Cooperatives as Drivers and Partners of Transformative and Localized SDG Action (HLPF 2026 Side Event)

Colleagues, good morning. Thank you for coming. We are about to start our event. And this event is webcast also, just to let everybody know, so let's not be dispirited. There is a bigger audience beyond us here. So we are at this event organized by the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives, which includes us of the United Nations Department of Economic Affairs, the International Cooperative Alliance, the International Labour Organization , the International Trade Centre , and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization . And our event today is on cooperatives as drivers and partners of transformative and localized SDG action. My name is Andrew Alimadi. I work with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs as a social affairs officer, and I shall be the moderator of this event today. First, I'd like to thank our excellencies who attended with us today. We have got Her Excellency, Deputy Permanent Representative of Mongolia, Ambassador Batsengel. Thank you very much for coming. We also have His Excellency, Deputy Permanent Representative from the Republic of Sierra Leone, Ambassador Kalilu Totangi. Thank you very much for joining us. And I want to start by thanking both ambassadors and thank Mongolia in particular, because you have always been a very strong supporter of the United Nations Resolution on Cooperative and Social Development.. And in the resolution last year, you managed to include the commemoration of the International Year of Cooperatives every 10 years. So we had a successful International Year of Cooperatives last year, and we are looking forward already to the International Year of Cooperatives 2035. Thank you very much. And Ambassador Totange from your country, Sierra Leone, has been in the Security Council recently and you have been a strong voice for peace. And this International Day of Cooperatives is also celebrating the work of cooperatives in peace and development across the world. So your inputs will be very instrumental given that you have been in the Security Council promoting peace of late. So thank you also so much for attending. So this side event is organized also as part of the International Day of Cooperatives commemoration, which takes place every year on the 4th of July, the first Saturday of July. I think this year was also the 4th of July, so there were other celebrations taking place other than the International Day of Cooperatives, which included a lot of fireworks. We can accept it as part of the cooperative celebration. Which— it's growing— shows how important cooperatives, especially for the Sustainable Development Goals. Today we'll also see some Sustainable Development Goals brief prepared by the cooperative movement, which indicates how including peace and other elements of international development which cooperatives are involved in. We have a short time with us today, so without further ado, I would like to invite the ambassadors to speak. First, we'll hear from Ambassador Batsengel, the DPR of Mongolia. Please.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to today's side event co-organized by COFAC together with our partners and friends committed to advancing sustainable development through cooperative action. I extend my sincere appreciation to all distinguished speakers and to all representatives to UN system cooperatives, organizations, civil society, and other stakeholders for joining us today. This event takes place at a critical moment. With only 4 years remaining until 2030, the international community faces an urgent task of accelerating progress towards the 20 SDGs. Economic uncertainty, widening inequalities, climate change, and conflicts continue to place considerable pressure on our societies. Addressing these challenges requires solutions that are innovative, inclusive, and rooted in local communities. This is precisely where cooperatives have an important role to play. For generations, cooperatives have demonstrated that economic prosperity and social responsibility reinforce one another. Built on the principles of democratic participation, solidarity, and shared ownership, they empower people to shape their own economic and social development. Across the world, cooperatives generate decent work, strengthen food security, expand financial inclusion, support small producers, promote gender equality, and empower young people. By fostering resilient local economies, they ensure that development reaches those who are left— often left behind. This year's co-observance of the International Day of Cooperatives under the theme Cooperatives for a Peaceful World reminds us that lasting peace depends on not only on political agreements but also on inclusive economic opportunities, social justice, trust within communities, and meaningful participation. Cooperatives foster these very foundations by creating shared prosperity, strengthening social cohesion, and reducing inequalities. For Mongolia, this discussion is particularly meaningful. As the initiator of the biennial General Assembly resolution Cooperatives and Social Development, we have consistently advocated for a stronger international recognition of cooperatives as partners in achieving sustainable development. At the national level, we have renewed our commitment to cooperative development as an important pillar of inclusion and sustainable growth. Through our New Cooperative Movement, thousands of new cooperatives have been established across the country, expanding opportunities for herders, farmers, women, and local entrepreneurs through improved access to finance, markets, and modern technologies. Our experience has reaffirmed that when people organize collectively, communities become more resilient, more productive, and better equipped to respond to economic, environmental, and social challenges. Today's event provides an important opportunity not only to reflect on these achievements but also to look ahead. The launch of the 17 SDG policy briefs is a timely and valuable contribution to our understanding of how cooperatives can accelerate implementation across the entire 2030 Agenda. I commend COPAC and the International Cooperative Alliance and all contributors to this important initiative. I also hope today's discussion will encourage stronger partnerships among governments, the UN, development partners and financial institutions, and the cooperative movement. By creating enabling policy environments and integrating cooperatives systematically into national development strategies and volunteering national reviews, we can unlock their full potential in advancing the SDGs. As we work to accelerate progress during this decisive decade, we must continue investing in solutions that are people-centered, people-driven, and sustainable. Cooperatives embody this principles. They remind us that development is most effective when it is built with people, not merely for people. I wish you a productive, inspiring discussion and look forward to valuable insights that will emerge from today's event. I thank you all.

