Top coops events you should not miss this year
The United Nations has declared 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives, with the theme "Cooperatives Build a Better World", highlighting the vital role of cooperatives in sustainable development and addressing global challenges
KAMPALA, April 10, 2025 –– The United Nations has declared 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives, with the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better World”, highlighting the vital role of cooperatives in sustainable development and addressing global challenges. There are so many events in the global cooperative movement taking place since this year started and theCooperator News brings you some of them that you, the cooperator, shouldn’t miss to attend or follow:
April 13 -18, 2025: CEOs’ and Chairpersons’ Forum, Munyonyo, Uganda
Under the theme “Promoting Collaboration, Networking, and Learning that Enhances Governance and Leadership of SACCOs”, the annual roundtable is designed by the ACCOSCA Academy exclusively for chairpersons and CEOs of SACCOS/Credit Unions [CUs] and National Associations in Africa. This offers a unique brainstorming opportunity in an ideal environment to tackle unique challenges facing the cooperative movement in Africa.
April 21 -23, 2025: 2025 Eastern Africa Bloc Regional Forum, Kampala, Uganda
The Eastern Africa Bloc Regional Forum is curated to foster the creation of space for integration and dialogue amongst cooperative organisations and strengthen regional relationships. The Regional Forum presents a rare opportunity for co-operators in the Eastern Bloc to leverage the power of collaboration, learning, relearning, and having bold and honest leadership for the sole benefit of their members.
May 4 – 9, 2025: Co-operative Citizens Programme, Lusaka, Zambia
Being a Co-operative Citizen involves actively engaging with others in a spirit of cooperation, collaboration, and shared responsibility to build thriving and resilient communities. This starts within our organisations. ACCOSCA recognizes that cultivating vital attributes among credit union professionals in Africa is poised to enhance their ability to communicate a clear vision and strategy, drive change, and sustain an innovative, high-performance culture within their membership.
As such, through the ACCOSCA Academy Centre of Excellence, the transformative Cooperative Citizens programme was meticulously curated to help SACCO leaders in Africa develop critical and practical skills in leading the workforce more effectively and experience a comprehensive and diverse approach to team management. Through the Cooperative Citizens programme, SACCO leaders in Africa are set to be equipped with practical knowledge and skills to make robust, strategic decisions. This is in appreciation of the critical role effective SACCO leadership plays in elevating desirable outcomes to promote the overall financial wellness of members and the sustainability of their institutions.
May 11 -17, 2025: Africa Development Educators [ADE] Programme, Lusaka, Zambia
Financial inclusion is one of Africa’s great success stories over the past decade. At the heart of this threshold of unprecedented growth and prosperity, the Africa Development Educators [ADE] Programme by ACCOSCA continues to receive international recognition for its steadfast commitment to professionalizing and fueling new, innovative ways to strengthen the cooperative movement in Africa.
Since July 2014, ADE has been igniting change as a conduit for bringing financial inclusion to marginalized communities in Africa. It has been a decade of opportunities for change and transformation, a decade of paving the way for Africa’s prosperous future, and a decade of changing the continent, one member at a time.
May 12 – 17, 2025: Financial Coaching Certification Programme, Lusaka, Zambia
Conducted in conjunction with CU Difference [USA], the Financial Coaching Certification Program is an immersive training that uniquely blends Credit Union Philosophy and Coaching and is delivered within a framework of SACCO lending practices in Africa. It provides graduates with the practical knowledge and experience to meet members’ individual needs by helping them build and maintain a strong financial foundation, realise their goals, and achieve lasting financial well-being.
May 18 – 25, 2025: International CEOs’ Summit, Cape Town, South Africa
The International CEOs’ Summit is a remarkably diverse collection of global Co-operative business leaders convened by ACCOSCA and ACDF. This summit is geared towards stimulating private and informal interaction among peers as a means of strengthening
professional and personal relationships, drive awareness of the new disruption and membership changes and their impact on business and society and also unpack topical issues including Governance, Member Demographics and Response, Community outreach and Professionalizing the Co-operative System.
