Doha Closes the International Year of Co-operatives. What Comes Next for Uganda?

The 2025 International Year of Cooperatives has formally closed in Doha. The UN Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) co-hosted the closing ceremony during the Second World Summit for Social Development, where member states adopted a political declaration recognising co-operatives and the social and solidarity economy as leaders in sustainable development.

The UN General Assembly declared 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives on 19 June 2024, under the theme "Cooperatives Build a Better World", and invited member states to consider setting up national committees. The year was officially launched on 25 November 2024 at the ICA Global Cooperative Conference in New Delhi, inaugurated by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was the second such year, after 2012.

According to UN DESA, there are about three million co-operative businesses worldwide with one billion members, employing around 10 percent of the world's working population.

The year was meant to raise awareness of the co-operative model, strengthen policies and legal frameworks, and build partnerships across sectors and regions. UN agencies in COPAC, including the International Labour Organization, the International Trade Centre and UN DESA, committed to advancing the co-operative agenda throughout 2025.

The biggest news from Doha was an announcement by Charles Katoanga, a director at UN DESA, that the UN is considering a submission to hold an International Year of Cooperatives every decade. ICA President Ariel Guarco told delegates that if the resolution is approved, co-operators will celebrate again in 2035, 2045 and every ten years after.

Government officials who attended included Zimbabwe's Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Monica Mutsvangwa, Chile's Minister of Social Development and Family, Javiera Toro, and Kenya's Commissioner of Cooperative Development, David Obonyo, an East African presence at the table.

A panel moderated by Shaun Tarbuck brought together co-operative and mutual leaders from insurance, healthcare, retail, finance and agriculture, including the managing director of India's fertiliser co-operative IFFCO, Dr K.J. Patel.

On 3 November, ahead of the summit, the ICA launched three tools: a 2026-2030 strategic plan titled "Practice, Promote and Protect", the CM50 Manifesto Commitment, which aims to expand co-operatives' market share by encouraging national leaders to create enabling environments, and a special edition of the World Cooperative Monitor.

The Monitor, produced with the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (EURICSE), reports that in 2023 the world's 300 largest co-operatives had a combined turnover of US$2.79 trillion. Leading organisations by turnover include France's Groupe Crédit Agricole, State Farm in the United States and Germany's REWE Group. Measured against GDP per capita, India's Amul and IFFCO top the list.

COPAC and the ICA also produced a series of policy briefs during the year showing how co-operatives contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

The panel in Doha argued that because co-operatives put people at the centre of decision-making, they tend to distribute profits more fairly, pay higher wages and protect the long-term health of the business better than conventional shareholder companies. That message carries weight in countries such as Uganda, where co-operatives are often seen mainly as channels for government funds.

For Uganda, the year's legacy will be measured at home. The country's co-operative landscape has changed sharply in recent years: 10,589 verified parish SACCOs now capitalised under the Parish Development Model, according to the Finance Ministry, a growing network of registered health co-operatives, the transfer of coffee regulation into the agriculture ministry, and a long-running effort to compensate and revive old co-operative unions.

The UN's call for national committees, enabling laws and policy dialogue fits those challenges. Uganda's movement could use the momentum to push for stronger SACCO supervision, better data on co-operatives and clearer support for member-owned institutions rather than state-driven ones.

Above all, the Doha message was that co-operatives are not relics but modern businesses that put people at the centre. The task for Ugandan co-operators is to prove that, society by society, before the next international year comes round.

Uganda also has a practical model on its doorstep. Kenya's regulated SACCO sector crossed Ksh1 trillion in assets in 2024, according to its regulator, built largely on members' own deposits. Ugandan co-operators will want to know how far a similar foundation of member savings can be laid under the country's own programmes.