Thank you, Ambassador. Thank you very much. And now I invite Ambassador Totangi to make his statement. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Thank you very much, Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, representatives of United Nations, COPAC and International Cooperative Alliance, civil society and the cooperative movement. It is a pleasure to welcome you to this important side event on behalf of my delegation. I thank COPAC, the International Cooperative Alliance, Odessa, and all partners for convening this timely discussion on the critical role of cooperatives in accelerating implementation of the 2030 Agenda. I have a prepared speech, but I will set it aside for a moment as a child of the cooperative to share my experiences with you. I grew up in a village in southern Sierra Leone where my mom and her 4 sisters were part of the cooperative. And so as a young child in my village, I was a beringer for the cooperatives. They met every last Saturday of the month to discuss their affairs. And I saw firsthand how the cooperatives helped to improve lives in my community, including my own. My mom and our sisters were part of the cooperative. They borrowed from the cooperatives. My mother was a garatay person, and her sister had a bakery. And using the funds from the cooperative, they ran their businesses, and they cared for us cooperatives. The money they took for the cooperatives and what they did paid our school fees, kept us healthy, and fed us. They had a strict rule in the cooperative. You don't borrow from the cooperative to marry a woman or to do buono society, but you can borrow from the cooperative to do business, to pay child school fee, or for medical reasons. So we saw how that cooperative helped us in our community. At the time, I remember when they had a difficulty of a rice mill. They came together as a cooperative and they bought themselves a rice mill. That rice mill helped the farmers in our community and over time it worked a lot to improve the lives of the community members. So I would not argue that cooperatives are localized or they are self-governing, but I will share this experience to show that one incident that I quite remember now is When they elected their chairperson, who also was called the Mami Queen, they didn't vote by individuals. Every one of them had shares in the cooperatives, and they used those shares to determine who would become the leader of their cooperatives. And so you will see that it was not only their own, but they did something that even the men folks envied, to a point that the men themselves set themselves up in a cooperative where they would go to work the plough land to have farms of their own so that they can take care of those manly needs, as we would consider them. I remember one other incident where the Paramount Chief and other sub-chiefs used to visit my aunt late at night to have discussions. Later on, we learned that the chiefs came to borrow money from the women's fund so that they can take care of important things. So what my aunt did was to use that as leverage. Now, when women fell foul of the law, what they did, they took them to prison. We used to call it the block, or what I now found out is the cell block. So what my aunt did, using her influence as a cooperative leader, what she did was to ensure that rather than taking women prisoners to the cell blocks where they were isolated, they came to live with us in our households. That way, she prevented them from being abused by the men folks at the cell blocks. So using the cooperative, she was able to garner some authority in the community to protect women. That is very important. So when I look at all of these SGD things that you have outlined, I will say that the cooperative, in my own circumstance, helped to reduce poverty in our community. They also helped in healthcare, quality education. They helped in several of these fields that you have outlined. So we, as a country, have a lot of experience dealing with the cooperatives. So back to my statement, as we begin the 2026 High-Level Political Forum under the theme Transformative, Equitable, Innovative, and Coordinated Actions for the 2030 Agenda, and Sustainable Development Goals, we do so with a profound sense of urgency. With only 4 years remaining until 2030, the international community must scale up solutions that are practical, inclusive, locally owned, and capable of delivering lasting impact across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Cooperatives represent precisely such a solution around the world. This year's International Day of Cooperatives, celebrated under the theme Cooperatives for a Peaceful World, reminds us that sustainable peace depends not only on the absence of conflict but also on the presence of opportunity, inclusion, justice, and hope. Cooperatives contribute to peace by reducing inequalities, strengthening social cohesion, promoting dialogue, and ensuring that communities have a genuine stake in their own lives. Importantly, cooperatives demonstrate that localization is not simply a development principle, it is a development necessity. Communities therefore by themselves best understand their priorities, resources, and challenges. When citizens are empowered to organize collectively and participate democratically in economic life, development becomes more resilient, more equitable, and more sustainable. As member states, for the final stretch Towards 2030, we should ensure that national development strategies, voluntary national reviews, financing frameworks, and local implementation plans fully recognize and engage cooperative societies. Creating enabling legal, policy, and financial environments for cooperatives is not simply supportive for one sector; it is an imperative in inclusive and sustainable development itself. Sri Lanka remains committed to strengthening partnerships among governments, the United Nations system, financial institutions, development partners, and the cooperative movement. We believe that these partnerships will be essential if we are to close the implementation gap and ensure that no one is left behind. As one of the co-facilitators of the negotiations on the 2026 High-Level Political Forum Ministerial Declaration, Sierra Leone also recognizes importance of building consensus around practical, people-centered solutions that accelerate SDG implementation and strengthen international cooperation during Decisive Decade of Action. Let us therefore seize this opportunity to elevate cooperatives —from recognized simply as contributors to sustainable development to being fully acknowledged as strategic implementation partners for achieving the 2030 Agenda. Together, through partnership, solidarity, and collective action, we can build more peaceful and resilient, inclusive and purposeful societies. I wish you productive and inspiring discussions. This session. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Excellency, and thank you for giving us your personal experience, which indicates not only that cooperatives are democratically controlled, but also that women, powerful women, lead some cooperatives, which is not very common at the moment. I still see that cooperatives for women, cooperatives that promote youth, cooperatives that promote other vulnerable communities still fewer than perhaps desirable, and it's good to see that Sierra Leone has taken a lead already in this area. So thank you very much, sir. So for now, we have a couple of video messages. The first one is going to be from the Director-General of the International Labour Organization honouring the International Day of Cooperatives, to be followed by the President of the International Cooperative Alliance.

So, colleagues, um, dear friends, peace is more than the absence of war. It rests— more than 1 billion people are cooperative members. Cooperative employment reaches 1 in 10 workers worldwide. The 300 largest corporate— Dear friends, peace is more than the absence of war. It rests on social justice. That conviction lies at the heart of the ILO's mandate and speaks directly to this year's International Day of Cooperative theme: Cooperative for a Peaceful World. Today, peace is under strain. Conflict, displacement, inequality, economic insecurity, environmental disruption, and declining trust affect people's lives. In this context, cooperatives make a vital contribution. They create jobs and livelihoods, strengthen local economies, and help keep essential goods and services within reach. They retain value locally while giving people a voice, shared responsibility, and democratic control. More than 1 billion people are cooperative members. Cooperative employment reaches 1 in 10 workers worldwide. The 300 largest cooperatives and mutuals generate nearly $2.8 trillion in combined turnover. The ILO's Promotion of Cooperatives recommendation calls for a supportive policy and a legal framework that reflects the nature of cooperatives and is guided by cooperative values. Values and principles. Cooperatives also contribute to stability, job creation, and community resilience in times of crisis. On this International Day, let us recognize cooperatives for their role in bringing people together for a more peaceful world rooted in decent work and social justice. Thank you so much.

