International Cooperative Day celebrates the cooperative movement. It has been celebrated by the International Co-operative Alliance on the first Saturday in July since 1923. Cooperatives are groups where citizens can improve their own lives and at the same time help the economic, social, cultural and political advancement of their community and nation. These citizens and groups rely on helping themselves and make it their own responsibility to meet goals that include not only economic but social and environmental objectives, such as overcoming poverty, securing productive employment and encouraging social integration. Every year, organizations around the world celebrate International Cooperative Day in different ways, and each year they agree on a theme for the celebrations. For example, the 2010 theme was Cooperative Enterprise Empowers Women, to go along with the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action.
International Cooperative Day!
