International Cooperative Alliance

The International Cooperative Alliance is an independent, non-governmental organisation established in 1895 to unite, represent and serve cooperatives worldwide. It provides a global voice and forum for knowledge, expertise and co-ordinated action for and about cooperatives. The Alliance’s members are international and national co-operative organisations from all sectors of the economy, including agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and workers. They come from one hundred countries, representing one billion individuals worldwide. One hundred million people work for a co-operative locally. The cooperative movement operates a central office in Brussels and four regional offices for Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. The Alliance structure also has sectoral organisations for co-operatives active in agriculture, industry and services, consumer-retail, banking, fisheries, health, housing and insurance. The International Co-operative Alliance is the custodian of the co-operative values and principles and makes the case for the distinctive values-based economic co-operative business model which also provides individuals and communities with an instrument of self-help and influence of their development. The Alliance advocates the interests and success of co-operatives, disseminates best practices and know-how, strengthens their capacity building and monitors their and progress over time.