Queridos amigos y amigas cooperativistas, en este Día de las Cooperativas tenemos que poner nuestra voz en alto para decir una vez más que la cooperación es el otro nombre de la paz.

Que sin una economía justa, inclusiva y solidaria no es posible asegurar un futuro armónico en materia social, económica y ambiental.

Que la libertad, la democracia y la prosperidad en cada una de nuestras naciones requiere de un fuerte protagonismo de las empresas cooperativas.

Que queremos para nosotros y para las generaciones que vienen un mundo digno de ser vivido.

Esto es: un mundo justo, un mundo inclusivo, Inclusive, un mundo en paz.

Feliz Día Internacional de las Cooperativas.

Thank you, colleagues. That concludes our opening segment. Now we're going to go into— what? Oh, there's one more video coming right now or later on? Oh, right now. Oh, it's this. Francesco Tulli. Okay, there's one more video. Oh, it's coming later. Okay, so now we're going into a roundtable discussion. Excellencies, you're welcome to stay, but I'll leave it at your discretion. So we want to have a multi-panel discussion, but thank you very much for being with us earlier today. Thank you very much. I also will leave it at your discretion because there are a wide range of interesting panelists. Who are going to lead us into the following discussion. We are going to first hear— is it the SDG brief? So, okay, we have a colleague from the International Cooperative Alliance. Thank you. So Joseph Njuguna, the Director of Policy at the International Cooperative Alliance, is going to take us through the briefs that we have prepared, that the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives have prepared on the SDGs and the work of cooperatives.

