United Nations invites Member States to set up a National Committee

In a Note Verbale sent to Member States (reference DESA-10/02386 English | Français | Español ) on 11 May 2010, the United Nations invited Governments to set up a national committee, together with all relevant stakeholders, including cooperatives, UN agencies and the civil society, to coordinate activities in the preparation and observance of the  International Year of Cooperatives 2012 (IYC) at the national level.

General assembly resolution 64/136 on cooperatives in social development, proclaimed the year 2012 as the International year of Cooperatives (IYC).  The resolution encourages all Member States, the United Nations and all relevant stakeholders, to take advantage of the IYC as a way of promoting cooperatives and raising awareness of their contribution to social and economic development.

• View the International Year of Cooperatives National Committee Contacts
• Guidelines to Member States for the creation of a National Committee for the International Year of Cooperatiaves 2012
  
  

What does the national committee do?

• National Committees coordinate activities for preparing for, conducting and following up the IYC at the national level.

Who can be members of the national committee?

• National committees are inclusive and should be made up of country-level actors including:
  • local government representatives,
  • cooperatives from different sectors and cooperative members,
  • private sector,
  • NGO community,
  • Academia,
  •  Media
What are the activities of the national committee?

• Suggested activities of the National Committee can include:
  • Disseminate information about cooperatives to raise awareness, in particular good practices and successful cooperatives: distribute pamphlets; brochures; e-communications; You Tube, Face book and other social media
  • Set up national committee website linked to the UN IYC official website
  • Use local media to encourage educational and promotional coverage of cooperative issues
  • Organise meetings, conferences, workshops and special events on priority cooperative issues at the local and national level, e.g. sectoral concerns, regulatory reforms, etc.
  • Provide guidelines on cooperative formation especially in remote areas
  • Coordinate training on capacity building regarding cooperatives