June 4 – 6, 2025: Supervisory and Compliance Skills Training, ACCOSCA Academy, Nairobi, Kenya
In Africa, SACCOs play a pivotal role in improving the financial well-being of her people and contributing to socio-economic growth for all. In this rapidly growing landscape, prudential regulation, supervision, and compliance remain critical in entrenching and cultivating member trust in the movement. Under the ACCOSCA Academy Center of Excellence, the Supervisory and Compliance Skills Training is a uniquely grafted course designed to equip technocrats in Africa with practical knowledge and skills to make robust, strategic decisions. Through the engagement, participants get an opportunity to inculcate the critical role effective supervision and compliance leadership play in elevating desirable outcomes to promote cooperative financial institutions’ overall financial stability and sustainability.
June 9 -13, 2025: Inclusive Citizens Programme, ACCOSCA Academy, Nairobi, Kenya
Concerted efforts over the last decade have accentuated the critical role played by women within the cooperative movement in Africa. Harnessing the potential of all African citizenry is critical to fueling Africa’s pathway towards sustainable development and prosperity. With a growing commitment to gender equality, diversity, and social inclusion, ACCOSCA is leading the continent through capacity-strengthening efforts that champion diversity, inclusion, and equity. Anchored on its Strategic Plan, ACCOSCA is stamping out inequality in Africa to stimulate organic growth and championing Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity as a bedrock for social and economic progress.
Further, ACCOSCA has consistently remained intentional in breaking the glass ceiling for women by enhancing their capacity for inclusive growth and sustainable development of the continent. Under the theme “Women of Influence,” participants attending the Inclusive Citizens Programme are exposed to various skills and strategies to lead change, break barriers, shatter stereotypes, and make a difference in their institutions through enhanced governance. ACCOSCA continues to shape the continent’s future by promoting gender equality to unlock Africa’s full potential and build a more inclusive and equitable future for all.
June 9 -13, 2025: Learn and Share Initiative – San José, Costa Rica
African Credit unions play a vital role in the continent’s efforts to deepen financial inclusion, promoting members’ participation in economic life and contributing to poverty reduction. At the heart of this transformation, ACCOSCA is strengthening the credit union movement for the socio-economic advancement of local communities and shared prosperity. ACCOSCA remains committed to leveraging global strategic linkages and partnerships as a strategy geared towards opening new avenues that accelerate financial inclusion in Africa.
July 14 -17, 2025: 2025 World Credit Union Conference, Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm, Sweden
The World Council of Credit Unions [WOCCU] and ACCOSCA are joining forces for the 2025 World Credit Union Conference [WCUC]. With 2025 having been declared the International Year of Cooperatives, the WCUC is poised to be the largest global credit union conference, where ACCOSCA will be coordinating registrations for all participants from African countries.
Scheduled to take place between July 14 –17 in Stockholm- Sweden, the 2025 World Credit Union Conference presents new global connections, business-critical insights from inspirational speakers, innovation, and strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening the cooperative movement in Africa.
July 17 – 20, 2025: Learn and Share Initiative – Vilnius, Lithuania
In the recent past, Africa has witnessed significant improvements in economic growth and development, leading to the rapid transformation of the continent. As such, ACCOSCA continues to provide leadership in the promotion of financial inclusion in Africa as an enabler of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Guided by its strategic framework, ACCOSCA is prominently positioning its attention towards cultivating global strategic partners to deliver on its vision for inclusive and sustainable development in Africa. ACCOSCA remains intentional in using the SACCO Business Model to empower cooperatives in Africa in a manner that spurs organic growth as a key vehicle unlocking social and economic transformation.
July 17 – 20, 2025: Learn and Share Initiative – Berlin, Germany
Through its unwavering mission of advocating for the African cooperative movement on a global platform, ACCOSCA continues to explore global strategic partnerships and collaborative initiatives. ACCOSCA reiterates its commitment to fostering knowledge exchange and enhancing professional standards across the continent through global strategic partnerships.
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