Ivano Barberini and Juan Somavia after signing the partnership agreement

The International Labour Office (ILO) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) today signed an agreement to implement a “Common Cooperative Agenda” aimed at creating decent jobs and reducing poverty.

The agreement, signed by Mr. Ivano Barberini, President of the ICA, and Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO, strengthens the historical partnership between the two organizations and will enhance efforts to development joint programmes and projects for promoting cooperatives worldwide.

“Whether it is voice and representation in the community, creating jobs and reducing poverty, combining values and profits, or making globalization more fair and inclusive – the cooperative movement, must be considered a central actor for more just, more productive, more balanced societies”, Mr. Somavia said.

The ICA holds observer status in the ILO. The two organizations havebeen working together to promote cooperatives since the ILO was founded in 1919, and collaborated in the elaboration of ILO Recommendation No. 193 on the Promotion of Cooperatives adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2002. The Common Cooperative Agenda also covers implementation of Recommendation No. 193 at the national level.

The new partnership will also seek to address the UN Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, improving maternal health and reducing childmortality, combatting HIV/AIDS and other diseases, environmental sustainability and the development of global partnerships for development.

Under the terms of the partnership, the ILO and ICA will jointly organize a funding campaign among major multi-bilateral donors and other development partners to finance the common activities foreseen under the “Common Cooperative Agenda”.

Ranging from small-scale to multi-million dollar businesses across the globe, cooperatives employ an estimated 100 million women and men and have more than 800 million individual members. They are also an important means to integrate unprotected workers in the informal economy into mainstream economic life.