2 July: 11th UN International Day of Cooperatives, "Microfinance is OUR business! Cooperating out of poverty"

Access to finance and to financial services is essential to reduce poverty. Poor people need easily accessible, trustworthy, sustainable and economically viable institutions to which they can entrust their savings, which offer loans at affordable conditions, and which provide a safety net through basic insurance services.

The United Nations General Assembly in 1992 proclaimed the first Saturday of July as the UN International Day of Cooperatives to increase awareness about cooperatives while highlighting the contribution of these organizations to the resolution of the major problems addressed by the United Nations. The International Day also aims to strengthen and extend partnerships between the international cooperative movement and other actors, including governments, at local, national and international levels.

This year, the theme of the International Day links to the 2005 United Nations International Year of Microcredit. Cooperatively managed micro-finance institutions enable the poor to pool their resources that can be used for productive investments and job creation. The social control and democratic management style of cooperatives generally secures savings and ensures repayment of loans. Cooperatives provide the poor with appropriate financial solutions that enable them to collectively work themselves out of poverty.

The COPAC (Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives) has been established in 1971 as an inter-agency committee including the following United Nations agencies and international non-governmental organizations: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) , International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) , International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) , International Labour Office (ILO) , United Nations (UN). The COPAC’s members are particularly involved in the celebration of the United Nations International Day of Cooperatives by making materials available on the theme of the Day.  

For more information on the celebration of UN International Day of Cooperatives, please visit the COPAC website at: http://www.copacgva.org/idc/index.htm.