So, Joseph. Thank you. Thank you so much, Andrew. And I want to say good afternoon. Oh, it's afternoon already. Good afternoon and also good evening to those who are joining us depending on where you're joining us from. And it's a pleasure that we had distinguished delegates from the Republic of Sierra Leone and also from Mongolia. Who has given us a very nice speech and also sharing how from their countries they are advancing and promoting cooperatives and how cooperatives are also supporting the citizens of their countries. This afternoon I just wanted to share briefly because otherwise there is a lot of work that we have done and on your tables we have put up some briefs just to share. If you can be able to scan, you'll be able to see the policy briefs that we have worked on. And I'll be presenting about the Building a Better World Together. This is an exercise we started last year after the International— or with the International Year of Cooperatives, and we produced 17 SDG briefs showcasing the work that cooperatives are doing at the at the national level and internationally in terms of promoting and implementing the SDGs. As you have already heard from the Director-General of ILO and the President of the International Cooperative Alliance, the world celebrated the International Day of Cooperatives on Saturday. I think it was a double blessing for the citizens of America because you are also celebrating 250th anniversary So we were also in the world celebrating the International Day of Cooperatives, and the theme for this year was cooperatives for a peaceful world. And I think, as we all know, it could never be more fitting to have such a theme as now. And it's a call from the cooperative movement that indeed we really need to have a peaceful world where we can be able to thrive economically and our people can be able to empower themselves. So I'll be talking briefly about it, but so far I just wanted to share about the SDG briefs that we have worked on together with COPAC. COPAC is the UN Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives, where we collaborate with different UN agencies— UNDESA, ILO, FAO, UNRSD, and ITC, International Trade Center. And we have also a representative from the FAO here, so I want also to acknowledge her presence. So with cooperatives, we have been working very hard in monitoring the implementation of SDGs since they were inaugurated in 2015, and we started an exercise exercise on cooperatives for 2030 since 2016, and this is— so it is not just an exercise that we started last year with the International Year of Cooperatives. It's something that we have been doing over the years, but during the International Year of Cooperatives, we also given a challenge also by His Excellency the UN Secretary-General when he was asking what is that cooperatives are also offering to the world. It was the International Year of Cooperatives, not only to promote cooperatives but also to show what cooperatives are doing. And we didn't do the— or the objective for this was not to prove that cooperatives contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, because we already know they are. Rather, we wanted to demonstrate how they contribute and highlight practical evidence from around the world. And provide policymakers with examples that can be replicated and scaled. We have only scratched the surface. If we had documented every cooperative success story, these would have become books rather than policy briefs. So instead, we have the 17 briefs to provide snapshots of how cooperatives are already advancing every SDG. And I will request my colleagues to put put up the slide also for the online participants so that they can be able to scan the QR code, so that now I can briefly highlight, and I only highlight on the 5 SDGs that are under review during the High-Level Political Forum, that is on SDG 6, 7, SDG 9, SDG 11, and SDG 17. And I will also Then at the end, I will conclude on the cooperatives as partners for sustainable development and lasting peace, so focusing also on SDG 16. So as you can see from that slide, and if you are able to scan the QR code or go to the website, maybe if you can— it's already in the next slide on there, on there. Yeah, if you can go to the website 2025.com. It's the International Year of Cooperatives website. You'll be able to see all those policy briefs. They are in 3 languages: English, French, and Spanish. And they briefly describe what cooperatives are doing and the kind of difference they are making in the world. So in every SDG, for example, for SDG 6 and SDG 7, those that are under review during these High Level Political Forum, if you look at whether it is providing clean water, sanitation, or renewable energy, cooperatives consistently succeed where conventional delivery models often struggle. They serve rural and remote and underserved communities, and their strength lies in the simple principle that the users are also owners, so— and they are involved in the decision-making. That is one of the key principles of cooperatives, and that is why we also refer to cooperatives as school of democracy, because if the cooperative or in a cooperative there is no democratic participation, then that violates the fundamental principle of what defines a cooperative. So decisions are made locally, investments remain in communities, and success is measured not by shareholder returns, but by the better services that these cooperatives are giving to the community and greater resilience and long-term sustainability. We have documented so many case studies in these policy briefs. For example, on SDG 6, in providing safe water, we have showcased a case from Bolivia where one of the cooperatives, a water cooperative, provides safe drinking water and sanitation to nearly 2 million people in Bolivia, demonstrating that community ownership can deliver world-class public service. At the same time, if you look at SDG 7 on clean energy, community-owned cooperatives such as ENACOP in France or CONELECTRICA Consortium in Costa Rica are expanding renewable energy while ensuring that communities remain owners of energy transition and beneficiaries of its economic returns. These examples are reminding us that achieving universal access is not only about infrastructure, it is about empowering communities to own and govern the services they depend on. In the next panel, we're going to be listening to different panelists, and they will be sharing how also from their cooperatives or how they're dealing with cooperatives from different sectors, how they are implementing SDGs at the local level. If we look at SDG 9 and SDG 11 on building inclusive economies and sustainable communities, cooperatives are equally important in ensuring, especially in the cities, that whatever— especially for the cities where they have housing crisis, cooperatives are waking up and ensuring that they can also be able to represent the communities and provide better services and quality services. We have had so many cases from— and I, I am encouraging everybody to read those policy briefs because we have cases of housing cooperatives from Sweden, Germany, Canada, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries that are offering or providing affordable housing who creating cleaner, safer, and more resilient communities. So all these are documented on those SDG briefs, and I just want to jump, because I don't want to take too much time, on SDG 17, which has been also a cornerstone on our collaboration with different sectors, especially also with the UN multilateral institutions. We have also MOU with Fairtrade, and I'm happy that we have a representative from Fairtrade here, who also going to be sharing how they work with cooperatives from different sectors and at the local level, especially for the agricultural cooperatives. And so for the SDG 17, I think this is where lies greatest opportunities, not only in what cooperatives are already doing, but in how governments, the United Nations development partners can choose to work together with them. Because despite the proven contribution that cooperatives— still we find that cooperatives remain underrepresented in many national SDG strategies and financial mechanisms and monitoring systems. Too often they are absent from voluntary national reviews, overlooked in development finance, and sometimes excluded even from policy dialogues. So It's a call to the governments that when they are doing the national reviews, the voluntary national reviews reporting on the progress they are making on SDGs, we are looking forward and we are hopeful that cooperatives will be invited on the table to be able to share. Lastly, so that I finish, is on SDG 16, cooperatives for a peaceful Cooperatives for World has been the theme for the International Day of Cooperatives, and we have worked on SDG 16 that has given so many examples with evidences from Rwanda where cooperatives help rebuild trust and restore livelihoods after the genocide by bringing divided communities together around shared economic opportunities. We have cases from from Ukraine, where we have women-led dairy cooperatives that have kept families employed and local food systems functioning despite the devastation of war. And we have many cases, for example, also from Nepal, women from historically marginalized communities formed a cooperative that transformed not only their incomes but also their access to education, infrastructure, and land rights. So these stories remind us that peace is built every day, not only through diplomacy, but through decent work, economic opportunity, democratic participation, women empowerment, youth leadership, and strong local institutions. So for the cooperative movement, this is not a new commitment. From our internationally recognized cooperative values and principles to the Kigali Declaration that was adopted by the cooperative movement in 2019 on positive peace, cooperatives have consistently demonstrated that peace and sustainable development are inseparable. So our call, with only 4 years remaining, as the Ambassador of Sierra Leone was saying, cooperatives are strategic partners in implementing the SDGs, and we are calling for them to be integrated in the national development plans, sector strategies, and future voluntary national reviews. Secondly, to create enabling legal and policy frameworks to expand access to appropriate financing, to strengthen statistical systems so cooperatives' contribution become visible and measurable and scalable. And our Department of of legal department is working so much together with their colleagues from the regional offices, and ICA has made concerted efforts to develop and publicize general knowledge about cooperative law at the national level through its partnership with the EU. So if a country wants to review their legal framework or cooperative law, there are public resources that are available on our website and you can reach out to our offices, and then we can be able to provide the necessary assistance that will be needed. On top of that, the third and the last thing we are looking for, to strengthen partnerships with the governments, with the UN agencies, with development partners, to scale these solutions. And as you can see on the slide, the last slide that I will put up, The International Year of Cooperatives showed us that when governments and international organizations and cooperative movement work together, we can be able to scale our contribution. And as we prepare for next year's SDG Summit, we have a unique opportunity to move beyond recognizing cooperatives as stakeholders and begin treating them as what they truly are—strategic partners for implementing the Sustainable Development Sustainable Development Goals and building peaceful, resilient societies. So the evidence presented in the SDG briefs, as you'll be able to see, it shows that cooperatives are not an alternative pathway to sustainable development, but they are among the world's most proven democratic scalable models for achieving it. And finally, this conversation does not end today. I warmly invite you all to join us this September in Panama City for the ICA Global Conference that is co-hosted with our regional office for Latin America— for Americas, Cooperatives of the Americas, under the theme Building Bridges: Cooperative Contribution for a Peaceful World. And it will be an opportunity to continue this dialogue, share practical solutions, forge new partnerships, and demonstrate how cooperatives are helping build more peaceful, inclusive, and resilient societies across every region of the world. Because peace is not built by governments alone, it is built in our communities, it is built through cooperation, and together cooperatives are building a better world and a more peaceful one. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Joseph, and thank you for presenting the SDG briefs and their location, 2025.coop. Indeed, it's a compelling case and providing clear examples of the good work that cooperatives are doing everywhere in the world, and it really calls upon us to promote because cooperatives still remain a secret somehow and we have to make sure that it's widely known and this model is more used everywhere. Okay, thank you very much. Now, can I please invite Ms. Natalie Petruola, Senior Manager, Programs and Strategic Partnerships for Fair Trade International, to intervene? Thank you. Thank you so much.

Is this on?

Yes.

