Cooperatives Build a Better World: ACCA Celebrates Co-op Week during the International Year of Cooperatives
2025 is a milestone year for the global co-operative movement. The United Nations has declared it the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC 2025) under the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better World.” The declaration recognizes the vital role co-ops play in advancing sustainable development, strengthening local economies, and fostering community resilience.
Here in Alberta, Co-op Week makes that global celebration local, and ACCA is embracing the moment. This week, as co-ops across the province come together to reflect and celebrate, ACCA is hitting the road and bringing people together through two major initiatives: Business NOT As Usual and the Co-op Connection Tour.
A Global Spotlight on a Local Strength
The International Year of Cooperatives highlights how co-ops around the world are driving positive change, from local food systems and housing to renewable energy, childcare, and finance. It’s about recognizing a business model that values people and planet alongside profit.
For Alberta’s co-ops, this global spotlight is an opportunity to show how the cooperative model thrives here at home, rooted in community, collaboration, and innovation. Co-op Week is a perfect time to share that story.
Business NOT As Usual: Inspiring the Next Generation of Co-operators
To mark Co-op Week, ACCA is hosting Business NOT As Usual, an engaging online event designed to spark new conversations about what it means to do business differently. This interactive session invites students, young professionals, and co-op champions to explore how the cooperative model creates meaningful, values-driven impact in communities across Alberta.
It’s a reminder that the co-operative way of doing business isn’t just a historical model. It’s a forward-looking solution for today’s challenges.
The Co-op Connection Tour: Bringing Co-ops to the Road
Also taking place during Co-op Week, the Co-op Connection Tour is travelling across Alberta, from Medicine Hat to Camrose to Spruce Grove, bringing together co-op leaders, members, and community partners. Each stop is a chance to connect, share stories, and strengthen the bonds that make the co-operative network so resilient.
These local gatherings reflect what the International Year of Cooperatives is all about: collaboration, learning, and building stronger communities together.
Looking Ahead: The 2025 Alberta Co-operative Conference
While Co-op Week shines a spotlight this October, ACCA is keeping the momentum going throughout the year. From November 3 – 5, 2025, we’ll gather in Edmonton for the 2025 Alberta Co-operative Conference, themed “Next is Now: Together, We Build.”
The conference will bring together co-op leaders, innovators, and partners to explore how co-ops are shaping Alberta’s future, through connection, learning, and collective action.
Celebrating the Co-operative Difference
As the International Year of Cooperatives unfolds, ACCA and our members are proud to represent a movement built on shared ownership, democratic values, and local impact.
This Co-op Week, we celebrate the people and communities that make co-ops thrive, and we look ahead to a year of building, learning, and working together.
Because when co-ops succeed, we all do.
