ICA Africa holds a variety of events for members in the region. These include the following upcoming and past events:

ICA Regional Assembly
ICA Africa holds a Regional Assembly every two years where it addresses both statutory and thematic issues.

The next Regional Assembly will be held in Maseru, Lesotho on 10-14 October 2010. More information > > >

In 2008 , ICA Africa organised the 8th Regional Assembly for Africa and related meetings in Abuja, Nigeria, 10 -14 November 2008 under the theme, "Revitalising member commitment and involvement for improved sustainability of African co-operatives". See summary of meeting and presentations See summary of meeting and presentations >>>

ICA Members Forum, 5-6 May 2008, Nairobi (Kenya)
2007 Members Forum The ICA Members' Forum defined how the ICA can function as a relevant organisation of the region, what support co-operatives expect from the ICA, and what constituted a relevant service delivery that serves the interests of the African co-operative movement. A resolution reaffirming the members’ commitment to support ICA Africa was one outcomes of the meeting. A plan of action and consultation was also proposed as the basis of a new four-year strategy that will be submitted to the Regional Assembly 2008 for adoption. See full report > > >

Influence

ICA Africa works with a number of initiatives to promote, defend and strengthen the co-operative form of enterprise:

Global Co-operative Campaign Against Poverty

The Global Co-operative Campaign Against Poverty. Co-operating Out of Poverty is a call to action to the world co-operative movement to join hands in fighting poverty. It aims to strengthen the capacity of co-operatives to make a significant contribution to poverty reduction by increasing their role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals particularly with regard to reducing poverty by half by the year 2015. More information www.ica.coop/outofpoverty/.

ILO COOPAfrica

COOPAfrica is a partnership programme implemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) aiming at supporting the development and promotion of co-operatives in Africa. ICA participates on the CoopAfrica Steering Committee which is the highest decision-making body of COOPAfrica and aims to strengthen the participation of the programme's partners and co-operative stakeholders in the planning, monitoring and evaluation. More information: www.ilo.org/coopafrica.

ICA Ministerial Conferences
The ICA has organised nine African Ministerial Co-operative Conferences to date. Bringing together co-operative leaders and ministers in charge of co-operatives, these conferences have been fora for constructive dialogue with a real impact on the regional co-operative agenda. They aim at creating a constructive partnership between governments and co-operatives. See information on the 9th Ministerial Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2009. The 10th Ministerial Conference will be held in Kigali, Rwanda in 2012.

Development

The activities carried out to promote co-operative development in Africa over the recent past years mainly focused on the creation of an enabling environment for co-operatives, the development of human resources and co-operative business development. ICA Africa believes these are pillars that can sustain the growth of co-operatives in the continent, and thereby, sustain economic growth in a continent struggling to find its way out of poverty.

Advocacy and Networking Project (ANP) - Funded by the Swedish Co-operative Centre (SCC)
The Advocacy and Networking Project is an institutional support to the ICA Africa Strategic Plan 2006-2008. Its objective is to help the co-operative movement to better address the opportunities, risks, and challenges faced in order to better serve the members and to contribute to the economic development and growth of African countries. Achievements to-date include:

A Pan African Co-operative Gender Forum was held in Lesotho in 2007. It resulted in formulation of strategies that can be used by governments, development partners and co-operative movements for purposes of improving gender equality within co-operatives in Africa.
Capacity-building support to ICA member organisations and various workshops were organised including workshops and training on rural finance, microfinance and information management systems.
Contribution to ICA Africa's sustainability.
Contribution to poverty alleviation through ensuring the existence of an enabling environment through which co-operatives can conduct their businesses profitably and generate economic and social benefits for their members

Value Chain Financing
With support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Swedish Co-operative Centre (SCC), ICA Africa held two seminary on value chains and rural finance.

Exploring Rural Finance Best Practices Along Value Chains - Cases from East and Southern Africa, 21-24 September 2010, Lusaka (Zambia)
Value Chain Financing: Opportunities & Challenges, 8-16 September 2009, Kigali (Rwanda) - Report (pdf)

Important Events

ICA Regional Assembly

Ministerial Conference

Last Updated: 10 February 2011