Theme of 2019 International Day of Cooperatives is cooperatives for decent work

International Day of Cooperatives 2019 theme will be coops4decentwork

COPAC is pleased to announce that Coops4decentwork is the theme of this year’s International Day of Cooperatives (CoopsDay). Work – decent work – is a fundamental mechanism for inclusion and social justice. Making decent work a reality for all is embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s theme is linked to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 on “promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”. Celebrated on the first Saturday of July each year, the CoopsDay falls on 6 July this year. COPAC will be organizing the observance of the 2019 IDC at the United Nations in New York in July. To learn more or attend, please contact copac@copac.coop.

Why this theme?

Regarding today’s high unemployment levels, particularly among the youth, increased job insecurity, and widening inequalities, the 2019 #Coopsday theme will be linked to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 ‘Inclusive development and decent work’. Cooperatives, as people-centered enterprises and key development actors, have a strong role to play in creating decent jobs and empowering economically and socially local communities.

Their principle No2: ‘Democratic member control’ which enables communities to own and control cooperatives in a common and democratic fashion constitutes the path to inclusive and sustainable growth, living no one behind.

As a result of being values-driven enterprises owned, controlled and run by and for their members cooperative workers feel ‘a combination of a quest for efficiency, shared flexibility, a sense of participation, a family-type environment, and a strong sense of identity among others’, as revealed from a series of interviews, conducted for the report ‘Cooperatives and Employment: a Global Report’.

The ILO is celebrating its Centenary this year with a special focus on the Future of Work. In this context, the ILO and ICA will co-organize a conference on “Cooperatives and the Future of Work” on Monday 24 June 2019, just after the Session of the International Labour Conference.

About the International Day of Cooperatives

The United Nations International Day of Cooperatives is celebrated annually on the first Saturday of July.

The aim of this celebration is to increase awareness on cooperatives, highlight the complementary goals and objectives of the United Nations and the international cooperative movement, underscore the contributions of the movement to the resolution of the major problems addressed by the United Nations and strengthen and extend partnerships between the international cooperative movement and other actors.

In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first Saturday of July 1995 to be International Day of Co-operatives, by resolution 47/90 of 16 December 1992.