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Current Co-operative IssuesICA addresses a wide range of subjects that have specific relevance to the co-operative development, growth and successfulness.GenderThe ICA has clear mandate to address gender issues as its Rules stipulate that one of the ICA's objectives is "to promote equality between men and women in all decision-making and activities within the co-operative movement". In order to provide guidance to ICA structures and member organisations on how to implement gender equality, the ICA adopted "ICA Strategy for Promoting Gender Equality: Proposals for Progress" (pdf) following a series of actions to create awareness and collect statistical information on the participation of women in Movement.Although ICA has worked on the issues of women and co-operatives since its foundation and through its Women's Committee and now Gender Equality Committee, in 1995 it adopted a resolution, "Gender Equality in Co-operatives" which established gender equality as a global priority for the ICA and called on members to establish action plans to address the issue. In 1996 the ICA President asked members to provide information to evaluate the level of implementation of the resolution (gender disaggregate statistics on membership, information on women's participation in power structures and decision-making, and copies of any plans/policies for achieving gender equality). It was this year too that gender disaggregate statistics were first formally requested from ICA membership. In 1997, a report went to the ICA Board summarising the information collected and suggesting elements for inclusion in a strategy. The Board tabled the report and agreed to re-examine ways of implementing the resolution. The ICA Board also reviewed proposals to the ICA General Assembly for changes to the ICA Rules and Standing Orders from a gender perspective. It was in 1998 that a draft Gender Strategy discussed by ICA Board at its meeting in Tokyo (Japan), but only in 1999 did the ICA Board at is meeting in Québec (Canada) approve the development of an ICA Gender Strategy. The "ICA Strategy for Promoting Gender Equality: Proposals for Progress" was adopted in 2000. This global strategy is coupled with regional gender strategies to promote gender equality with ICA's member organisations and the Co-operative Movement. More information: Climate ChangeICA is committed to promoting sustainable development in accordance with the 7th Co-operative Principle, "Concern for Community." In recognition of the urgency of the problem and the need to make a significant and appropriate contribution to the cause of reducing future climate change impacts, the ICA has taken the following actions:
DemutualisationThe ICA is committed to furthering an understanding of the role and significance of the mutual and co-operative sector and the threat of demutualisation. The Global 300 Project was established by the ICA to further this understanding. An initial list of significant publications on demutualisation has been identified. There is also a newsfeed from icanews. coop on mutuality and demutualisation. Fair TradeCo-operative enterprises around the world are increasingly becoming involved in Fair Trade as means to increasing their competitive edge in the market both in the consumer and producer sectors. ICA addressed the issue during the ICA Regional Assembly for Europe in Warsaw (Poland) in 2004. Through its membership in the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement for Cooperatives (COPAC) it also was a co-organiser of the COPAC Open Forum: Fair Trade and Co-operatives held in Berlin (Germany) in January, 2005 which resulted to in the creation of a website (www.fair-trade.coop) to regroup information resources on Fair Trade from a co-operative perspective. The website will shortly be available.
HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS has direct consequences to co-operatives. It is negatively impacting the capacity of co-operatives to be economically and socially effective organisations. Co-operatives as enterprises are being challenged as they cope with the financial and psychological consequences of the death and illness of their members, leaders, and employees. They must sustain absenteeism of their employees as they fall ill, care for the sick or attend funerals; accept low levels of participation in the governance of co-operatives as members and leaders deal with HIV/AIDS; and cope with the loss of skills and expertise. The consequences are lower productivity, loss of income with increased costs for healthcare, and thus reduced savings and investments both for the co-operative itself, and for individual members and employees as well as people in the communities in which co-operatives operate. It is for this reason that ICA has taken a globally proactive role to and adopted the ICA Strategy for Co-operatives Fighting HIV/AIDS (April 2004) to promote awareness and sensitise members on HIV/AIDS, its impact on co-operatives and their communities, and ways in which they could address prevention as well as care and support for those infected. This encourages co-operatives around the world to put into practice the 7th ICA Principle of Concern for Community, but also ensure that co-operatives continue to be effective economic and social organisations.
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Last Updated: 17 April 2008
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ICA Strategy to address Climate Change, adopted by the ICA Board, 2 April 2008 
College of the United Kingdom has just published a report on HIV-AIDS and co-operatives. It echoes the strong message of the 
The policy environment in which co-operatives exist either support or hinder the growth and success of co-operatives. Laws and administrative policies at the national and local levels must therefore take into consideration the special character of co-operatives to ensure a fair and level-playing field for the co-operative enterprise.