Okay, I couldn't see the light. Welcome, thank you all. It's so great to be here today and to have the opportunity to speak about such a critical issue, which is cooperatives. So I, as mentioned, represent Fairtrade International. We are a global organization that supports nearly 2 million smallholder farmers and workers to not just access global markets, but to really access the resources through fairer prices to be able to secure sustainable livelihoods. And our kind of core mission is really driven by this idea that farmers know what they need best, and really they need the resources to be able to access critical, you know, training services and all of these things to be able to reinvest in their communities. And so, we really see cooperatives is core to our theory of change and also to achieving that mission. So, as I mentioned, we work with nearly 2 million smallholder farmers and workers. They are all organized into farming organizations, the vast majority of which are cooperatives. We work with more than 1,900 globally, and they are all democratically run, transparent institutions that really allow cooperatives to be able to sell collectively, but also to be able to meet buyer requirements, access these global markets, and access services and serve their member needs. So, one core piece of our model is our, what we call the Fairtrade Premium. So, through adhering to these economic, social, and environmental standards we set as Fairtrade, farmers are able to access markets, receive fair prices, but also receive this additional sum that is utilized by the cooperatives to reinvest back into either the cooperative model or into their communities. So this, I mean, core to our mission, we believe farmers know what they need best. So there are no restrictions on how these funds are spent. But we've seen, at least in the coffee and cocoa sector, which are the two largest value chains that we work in, that most cooperatives, about 30%, are actually reinvesting back into cooperative model. So that's in leadership training. We have a really strong gender transformative leadership training called the Women's School of Leadership that we utilize to train women leaders on financial skills and leadership skills to take on those roles within their cooperatives, but also to be able to invest in financial management, organizational capacity. And what that really tells us is that farmers see a critical value in cooperatives and wanting to be build that capacity, continuing to strengthen their organizations and support the farmers that they serve. We're also seeing that this is utilized as a tool for building community and climate resilience. Actually, a few weeks ago, we traveled with a New York Times journalist to Ivory Coast, or Côte d'Ivoire, excuse me, to visit some of our cocoa cooperatives and really saw that they were investing, utilizing this premium to invest in climate-smart practices, and that has really reduced their reliance on fertilizer, which has been really critical in the past few months as costs of fertilizers have increased as a result of the conflict in Iran. And not only have we seen farmers have invested at the cooperative level or back into their livelihoods, but we've also seen these impacts reverberate throughout the community. So a lot of farmers are investing in healthcare for their community and education and other outcomes that are well far-reaching beyond what Fairtrade does. One really great example of this is we have a cooperative in Ghana that's called Kukuom Union Cooperative, and they a couple years ago utilized their premium to invest in equipment and beds for their community health center's maternity ward. And so that allowed them to serve twice the amount of women in their community to access safe births. And we really kind of see this as a perfect example of how cooperatives can be a tool not just to empower farmers and build their own livelihoods, but also have these impacts on their communities at large. So that kind of summarizes how we work with cooperatives at the farmer level, but also really internalize these cooperative principles as a global organization. So we are technically not a cooperative ourselves, but we are a federated organization, which means that we have about 30 offices across the globe that work together to set our international standards. I mentioned that we have these environmental, social, and economic standards that we work with farmers to reach to satisfy market needs. And all policies, those standards which are reviewed on a regular basis, our organizational strategy and our direction as a whole is, you know, agreed upon by the federated organization, but a minimum of 50% of the decision-making power sits with farmers themselves. So that means these standards are not being, you know, developed at the top and then integrated and enforced upon farming communities, but they really are developed by and with and for farmers themselves. And so we really see that as a way that we live our cooperative principles, not just in the work that we do to support the communities that we work in, but also to advance our mission and our organizational strategy. Strategy as a whole. Thank you.

You are almost a cooperative and you operate as one, but you're not a cooperative by name. So thank you. Okay, now we're going to listen— hear an intervention from Michelle Shry. Strategic Development Director, National Co-op Grocers, but also wears an NCBA CLUSA hat today. So Michelle, please.

