Throughout 2026, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is hosting a series of online events for members to explore the organisation’s 2026-2030 strategic plan: Practice, Promote, Protect and how it can be used by member organisations. . The ICA website has a page dedicated to the Strategic Plan that includes the public version of the document available in English, Spanish and French.
The first introductory Members' Chat event took place in February, with the second hosted on 15 April, looking specifically at the idea of Advocacy, which is one of the strategy’s five pillars.
Introducing the April event, ICA Director-General Jeroen Douglas described the ICA’s advocacy work as “the engine that converts our values into law, our identity into policy, and our movement into a recognised partner at multilateral, regional, and also national level”.
At the multilateral level, the ICA is ensuring the cooperative model is “hard-coded into the UN's post-2030 agendas”, said Douglas, pointing to its participation at last year’s Second World Social Summit as part of this work. At the regional and national level, the ICA is focused on law development. “We cannot practice our values if the legal framework of a country treats a cooperative like a capital-centric corporation”, he explained.
Joseph Njuguna, ICA Director of Policy, shared some of the advocacy and policy work currently being carried out by the organisation, and described how members can use this work in their own national advocacy.
At the global level, the ICA is working to position cooperatives in key international policy spaces, including global policy forums and institutions such as the UN and its agencies. Njuguna also highlighted the SDG policy briefs the ICA has been developing with the UN Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC), describing them as “advocacy tools we can utilise to advocate for cooperatives and the work that we are doing to showcase that we are already delivering on sustainability, inclusion, and economic resilience.”
He encouraged ICA members to use the briefs in their national advocacy work, such as in the SDG voluntary national reviews, which are presented every July at the UN High Level Political Forum.
Speaking from a regional perspective, Agnes Mathis, Director of Cooperatives Europe, outlined the work of its EU Coordination Committee (EUCC), which works to position Cooperatives Europe on European Commission priorities that affect all co-op sectors, such as access to finance, SME policy, gender and youth.
She stressed the importance of getting involved in decision-making processes as early as possible, as the sooner contact is made, “we have more chance to be taken on board on different drafts, regulations, or strategies that are in the pipeline”.
But she also acknowledged that more work is needed. “Although cooperatives are officially recognised in the European Treaty, we can't say that there is currently a cooperative reflex within the European Union,” said Mathis.
Dr Rose Karimi Kiwanuka, Director of ICA-Africa, discussed the regional body’s advocacy work across the African co-op movement, with a particular focus on inclusion and an enabling environment. She highlighted the National Cooperative Gender Platform, co-developed with ICA-Africa members, which promotes gender equality.
She also highlighted how Africa’s Model Law on Cooperatives was adopted last year by the African Union Pan-African Parliament to support an enabling environment for cooperatives.
Advocacy work is further supported, said Dr Kiwanuka, by ICA Africa's structured dialogue platforms (such as the Africa Ministerial Cooperative Conference and the Technical Committee of the Africa Ministerial Cooperative Conference) as well as a comprehensive advocacy and lobbying toolkit.
NCBA CLUSA’s Director of Government Relations, Aaliyah Nedd, shared insights from the United States, explaining that the sector body’s key message to policymakers is that “co-ops should be a preferred solution to address today's challenges”, along with highlighting the cooperative difference.
Nedd described co-ops as a “unifier” in politics. “Despite the headlines in the news, there's largely a requirement to negotiate between parties and create compromises, and we know that co-ops go beyond specific political parties or affiliations”
NCBA CLUSA also produces an annual policymakers' guide to outline its key priorities, which can be used by members, ensuring that all members across different sectors are “singing from the same songbook”.
ICA Communications Director, Leire Luengo Eslava, rounded off the discussion, highlighting the importance of events like the 2025 International Year of Cooperatives and International Cooperatives Day, which takes place every July.
When used strategically, explained Ms Luengo Eslava, these events reinforce the movement’s ability to protect the model through recognition, to influence policy and to strengthen practice through global mobilisation. Four more Members’ Chats are planned for 2026, addressing the remaining four pillars of the strategic plan:
21 July: People
13 October: Future
10 November: Finance
15 December: Data
