The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA): Role, Members & History

What Is the International Cooperative Alliance?

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is the global apex organization for the cooperative movement. Founded in 1895, it represents approximately 310 member organizations from 110 countries, collectively encompassing an estimated 3 billion individual cooperative members worldwide.

The ICA's primary functions are to:

Articulate and maintain the global definition and cooperative principles
Represent the cooperative movement in international policy forums, including the United Nations
Connect cooperative organizations globally through regional structures and thematic networks
Produce research and data on the cooperative economy through initiatives like the World Cooperative Monitor
Coordinate cooperative development activity internationally

The ICA does not directly govern individual cooperatives. Its authority is normative — it defines what a cooperative is and what principles should guide cooperative enterprise — and representational, speaking for cooperatives in global policy settings. Individual cooperatives govern themselves; the ICA provides the shared framework within which they identify as part of a global movement.

The ICA is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, with regional offices serving Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

Founding and Early History

The First International Cooperative Congress (1895)

The ICA was established at the First International Cooperative Congress, held in London in August 1895. The founding meeting brought together cooperative representatives from Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Argentina, Australia, India, and the United States.

The driving forces behind the ICA's creation were leaders of the growing consumer cooperative movement in Europe, particularly the English cooperative movement centered on the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) and the Scottish CWS. These organizations had accumulated significant economic weight and saw value in international coordination on standards, trade, and advocacy.

The founding vision was explicitly internationalist. Cooperative pioneers believed that the cooperative model — democratic control, profit distribution to members based on use, limited return on capital — could replace the exploitative capitalism they saw around them, and that international solidarity was essential to making this happen.

Early Decades and Growth

In its early decades, the ICA focused on establishing cooperative trading relationships across national borders, sharing knowledge about cooperative governance and law, and building international recognition for the cooperative form.

The period between the two World Wars was difficult. Economic depression, the rise of fascism (which suppressed cooperative movements in Germany, Italy, and Spain), and World War II severely disrupted the international cooperative movement. The ICA itself suspended normal operations during the war years.

Post-1945 reconstruction brought renewed ICA activity. The cooperative movement expanded significantly in developing countries, partly through connections with the decolonization movement — cooperatives were seen as a tool for economic self-determination in newly independent nations.

The Rochdale Principles and the 1995 Statement on Cooperative Identity

The Original Rochdale Principles

The cooperative principles that guide modern cooperatives trace to the rules established by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844 in Rochdale, England. The Rochdale Pioneers' practical success — their cooperative store grew rapidly and generated genuine economic benefit for working-class members — attracted worldwide attention, and their operating principles became the template for cooperative development globally.

The original Rochdale principles emphasized:

Open and voluntary membership
Democratic control (one member, one vote)
Distribution of surplus in proportion to use
Limited interest on capital
Political and religious neutrality
Cash trading (no credit, which was seen as exploitative)
Promotion of education

The ICA adopted and adapted these principles over its history, revising them in 1937, 1966, and — most significantly — in 1995.

The 1995 Statement on the Cooperative Identity

At its 1995 Centennial Congress in Manchester, England, the ICA adopted the Statement on the Cooperative Identity, drafted by a committee led by Canadian cooperative scholar Ian MacPherson. This document remains the authoritative global definition of a cooperative.

The Statement contains three parts:

Definition: "A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise."

Values: Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.

Seven Principles:

Voluntary and Open Membership
Democratic Member Control
Member Economic Participation
Autonomy and Independence
Education, Training, and Information
Cooperation Among Cooperatives
Concern for Community

The 1995 revision was significant for what it added compared to earlier versions: Principle 7 (Concern for Community) was new, reflecting growing awareness of cooperatives' social role. The explicit articulation of cooperative values alongside principles was also new — an acknowledgment that the principles are grounded in ethical commitments, not just pragmatic rules.

The 1995 Statement has become the most widely cited cooperative reference document in the world. National cooperative legislation, university curricula, and development programs across 100+ countries reference it.

Governance and Organizational Structure

General Assembly

The ICA's supreme governing body is the General Assembly, which meets every four years at the World Cooperative Congress. Each member organization has one vote, regardless of size — the principle of democratic control applied at the apex level. The General Assembly elects the ICA President and the Board of Directors, approves major policy positions, and can amend the ICA's articles.

Board of Directors

The ICA Board consists of 20 directors: the President, elected at-large by the General Assembly, and 19 regional representatives elected by the members in each region. The Board meets at least twice annually and oversees the ICA's strategy, finances, and executive management.

The ICA presidency has been held by leaders from a wide range of cooperative sectors and countries. Ariel Guarco of Argentina served as ICA President from 2017 to 2021. Susana Martínez Alonso of Spain was elected in 2021.

Secretariat

The ICA Secretariat, based in Brussels, employs approximately 30 permanent staff managing the organization's day-to-day activities: member services, research, policy advocacy, international events, and communications.