Thank you. Thank you to COPAC, the International Cooperative Alliance, UNDESA, and the partners who brought us here together today. As Andrew indicated, my name is Michelle Shry, and I'm honored to be here representing the National Cooperative Business Association. Association, which is our national association for co-ops across many sectors, where I serve on the board of directors. I also bring with me 25 years of perspective working with the National Cooperative Grocers, which is a business service cooperative that serves retail food cooperatives through— located throughout the United States. That dual perspective is important because the sustainable development The Sustainable Development Goals are both broad and very local. They speak to global challenges like hunger, inequality, climate, decent work, responsible production and consumption, as well as peace. But they become real in specific places, in neighborhoods, in rural towns and cities, also in food systems, workplaces, and communities. And that is where cooperatives matter. Cooperatives are not simply businesses with a social purpose. They're enterprises owned and governed by the people who use them. That means they build economic participation and positive economic impacts directly into the structure of the business itself. They give people a voice in institutions that affect their daily lives, and at best, they turn shared needs into shared action. In the United States, we see this across sectors, whether it's credit unions expanding access to fair financial services, farmer cooperatives helping producers to reach markets, rural electric cooperatives who are serving communities that investor-owned utilities once overlooked, perhaps housing cooperatives that are preserving affordability, worker co-ops creating democratic workplaces, and of course food cooperatives building stronger local food systems. But let me make those things concrete through the example of food co-ops. National Co-op Grocers includes 169 food co-ops operating 241 stores across 40 states and serving 1.3 million consumer owners. These are grocery stores, yes, but they are also community institutions. They're locally rooted, they're democratically accountable, they're connected to farmers and workers, to suppliers, consumers, and to community partners. And that's why food co-ops are relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals of zero hunger, decent work, reduced inequalities, responsible consumption and production, as well climate action. With regard to food access, NCG food co-ops accept SNAP, which is the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program, which is the major food assistance program in the U.S., and nearly two-thirds offer needs-based or other discounts, and more than half participate in fruit and vegetable incentive programs. In practical terms, this means food co-ops are not only selling food, but they're also helping make healthy food accessible to families who need it. When it comes to building local economies, food co-ops create markets for local farmers and producers. In NCG's 2025 Food Co-op Impact Survey, that data tells us that a quarter of food co-op sales come from local products. That's compared to just 2% at the average grocer. Because we are owned by our communities, we are accountable to those communities. We're more likely to ask, where does this food come from? Who produced it? Were they treated fairly? And does this purchase strengthen our local region? The average NCG Food Co-op works with an impressive 187 local suppliers. That's compared with just 41 at a traditional grocer. On equity and inclusion, co-ops are also using our purchasing power to support a more diverse economy. Last year, NCG Food Co-ops reported $63.5 million in inclusive trade sales. Those are products from businesses owned by people who have historically had barriers to the marketplace, including people of color, women, LGBTQ people, Women, veterans, and people with disabilities. NCG pledged to uphold the SDG to increase our support for smallholder and cooperative supply chains. And one way we have done so is through our partnership with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, both through financial support as well as market infrastructure development and consulting, working to connect Black farmer co-ops in the southern U.S. To supply our NCG food co-ops. And on climate and responsible consumption, food co-ops are working to reduce waste, strengthen regional supply chains, supporting organic and fair trade products, and model more sustainable operations. In 2016, NCG committed to the SDG to offset our Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions annually at least through 2030, and to date we have upheld this commitment every single year. A good example of these things at work is the Briar Patch Food Co-op in California. Briar Patch is a community-owned grocery cooperative with two stores. In its recent impact reporting, Briar Patch noted that it has reached 100% renewable energy across both stores. It partnered with 188 local suppliers and farms, generating $5 million in local product sales. And it returned more than 200,000 pounds of food waste to local farms, closing the loop on their regional food system. Now that's local SDG in action. It's not abstract. It's a community-owned enterprise using everyday businesses decisions, whether it's purchasing, energy, employment, whether it's waste, finance, or governance, to produce broader public value. And this is not only about grocery stores. In the United States, there are more than 3— 30,000 cooperatives. Almost half of all Americans belong to a cooperative. The top 100 U.S. cooperatives generate more than $324 billion $1.5 trillion in annual sales. And this scale matters because it shows that cooperatives are not marginal. They are already a significant part of our economy. The opportunity is to recognize them more fully as partners in sustainable development. I want to connect this all to the theme of cooperatives for a peaceful world. Peace is not only the absence of conflict. It is also the presence of institutions that people trust. It is the presence of economic opportunity, democratic participation, social cohesion, and the ability of communities to solve problems together. Cooperatives build the kind of peace because they practice democracy in daily economic life. Members deliberate, they elect boards, they share benefits, and they make decisions not only as consumers or workers or producers but also as owners. And that makes cooperatives a pretty powerful model, but it does not make them perfect. And like all institutions, we must continue to improve, to become more inclusive, to meet the challenges of our time. But the model gives us a powerful start— starting point. People working together through democratic ownership to to meet common needs. And my closing message to you is that if we want the Sustainable Development Goals to move faster, if we want them to have lasting impact, governments and international institutions should treat cooperatives not only as stakeholders to consult, but as implementation partners. That means including cooperatives in national and local SDG strategies. It means supporting policies that help co-ops thrive. Whether it means designing procurement, financing, technical assistance, or policy frameworks that allow co-ops to do what they do best, to turn local ownership into practical solutions. The SDGs will not be achieved by policy alone. They'll be achieved through institutions and businesses that people trust, that they own, and that they use every day., and cooperatives are those institutions. Thank you.

Thank you, Michelle. Indeed, we do want to accelerate progress towards the SDGs, so I'm going to try and look for a food cooperative near where I live to do my little piece. Thank you. Okay, so now we're going to hear from Palak Khanna. Founder, Break the Ice, and regional representative Asia Commonwealth Students Association. Please. Thank you very much.

I think I am the youth representative talking more about how young people need to lead the SDG implementation and what they're actually also doing alongside. So thank you everyone and good morning. I want to begin with a question which has stayed with me since I actually started my work at 18. So I run a nonprofit which which is called Break the Ice. What we do is literally break the ice about conversations that matter but often get ignored. We do this with, for, and by young people. And I think the question that stayed with me is, why do we keep asking young people to be the future of sustainable development when we need them to be the present, right? And they are the present. I'm representing Children and Youth International here, and because I work at the intersection of gender, mental health, youth empowerment, climate action, sustainability, all of it. All that work comes under the various SDGs that we're talking about today. And I also serve as the Asia regional representative with the Commonwealth Student Association. I'm 23 years old. The 2030 deadline that we talk about, it's the world that a lot of people in this room will be spending most of their life in. And I think that changes how urgently we also need to talk about the role of young people in getting us there. There is this, this tendency in global conversations to speak about young people as a future resource, something to invest in now so that they can contribute later. And I'd like to gently challenge that framing. Young people, they're not waiting. Across India, where I come from, across Asia, across the world, young people are already on the ground. They are building communities, they are driving conversations, they are creating change in spaces, institutions, everywhere. And the question is not whether young people can contribute to SDG implementation, because they already are. The question is whether our systems are designed to recognize that, to provide relevant resources possible, and to then amplify that contribution, because I think that's the major gap currently. With 4 years left until 2030, we're not facing a knowledge gap. We know what needs to be done. We are facing an implementation gap, and specifically a gap in who needs to be trusted in that implementation. Again, young people represent over 1.8 billion of the world's population, and they are the most ambitious generation that we have ever seen. They're already working on climate, on gender, on mental health, on educational reforms, on economic empowerment, but often without that institutional support, and many, many times often without that funding, and often without a seat at the table where decisions are being made about their own futures. At Break the Ice, we work at the intersection of gender, mental health, youth empowerment, which are three areas deeply embedded in the 2030 Agenda. And our work is deeply community rooted, like we're talking about the cooperatives as well, deeply community rooted, community driven, reaching young people across the country and across boundaries. And yeah, it's a nonprofit. And what we've learned is something that I believe resonates deeply with the spirit of this panel as well, which is sustainable development cannot just be delivered to communities, it has to be built with them. And young people, when genuinely trusted and resourced— and in, you know, emphasis on genuinely trusted and resourced— they're amongst the most effective community builders that we have. So yeah, with 4 Years to 2030, I want to be honest about what is holding young people back to contributing even more. It's not really a lack of passion or capability, it's a lack of access to funding designed more youth-led initiatives, to policy spaces where their voices carry real weight, and to mentorship and community that sustains their engagement over time. Young people, they're often doing this work in isolation, and that's where we are lacking. We need that infrastructure to support them long term. So yeah, 4 years, 4 years to close those gaps that have existed for decades in communities that have been underserved for generations. Young people, they are ready, they're already working., and they need 3 things. And I hope that this conversation goes beyond this room and to everyone, of course. 3 things that they need to deliver, which is partnerships, adequate resources, and truly the trust to lead. And not as young people as symbols of hope, but as partners in that action. So yes, I'll stop there. Thank you very much for the opportunity and for this very, very important conversation.

