The Africa Co-operative Development Strategy has been developed to build upon gains realised in 2012, during the celebration of the UN International Year of Co-operatives. The enthusiasm and interest generated during the year gave us the encouragement to pursue a more pragmatic approach to the promotion and development of the co-operative movement, touching on all social and economic facets of human development in the continent. The Strategy is structured on the basis of the Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade 2011-2020. The Blueprint focuses on five pillars – namely participation, sustainability, co-operative identity, legal framework and co-operative capital – which will spur development and create a push for adoption of the co-operative business model as a model of choice by end of the decade. In particular, the Strategy aims to address the African co-operative movement’s Special Development Goals, to improve members’ socio-economic situation by leveraging the benefits of co-operative enterprise. Therefore, the theme for 2013- 2016 is leveraging the benefits of a co-operative enterprise, while providing dynamic consistency in policy and robust institutions that provide the springboard for actions by co-operatives and their members.
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