Building a Better World Together: Cooperative Contributions to the SDGs is a policy brief series developed in support of the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025 (IYC2025) to highlight how cooperatives advance sustainable development by strengthening resilience, promoting inclusion, and supporting people and communities through collective action. The SDG 2 brief – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture demonstrates how cooperatives address the structural drivers of hunger and food insecurity by strengthening food systems, improving access to markets and services, and ensuring that value is distributed more equitably across agrifood chains.
Drawing on diverse cooperative models — including agricultural, consumer, worker, financial, and multi-stakeholder cooperatives — the brief presents real-world examples from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. These cases illustrate how cooperatives support small-scale producers, stabilize food supply, reduce post-harvest losses, promote sustainable and climate-resilient production, and improve access to affordable and nutritious food for communities, particularly in vulnerable and crisis-affected contexts.
Produced by the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the brief affirms that cooperatives are essential partners in achieving SDG 2 through people-centred, democratic, and inclusive approaches. During the International Year of Cooperatives and beyond, cooperative solutions offer practical and scalable pathways to advance food security, improve nutrition, and ensure sustainable livelihoods while leaving no one behind.
The policy brief is available for download in English, with Spanish and French forthcoming.