Thank you. The categorized young people are indeed the present, thank you, and the future, but the present is a very big important part of it. So thank you very much for your presentation. One other person who was meant to speak from Lega Co-op isn't here in person today, so I think we have her video message. That is Francesca Ottolenghi. And for everybody else, we are 10 or 15 minutes before closing.

My name is Francesca Ottolenghi. I have the privilege of serving as the chair of the International Cooperative Development Platform, the ICADP, of the International Cooperative Alliance. It's a pleasure to join you today to present an initiative that demonstrates how cooperatives contribute every day to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through international cooperation. Around the world, corporate development organizations have been working for decades alongside local communities, governments, civil society, and international partners to promote sustainable and inclusive development. Today, more than ever, it is important not only to carry out this work, but also to make it visible, measurable, and accessible. This is exactly why we created the MAAP International Cooperative Development Platform, the MAAP-ICDP. The platform brings together project data from more than 30 cooperative development organizations from every region of the world. Together, these organizations represent decades of experience supporting cooperative development across agriculture, finance, renewable energy, health, education, human empowerment, youth employment, and many other sectors. Through MICDP, anyone can explore an interactive global map showing where cooperative development projects are being implemented. But MICDP is much more than a map. It is a shared knowledge platform that demonstrates the scale, diversity, and impact of international cooperative development. If we move to the statistics part section, we can immediately appreciate the collective strength of our movement. Together, our member organizations implemented hundreds of development projects worldwide, investing hundreds of millions of euros to strengthen communities, create decent work, build resilient local economies, and contribute to sustainable development. So it's a global movement creating measurable impact. The platform allows us to explore individual projects and understand how cooperatives contribute to multiple Sustainable Development Goals. A concrete example comes from Laos PDR, where a development project brought together the Italian and Asia-Pacific cooperative movements, working alongside local government authorities to support a transition towards a greener and more resource-efficient economy. Y contributed to poverty reduction in one of the country's most remote districts. The project helped coffee producers adopt more resource-efficient, gender-inclusive, and climate-resilient production. Women empowerment was a central element throughout the project, with women playing leading roles in coffee governance and decision-making. This single initiative contributes simultaneously to different SDGs: SDGs 5, Gender Equality; SDGs 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDGs 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, showing how the cooperative model generates integrated and lasting impact. Beyond the platform itself, the International Cooperative Development Platform serves as a space for collaboration among cooperative development organizations across the globe. Together, we exchange knowledge and good practices, develop joint research, promote evidence-based advocacy, strengthen partnership, and contribute collectively to international policy discussion. As a chair of the ICTP, I'm proud to see organizations from different countries working together with a shared vision, making coverage development more visible, more connected, and more impactful. As we move closer to 2030, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires approaches that are locally driven, inclusive and sustainable. So the cooperative model already embodies this principle. Through collaboration, innovation, shared commitment, we can continue demonstrating that cooperatives are not only contributors to small development, they are trusted partners in building more resilient, more equitable, and more peaceful societies. Thank you very much for your attention, and I invite you to explore the MICDP platform and discover the many inspiring stories of cooperative development taking place around the world.

Colleagues, we are only— it's almost like the timeline for the SDGs, we only have 4 years, but for this event we only have 6 minutes. Can I please invite colleagues who may wish to speak on some of the issues that we've been discussing today. And if you do want to speak, please make it a little bit brief since it's already 12:39. Please don't be intimidated by the time factor or anything else. Yes, Diane here, please. And then so we'll start with you and then we'll go across over there, please. Please introduce yourself and proceed.

Thank you so much. My name is Margaret Williams. I work for the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies at the Center on International Cooperation at NYU. And I just wanted to say thank you. I have only recently had the pleasure and privilege of working with and kind of knowing about ICAs through our work and work also with you, Joseph. And I think what you said, your intervention along with the DPR of Sierra Leone, they really hit home because they made the power of cooperatives so very tangible, so very everyday, and so, and so, and so very much linked to kind of the larger challenges ahead of us. So I just, I, and I look forward to reading all the policy briefs, which is not something someone always says. So it's, um, I really just wanted to thank you for for this and to thank you also for linking it to peace and social inclusion and inequality and justice. This is obviously our focus, and bringing the two together makes the everyday links very real. So just a note of thanks, actually.

Please.