Regional Offices

ICA Africa: Based in Nairobi, Kenya. Serves cooperative organizations across sub-Saharan and North Africa.

ICA Americas: Based in San José, Costa Rica. Serves North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean.

ICA Asia-Pacific: Based in New Delhi, India. Serves cooperative organizations across Asia and the Pacific.

ICA Europe: Based in Brussels (co-located with the global secretariat). Serves European cooperative organizations. ICA Europe is one of the most active regional bodies, with strong engagement from European cooperative banking (credit unions and cooperative banks), retail cooperatives, and agricultural cooperatives.

Sectoral Organizations

The ICA coordinates several specialized organizations covering cooperative sectors:

CICOPA: International Organisation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives (worker and producer cooperatives)
ICBA: International Cooperative Banking Association
ICMIF: International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation
ICA Housing: International Housing Cooperative Organisation
COPAC: Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (with the ILO, FAO, and UNDP)

The World Cooperative Monitor

The World Cooperative Monitor is the ICA's flagship annual research publication, produced in partnership with EURICSE (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises) based in Trento, Italy.

First published in 2012, the Monitor tracks the 300 largest cooperative and mutual enterprises in the world by revenue, along with broader data on cooperative economic activity by sector and country.

Key findings from recent editions of the World Cooperative Monitor:

The top 300 cooperatives generate over $2.1 trillion in aggregate revenue annually
Agricultural and food cooperatives dominate the top 300 by number, followed by wholesale/retail cooperatives and insurance cooperatives
The United States accounts for the largest share of top-300 revenue, followed by France, Germany, and Japan
Cooperative banking and insurance, while less prominent in public perception, account for a significant portion of total cooperative revenue

The Monitor is significant because it demonstrates the economic weight of the cooperative sector in quantitative terms that policy makers and economists can engage with directly.

ICA's Role in International Policy

The ICA holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), giving it official standing to participate in UN policy processes. This status allows the ICA to submit written statements and participate in relevant UN meetings.

UN Resolutions on Cooperatives: The UN General Assembly has adopted resolutions on cooperatives approximately every two years since 1992. These resolutions, championed by the ICA, call on member states to create enabling environments for cooperative development and recognize cooperatives' contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.

ILO Recommendation 193: The International Labour Organization's Recommendation 193 on the Promotion of Cooperatives (2002), the most significant international labor standard specific to cooperatives, was developed with strong ICA involvement. It calls on governments to create legal frameworks that enable cooperative development, support cooperative education and training, and ensure cooperatives operate on equal terms with other businesses.

2012 International Year of Cooperatives: The UN designated 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives at ICA's initiative. The IYC raised global awareness of cooperatives and generated significant media coverage and policy attention.

ICA Membership

ICA membership is open to national cooperative apex organizations, individual cooperatives, and cooperative research and educational institutions. As of 2024, membership includes:

National apex organizations: Country-level representative bodies like NCBA CLUSA (USA), Co-operative UK, Cooperatives Australia, the Canadian Cooperative Association, and COGECA (European farmers' cooperatives).

Large cooperatives: Individual cooperatives of significant size — Fonterra (New Zealand dairy), Desjardins (Canadian credit union group), REWE Group (German retail cooperative), and others — maintain direct ICA membership alongside their national apex affiliations.

Research institutions: EURICSE, the Mondragon cooperative research center, and university cooperative centers maintain institutional membership.

The breadth of ICA membership — spanning consumer cooperatives, agricultural cooperatives, worker cooperatives, credit unions, cooperative insurers, and housing cooperatives — reflects the genuine diversity of the global cooperative movement. The ICA provides a shared identity and platform for organizations that otherwise operate in quite different economic sectors with different governance structures and member bases.

Limitations and Criticisms

The ICA is a membership association serving a diverse global constituency, which creates genuine tensions.

North-South imbalances. The largest and most economically powerful cooperative organizations are concentrated in Europe, North America, and Japan. Cooperative movements in the Global South — which may include more members in absolute numbers but command less economic power — have historically had less influence over ICA policy and governance.

Sectoral fragmentation. Agricultural cooperatives, credit unions, worker cooperatives, and consumer cooperatives have quite different interests. The ICA's role as a neutral convener means it sometimes struggles to take strong positions on contested issues within the movement.

Enforcement limits. The ICA has no enforcement mechanism. An organization that claims to be a cooperative but fails to meet governance or equity standards cannot be formally expelled for violating cooperative principles (though the ICA could theoretically withdraw membership from organizations found to be non-cooperative in practice).

Despite these limitations, the ICA remains the indispensable global framework for cooperative identity. No other organization has its combination of historical legitimacy, global membership breadth, and authoritative voice on what cooperatives are and what they stand for.