International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) - ICA G20 Working Group - General Information

Concept of ICA G20 WG and Proposed Working Modalities

The driving concept of the ICA G20 WG is to advance the cooperative movement's priorities and elevate its engagement in the G20 deliberations and attempt to engage in much more extensive and coordinated advocacy efforts. 

Therefore, the working group members will contribute to the B20 and C20 taskforces discussions and give their inputs to the policy documents through their representatives in the task forces. Thus, there is a need for an in-depth stocktaking of discussions from the previous editions of G20, B20, and C20 and to identify key priorities that are more relevant to cooperatives. This is particularly important as the global advocacy space with the G20 remains extremely limited; most sessions happen under closed doors, and the opportunity to engage with the actual policy process is scarce. Advocacy, therefore, requires coordinated engagement with G20 governments at the national level lobbying their support on cooperatives' proposals and recommendations. 

Hence, there is a need for greater coordination with ICA members in G20 countries to create compelling evidence-based, statistics-driven content to contribute to task forces policy documents. Then identify "cooperative-friendly" ministers or government officials involved in the G20 discussions or who might intercede on behalf of cooperatives to their fellow ministers/officials involved in the G20 discussions to advocate for cooperatives' inclusion in the final recommendations. This will help ensure representatives' participation creates a more significant impact and amplify cooperatives' voices to influence and be included in the recommendations submitted to the Heads of States and Governments at the G20 Summit.