There is just one month to go until the 2026 ICA Global Conference – which takes the theme Building Bridges: Cooperative Contributions for a Peaceful World – and the speaker list is growing!
We are delighted to confirm that Bjørg Sandkjær, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), will be joining the event as a keynote speaker, bringing with her nearly 30 years of experience in policymaking and international development.
Also attending the event from the UN is Silke Staab, Regional Policy Advisor on Women's Economic Empowerment at the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, who will share her expertise on gender equality, social protection, care policies, and inclusive economic development.
Akram Al-Taher, Director General at the Economic and Social Development Center of Palestine (ESDC), will speak about his 25 years of experience working in cooperative development and livelihood improvement in the Palestinian community, while Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, brings her experience in economic development, globalisation, labour, inequality, gender and macroeconomic policy.
Representing the ICA across different sessions will be Xiomara Núñez de Céspedes (recently re-elected President of the ICA Gender Equality Committee & Member of the ICA Global Board; and Member of the Board of Directors of COOPROENF (Dominican Republic)) and Helena Gorroño (Vice President for Europe of the ICA Youth Committee; Project Development Coordinator at TAZEBAEZ (Spain).
More names will be announced soon. Find out more about these speakers and more at https://icapanama2026.coop/speakers/ – and don’t forget to register here!
