ICA-AP relaunched COOP Dialogue with the hope to start a dialogue on issues that are relevant to cooperatives. The experience of cooperatives across the Asia and Pacific is rich and diverse and ICA-AP would like to bring these together in COOP Dialogue to share, inform, and learn.

Each issue will focus on a theme, present different perspectives and have a dialogue. Earlier, COOP Dialogue was a printed version; this time around we hope to use digital and social media platforms to promote and have a conversation around cooperatives.

The first issue of COOP Dialogue on 'Cooperative Identity in the Asia Pacific' released on 23 November 2021 was in line with the theme of the 33rd World Cooperative Congress, ‘Deepening the Cooperative Identity', held from 1-3 December 2021.

The May 2022 issue of Coop Dialogue will focus on the theme, ‘Future Proofing Cooperatives in Asia and Pacific through Innovations.’ Innovation is a lynchpin of any cooperative business enterprise and is driven by evolving member needs, increasing competition in the market, changing business goals, and debilitating external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovation priorities and practices in cooperatives differ from sector to sector and country to country. These innovations appear in the form of new products and services, expansion to new geographies social and technological innovations, improvisation in business practices, etc.

Though driven by necessity innovations in cooperatives is accompanied by their own challenges such as identifying and selecting the right business ideas, developing and funding the right ideas, institutionalising innovation in business culture and fighting the risk averse culture in cooperatives, among others.

Future proofing of cooperative businesses is crucial to sustain cooperative businesses, build cooperatives’ resilience, and ensure competency and relevance among members, community and the market. In the upcoming issue of Coop Dialogue on the theme, ‘Future Proofing Cooperatives in Asia and Pacific through Innovations’, we would like to cover interesting examples from the region that show what cooperatives are doing to innovate; perspectives from cooperators on why it is important to innovate in the changing world of work; issues and challenges in driving innovations; and identifying key areas where innovation is long due, among others.

The ICA-AP office invites articles on the select theme to showcase good practices from the region; highlight business innovations and how they are or can be incorporated in cooperatives; present case studies on what innovations were undertaken before and after COVID-19 pandemic, what worked and how they fared; and reflect on how risk-averse culture, policy and legal environment hinder innovations in cooperatives.

Please follow the article requirements as stated below:

• Word limit: 3,000 words
• Language: English
• Format: Word file
• Articles can include graphics, images and graphs for illustration purposes
• Authors are encouraged to submit original articles to avoid copyright issues

Submit your artilces at coopdialogue@icaap.coop latest by March 01, 2022.

Read the first issue  and discover different perspectives on cooperatives identity from the Asia and Pacific region.

We invite you to join us in the dialogue, share your experience and enrich the cooperative community. Please share your feedback and suggestions to  coopdialogue@icaap.coop