Date: Saturday, 5 July 2025; 30th Anniversary.
Sponsor: United Nations
Coordinator: International Cooperative Alliance
Objectives:
International Day of Cooperatives is annually celebrated for the following purposes:
- to increase awareness of cooperatives and recognize the contribution of cooperatives to the solution of economic, social, and environmental problems;
- to spread the cooperative movement’s values of international solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and world peace;
- to strengthen and extend partnerships between local, national, regional, and international sectors.
Inception:
The first International Day of Cooperatives was celebrated on the first Saturday of July 1995.
History:
The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) was established in 1895. Since 1923, the ICA has launched the international cooperative movement, which significantly contributes to solving major economic and social problems.
On 16 December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly officially proclaimed, in its resolution A/RES/47/90, the first Saturday of July 1995 to be the first International Day of Cooperatives. The date was chosen to mark the centenary of establishing the International Cooperative Alliance.
Since 1995, the United Nations’ International Day of Cooperatives has been celebrated annually on the first Saturday of July. The International Cooperative Alliance and the United Nations have jointly set the theme for the celebration every year through the Committee on the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC).
Annual theme in recent years:
2025 theme: “Cooperatives Build a Better World.”
2024 theme: “Cooperatives Build a Better Future for All.”
2023 theme: “Cooperatives: Partners for Accelerated Sustainable Development”
2022 theme: “Cooperatives Build a Better World.”
2021 theme: “Rebuild better together.”
2020 theme: “Cooperatives for Climate Action.”
Official website:
https://www.un.org/en/observances/cooperatives-day
