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The International Co-operative Day / International Day of Co-operatives is celebrated on the first Saturday in July every year. Its aim is to raise awareness on co-operatives and promote the movement’s successes and ideals of international solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and world peace. The International Day also aims to strengthen and extend partnerships between the international co-operative movement and other actors, including governments, at local, national and international levels.
ICA first celebrated The International Day in 1923. In 1994, thanks to the lobbying efforts made through the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) of which ICA is a member, the United Nations recognized and reaffirmed that co-operatives have an important role to play in economic, social and cultural development and proclaimed an UN International Day of Co-operatives to be celebrated for the first time in 1995, marking the centenary of the establishment of ICA. The UN requested all its member governments to join with their co-operative movements to celebrate the day.
The decision of the UN to celebrate an international day with ICA highlights the complementarity of the goals and objectives of the United Nations and the international cooperative movement. Both the ICA and UN Days are celebrated on the same day - the first Saturday in July every year.
Since 1995, ICA and the United Nations through COPAC jointly set the theme for the celebration of each International Day. It underscores the contribution of the movement to resolving global issues addressed both the Cooperative Movement and the United Nations. The theme is generally selected in the Spring. ICA prepares a message for the Day which is disseminated to all ICA members, international organizations including the United Nations and its agencies, development partners and the press.
