM) was published in 2012, to coincide with the first International Year of Cooperatives and since the start, it has focused on data collection, accompanied by analysis on different themes. To mark the second IYC, the organisations behind the WCM – the ICA, EURICSE and ICETT – looked to do something different: include interviews with CEOs of some of the largest cooperatives, many of whom were also members of the Cooperatives and Mutuals 50 (CM50) leadership circle.
The CM50 was convened by the ICA to expand the cooperative and mutuals market share as part of the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and beyond by bringing together cooperative and mutual leaders from across the globe, and aligning on lobbying and legislative priorities.
The organisation brought in to conduct the interviews was Co-op News - the world’s oldest independent cooperative media organisation, which focuses on connecting, challenging and championing the cooperative movement. Alongside a news website and a monthly magazine, Co-op News provides communication and consultancy services to other cooperative businesses.
“The purpose of these interviews was to give real-world context to the numbers in the monitor,” says Rebecca Harvey, Executive Editor of Co-op News. “Figures tell an important story of scale, but don’t show the genuine difference this business model makes to members, employees, communities and the planet.”
Throughout 2025, in the lead-up to the World Social Summit in Doha in November, Harvey spoke with 20 cooperative leaders. These conversations were led by five questions: Tell us about your cooperative. How does your cooperative make a difference to its members? Why is the CM50 important? What are your hopes for the World Social Summit and beyond? How can cooperatives build a better world?.
“The conversations captured a picture of the cooperative difference – and a diverse cooperative ecosystem that demonstrates how businesses can be run in a way that is democratic, sustainable, and people-centred while also being incredibly successful,” says Harvey.
“We heard stories of cooperatives tackling some of the world’s most urgent challenges, from food security and climate resilience, to education, access to healthcare and financial protection. Every story was different, but the common thread was that because cooperatives and mutuals exist to serve members and communities rather than external shareholders, they can plan and act for the long term, by reinvesting surplus in members, infrastructure, and communities, rather than extracting for shareholder return.”
The conversations also highlighted the importance of international platforms like the CM50, she added, which have the ability to connect cooperatives across borders, accelerate learning and strengthen the cooperative movement’s collective policy voice.
Read the interviews at CM50.coop. The full interviews will also be available on YouTube.