Yes, hi. My name is Daniel Friedman. Also with Pathfinders, and I had a— first off, yes, thank you to everybody for the comments. And I just had a question for the panelists, to the extent that we have time for any further discussion. But relatively new coming to the world of cooperatives, I think all of the examples, the reasons, the justifications for all the ways they can help advance the SDGs were quite powerful. And I'm interested to hear where some of the challenges might exist towards elevating the role of local cooperatives? Is it something that comes from private sector? Is there more education needed with national governments? And then what role can both those of us from— who are working in the multilateral space as well as in civil society do to help elevate that role and platform for cooperatives? Thank you.

We have— oh, sorry, yes please.

Yeah, thanks everyone for the great contributions on the works that you— the work that you both are doing— you're all doing that you've shared. I like that one of the presenters actually mentioned the work they're doing with the young people, because I work with the young people. I didn't introduce myself. My name is Somesa Mokaya. I work with Clean Water Action as the Youth Engagement Program Manager, and basically Working with young people from high school level because we realized we have— it's like she mentioned that we are not considering the young people leaders of tomorrow because they are living in today and they're gonna live longer to experience most of the problems that we are facing today. And paying specific attention to SDG 6 on addressing such, you know, clean Clean, affordable, and safe drinking water. One of the things that we do is addressing a huge challenge that is actually a global challenge of PFAS, commonly called forever chemicals, and we recognize that it's a huge problem that they can't— no one can address on their own, you know, capacity. So perhaps what I'm interested in learning is you know, things like that that have implementation at the local level, for instance, which require policy, for example, banning of PFAS from, you know, daily products that end up getting into the water streams. Is there like specific work that cooperatives, for example, are doing at the local level, at the national and international level to address some of the challenges that are addressing, for example, lead in drinking water, you know, for whatever chemicals of PFAS in drinking water. If any of you is doing such kind of work that you can be able to share, that also that we can take to the young people and they can learn from that and how— because one of the things they are doing also is lobbying with their, for example, city councils or state legislatures to pass such kind of laws. But is there something that the cooperatives particularly can assist with that or can, you know, can pay? Can, you know, contribute to that kind of work.

And then some concluding remarks.

Thank you so much. I'll be very brief. Yes, so I'm Camila Ortiz from the Permanent Mission of Chile, and I want to start by congratulating you for putting together this event. Event and also on the occasion of the International Day of Cooperatives, we really fully agree on the important role of cooperatives as drivers and accelerators of SDG implementation, particularly in regards to localization and also to bringing a more inclusive approach to the achievement of SDGs. And I just wanted to briefly highlight the resolution, General Assembly resolution, uh, on promoting the social and solidarity economy for sustainable development, which Chile co-sponsors together with Senegal and Spain, which also highlights the role of cooperatives in these elements. And I also to bring to your attention that this resolution is set to be re-discussed in the upcoming 81st cycle of the General Assembly. So I hope that we can have a lot of engagement with that resolution and to put all these important elements in that text. Thank you.

And then we'll have to stop it there. Thank you. Please.

I'm from Nepal.

My name is Asuk Bikram Jairu. I'm working for a civil society organization, and it's good to know all those things for the cooperatives, and that is in progress, and empowerment of the women and other part, right? It's good. But you think that the— my friend also said about the Nepals, you know, there is a lot of cooperatives are emerging and having the good things for that, empowering the women and education, all the things that is good things. And we also listen that, uh, 2-3 years before, there is the cooperative scandals, all the things, right? This is that the women, poor women and the poor community are deposit their incomes to the some small, you know, cooperatives on that. And the people higher level or high-level, profile-level people are getting that money for their individual, you know, promotion and their industries like that. So how the, that, you know, International Cooperative Alliance protected that things to protect that women's money who deposit to the cooperatives? How the, the peoples are getting that money for the high-profile And they use that money for their own business. This is the things in somewhere the poor country and all the things. So it's a very, you know, issues is a very crucial things to be the thing about this area, this, you know, where we are discussing about that. That's— thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

I'm so sorry to say that we have run out of time, but I'm going to give— we only have two genuine cooperatives here today with us. We have the Grocers and we have the International Cooperative Alliance. So can I give you each a minute and a half? I'll start with the Grocers, please, and then we'll go with the International Cooperative Alliance.

Thank you. We would like to Thank all of you for the ability to tell a little bit of our story today. And I think the telling of stories is a very powerful piece of our message. We need more people to understand cooperatives, to know what cooperatives mean, and to understand the power that they are already having inside of our societies and inside of our economies. We have the opportunity to help people become more involved in making decisions that impact their lives on a daily basis. And we invite all of you to help us tell our stories as you go out to your next meetings and into the rest of this conference. We thank you for thinking about cooperatives as you're thinking about those solutions. And again, thank you for the time today.

Yes, thank you, thank you so much, Andrew. And yes, some of the questions that were addressed to us, as Michelle has said, some of the work that we are doing is to give a bit of spotlight to what the cooperatives are doing. And as you have said, there are so many cases from Nepal, and Nepal is also a very good cooperative country. We are happy to document as much as we can, and we will be happy to have a conversation with you and to see how we can showcase and highlight some of the work that you're doing and which SDGs especially that you're focusing on. Also, the case from Omesa about the youth and young people and what they are doing, we have also documented some of the cases because we have a publication that we did with the young people through the ICAU project that we are working on. I would be happy to share more. And for Pathfinders, we are looking forward for the session on Friday, and we'll be discussing more about peace. So definitely we are looking forward to having this discussion. So thank you so much for the opportunity, and back to the moderator. Thank you.

Thank you, Joseph. Well, colleagues, as we can all see, there's a lot to be said about cooperatives and part of our job is to make sure that it's more widely known and there are more opportunities for us to talk about cooperative issues. We're going to be having another discussion on Friday which will also touch us tangentially on cooperatives. There's another resolution that Chile has mentioned that's coming up in the fall of this year, another discussion which also involves cooperatives. There are many cooperatives in the communities where we live in, so let's learn from the local, what the local is doing, and see how we can amplify and support that work to the best of our abilities. Thank you all very much, and the meeting is adjourned.