On Friday 18th March, Neven Mimica – EU Commissioner in charge of International Cooperation & Development, signed a multi-annual framework partnership agreement with the ICA global and regional offices. This agreement was driven by Cooperatives Europe’s development work over the last decade and will see the active engagement of Coopermondo in its implementation.
The Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) is a program to which Coopermondo participates and will last until 2020. Its main objective is the strengthening of the cooperative movement in the world by improving its visibility and increasing its capacity to take voice within the political and global development processes.
The aggrumeremo recognizes the role of cooperatives as a key actor in the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda on sustainable development.
In 2008, Cooperatives Europe, with an important part of the job made by Coopermondo, compiled the first compendium of almost 300 development projects carried out by European cooperative organisations all over the world. Thanks to the Cooperatives Europe Development Platform (CEDP), which promoted the potential of cooperative enterprises in international development, cooperatives received recognition within the relevant EU development policies over recent years.
“We are proud to have lead the whole global cooperative movement into a partnership with the European Commission on international development – commented Klaus Niederländer, Director of Cooperatives Europe. By casting light over what cooperatives were already doing in development it attracted the attention of the EU and highlighted the potential for collaboration to move forward together”.
The current partnership agreement for the period of 2016-2020 recognizes cooperatives as strong development actors. It will further strengthen the cooperative movement worldwide, enhance its visibility, and increase its capacity to speak out within global and regional development policies and processes.
