This week, which features the UN International Day of Education, the ICA Regional and Global teams met to prepare for the launch of the new Legal Framework Analysis (LFA) worldwide.
The technical workshop marked the starting point of implementation for this key harmonized activity to be driven primarily by ICA Regional Offices, and focused on:
- Equipping ICA teams with the methodologies and technical tools.
- Harmonising the worldwide launch.
- Identifying cooperative law experts.
- Strengthening mutual learning and cooperation among the teams to deliver results through 2028.
Why does the LFA matter?
Cooperative-friendly legislation is essential to creating an enabling and supportive environment for the development of cooperatives. Yet, in many countries, legal frameworks do not adequately translate the cooperative values and principles into legal rules, and often do not fully consider the existing international legal standards on cooperatives, limiting the full potential of the cooperative model and its impact on communities at the local, regional and international levels.
What does this new phase build on?
Building on the 79 national reports produced under the previous ICA–EU Partnership, this new phase will:
- Review existing reports and analyses.
- Aim to produce a significant number of new country reports.
- Support comparative research across regions.
- Develop internationally comparative legal analyses and reports.
What is the goal?
The goal is to deliver an evidence-based analysis of cooperative legal frameworks with concrete recommendations to strengthen cooperative legislation and policies, support advocacy efforts, and promote a level playing field for cooperatives worldwide.
The previous Legal Framework Analysis is available at: https://coops4dev.coop/en.
A public webinar will be announced soon to present this international initiative, its methodology, scope, objectives and relevance for the cooperative movement worldwide.
This activity is part of the ICA–EU Partnership (2024–2028), also called #coops4dev🌍, a five-year international cooperative development program -implemented by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) Global Office, ICA Africa, Cooperatives of the Americas, ICA Asia and Pacific, and Cooperatives Europe, and co-funded by the European Union-, that aims to strengthen the ICA network and position cooperatives as international development actors within the EU Development Agenda.
