ICA-EU Partnership (#coops4dev) 

On April 12, 2024, the International Cooperative Alliance and the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Partnership (DG INTPA) signed a new Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA II) under the title “People-centered businesses for sustainable, democratic & inclusive development”. The new ICA-EU Partnership, of the duration of 4.5 years, is the second phase of the first ICA-EU program “Cooperatives in Development: people-centred business in action” implemented between 2016 and 2022. 

You can track the activities of the past and current ICA-EU Partnership via the hashtag #coops4dev.  

The new FFPA is structured across 5 distinct workstreams and 30 activities, extending its reach to 91 countries, 27 of which located in Europe:  

The new EU partnership prioritises decentralised management of the activities, tailoring its strategies and initiatives to better fit the specific needs and contexts of different regions. In the case of Europe, this regional approach translates in an expansion of the activities in the Neighbourhood – Western Balkans, Türkiye and the Eastern European countries. On top of that, some activities – especially in research and communication – will still be global to amplify the impact and facilitate knowledge sharing. 

In Europe, activities will mainly focus on communication, advocacy and research. Cooperatives Europe is committed to nurturing the already solid political dialogue with the EU institutions, strengthening and establishing meaningful partnerships with varied stakeholders active in international development.. The Cooperatives Europe Development Platform (CEDP), now being reformed as Cooperatives Europe’s working group on international cooperative development, will play a pivotal role in implementing the Program activities in Europe. The CEDP  will actively engage with the EU institutions to promote the cooperative business model and the role of cooperatives as international development actors within the EU External Action Agenda.. 

The project is co-financed by the European Commission under the NDICI-Global Europe CSO budget 2023.