Reliable and quality statistical data are essential in order to fully understand the scope of the cooperative movement in the world and the economic, social, and environmental impacts of cooperative enterprises on sustainable development.
While statistical data on cooperatives are available, information is not necessarily collected in the same way or at all within every country or sector. The kinds of data collected also vary widely. For example, not all countries or sectors track gender disaggregated data.
The members of COPAC recognize the need for improved quality of cooperative statistics, especially now that implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is underway, and that the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) is on the horizon for 2018.
To take the issue forward, COPAC is organizing a multi-stakeholder workshop for experts on cooperative statistics. The workshop will take place on 5-6 April 2016 in Rome, Italy at FAO headquarters.
The objectives of the workshop are to:
- Present the findings from the global mapping and country case studies by the ILO and FAO and gather feedback and inputs from participants;
- Identify and agree on key areas for future joint work during 2016-17, also within the framework of the SDGs, to improve the accessibility and generation of statistics on cooperatives, including the following areas:
- identification of the definitions, data collection methods and classification schemes currently used in official statistics on cooperatives around the world;
- development of proposals for a standard, operational definition of cooperatives and data collection methods;
- contributions to the process for the development of international guidelines on cooperative statistics and methodologies for collection of data, to be proposed to the October 2018 ICLC.
Download the full workshop agenda.