2021 was an eventful year for ICA-AP.
ICA held the 33rd World Cooperative Congress on the theme, Deepening the Cooperative Identity, from December 1 to 3 in Seoul. The Congress provided the opportunity for members to come together in person and celebrate 125 years of ICA and 25 years of the Statement of Cooperative Identity (SCI). To bring the perspective of Asia-Pacific members on various topical issues into the conversation, we organised online consultations and events with the members, published articles and interviews in the monthly newsletters and relaunched COOP Dialogue, a bi-annual magazine that covers views of members, cooperators and practitioners.
We were joined by some new members and now have 113 members from 31 countries of the Asia and Pacific region. In November, the 15th ICA-AP Regional Assembly at its hybrid meeting in Seoul elected a new Board and a new set of office-bearers. The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted our planned physical activities across the region and we continued to use the online platform to carry out our activities. We lost some of our friends and ex-colleagues - Dr. Gopal Saxena, Dr. Daman Prakash, Mr. P. Nair, and Mr. Mohammad Sharif Bhaiji who will be dearly missed.
We celebrated International Day of Cooperatives, #RebuildBetterTogether and showcased how cooperatives in the Asia-Pacific region are meeting the COVID-19 pandemic crisis with solidarity and resilience and offering communities a people-centered and environmentally just recovery. The ICA-MAFF (Japan) training programs were continued online. The ICA-EU Partnership on Cooperatives in Development People-Centered Businesses in Action Project, also known as #coops4dev came to an end in August. ICA President Ariel Guarco visited India to attend a National Cooperative Conference organised by the Indian cooperative movement.
We are thankful to our MBO sponsoring organizations – ACFSMC, Angkasa, JCCU, and NACF, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Government of Japan, our partners, and our members for their continued contribution, engagement, and active participation throughout the year. Read our 2021 year-end report here.
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