As part of the ICA General Assembly, leaders from the 50 most influential cooperatives and mutuals in the world met on July 4 in Manchester to continue advancing the commitment plan that will be presented this coming November at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha. The meeting was held at the Co-op Group headquarters in Manchester and marked the second in-person meeting of the CM50, following the one held this past May in Madrid.
During the meeting, it was agreed to draft a joint letter from the 50 represented entities to be distributed among UN personnel, with the aim of highlighting the cooperative movement’s commitment to building a better world through concrete examples.
CM50 leaders also shared the initiatives they are undertaking with their respective governments to ensure that cooperatives are included in the Summit’s Declaration on Social Development. Cooperative leaders from countries such as Canada, Kenya, India, the UK, Spain, Bulgaria, the Philippines, Chile, and Australia shared their efforts with governments to promote the cooperative agenda ahead of the Summit.
Cooperatives are included in the draft of the UN World Summit for Social Development Declaration; however, Joseph Njuguna, ICA Policy Director, emphasized the need for greater recognition and urged cooperative leaders to continue engaging governments, offering them actionable recommendations, and asking them to integrate cooperatives and mutuals into national development plans.
“The UK government’s commitment to doubling the size of the mutual and cooperative economy is a good example of what we aim to include in the World Summit Declaration,” he said.
International representation
Shirine Khoury-Haq, CEO of the Co-op Group, welcomed the CM50 leaders and stressed the importance of “speaking as a collective in response to global developments.”
ICA Director General Jeroen Douglas described 2025 as “a decisive year” in which “a paradigm shift is happening before our eyes.” Referring to today’s global challenges — climate change, conflicts, migration, growing inequality, and the erosion of democratic values — Douglas emphasized that cooperatives are capable of addressing them all.
According to him, with CM50, the ICA seeks to create “its own Davos,” where the cooperative identity can be showcased and the participation of cooperatives and mutuals in the global economy can grow.
Shaun Tarbuck, former CEO of ICMIF, founding member of CM50, and chair of the meeting, said that the advocacy actions leading up to the Doha Summit are just the beginning. Meanwhile, Andrew Allimandi, UN Social Affairs Officer, remarked that 2025, the International Year of Cooperatives, “gives us a new opportunity to showcase cooperative values and principles and the work cooperatives are doing, and to present them to leaders in Doha — to show them that the solutions they’re seeking already exist. In fact, cooperatives apply these solutions every day.”
Examples of promoting cooperativism
One of the tools through which cooperatives can help expand the cooperative economy is Coop Exchange, a new platform that facilitates investment in cooperatives. Its CEO, Steve Gill, warned: “If we don’t design the financial tool that allows us to promote our model from within the movement, no one else will do it for us.” He added that they must come to the next meeting with “something tangible,” agreements that “make it clear that we’re not just asking for change — we’ve created a system that enables it.”
The Second World Summit for Social Development, where cooperative and mutual leaders will officially launch the CM50 Manifesto and Commitment Plan, will take place from November 3–6, 2025, in Doha. The first one was held 30 years ago in 1995, in Copenhagen. A special edition of the World Cooperative Monitor will also be presented, along with a commemorative event for the International Year of Cooperatives.
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