The global apex body for cooperatives, founded in 1895 and headquartered in Brussels — one of the oldest non-governmental organizations in the world, representing an estimated 3 million cooperatives and 1 billion co-op members. Its members are more than 330 national and international cooperative organizations from 106 countries, across agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and industry and services. It is the guardian of the Statement on the Cooperative Identity — the definition, 10 values, and 7 principles all cooperatives share — and works through four regional offices (Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe), eight global sectoral organizations (Cooperative Housing International among them), and committees and networks on gender, research, law, youth, and development. Its 2026 Global Conference in Panama City drew more than 1,100 people from 80 countries and adopted a 2026-2030 strategy for the movement.
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A 90-minute global Zoom webinar from the International Cooperative Alliance and its Working Group on Cooperative Cultural Heritage, marking the International Day of Intangible Cultural Heritage. It looks at how cooperatives help communities sustain living traditions — crafts, cultural practices, the livelihoods tied to them — and pass them to younger generations, drawing on ICA's cooperative heritage list, and launches a policy brief linking co-ops to UNESCO's 2003 Convention and the International Decade of Culture for Sustainable Development (2027-2036). Open to members, friends, and partner organizations; interpretation in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. 13:00-14:30 CET.
Checked Oct 21, 2026 for ways to get involved: found the events listed above, and found no community to join.
Added the 2026-10-30 Cooperative Cultural Heritage webinar, the only upcoming event on its calendar. The Global Conference & Assemblies (Panama City, 2026-09-13 to 09-18) has already happened. Its October 2026 EU-partnership training sessions are past, and they are aimed at member organizations working with EU Delegations rather than at the public. No Slack, Discord, or forum: the member area is a login, and the rest is news and resources. Its regional offices and sectoral bodies (e.g. ICA Asia and Pacific, Cooperative Housing International) are separate research candidates.