Cooperatives and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
27 May 2004 (10:00-17:00)The Churchill Hotel, 1914 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington DC, (USA)
| Opening | Jennie Dey De Pryck, COPAC Chairperson and Chief, Rural Institutions and Participation Service, Rural Development Division, Sustainable Development Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) | |
| Keynote Address | Cooperatives and the Millennium Development Goals: Their role and potential Prof. Johnston Birchall, Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, Stirling University and Senior Associate, New Economics Foundation, UK |
PowerPoint Presentation ppt (98 KB) |
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The World Bank - Rural producer organizations and agricultural cooperatives:
Issues and challenges for reaching the rural poor Pierre Rondot, Agricultural Economist / Community Development Specialist Agriculture and Rural Development Department, World Bank |
PowerPoint Presentation ppt (182 KB) |
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Can the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) process be effective
without cooperatives? Bernard Kadasia, Director, Regional Office for East, Central and Southern Africa, International Co-operative Alliance (ICA ROECSA) |
PowerPoint Presentation ppt (4 MB) |
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Farmers and their cooperatives: Contributing to the MDGs U.G. Dayananda; General Manager, Sri Lanka Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd. (MARKFED), Sri Lanka |
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Cooperatives and the MDGs: A US View Paul Hazen, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), USA |
PowerPoint Presentation ppt (710 KB) |
| IRnet- Helping People Grow Pablo DeFilippi, International Remittance Network Products and Services Manager, World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) |
PowerPoint Presentation ppt (301 KB) |
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Fighting HIV/AIDS: The cooperative response Savitri Singh, Advisor, Gender Programme, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, International Co-operative Alliance (ICA ROAP) Jürgen Schwettmann, Chief, Cooperative Branch, International Labour Office (ILO) |
PowerPoint Presentation ppt (1.9 MB) |
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Closing David King, Vice-Chair, COPAC and Secretary General, International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) |
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Aim
The Forum demonstrated that cooperative movement can be a key partner in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and in particular to reducing poverty worldwide.Rationale
Some development specialists continue to have an antiquated view of cooperatives seeing them as small organizations in poor countries that are government controlled. They therefore, do not consider them to be as viable partners for their activities. The Forum would like to change that view by demonstrating through the presentation of case studies that cooperatives are thriving enterprises which are contributing in significant ways to reducing poverty, tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, promoting gender equality, and ensuring environmental sustainability. COPAC is convinced that development agencies can make their existing programmes more effective by working with cooperatives at the international, national, regional and even local levels. With a movement that reaches 760 million individuals, we know that the cooperative movement can be a key partner to reach the MDG targets.Participants
The COPAC Open Forum is an open meeting for all persons and organizations interested in learning more on the activities of cooperative organizations around the world. This Open Forum included the participation of representatives of the United Nations agencies, bilateral and cooperative development agencies, and leaders of farmer and cooperative organisations, as well as academics.United Nations Millennium Development Goals
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development