If cooperativism was a country, it would be as big as India. If you lined up 1.2 billion cooperators, the total length of the queue would be so long that it could circle the Earth’s equator 15 times! So why are cooperatives not better known?
As delegates gathered in the Plenary of Bharat Mandapam, Iñigo Albizurri, International Relations Affairs of the Mondragon Corporation and chair of the ICA Communications Committee and Leire Luengo, Director of Communications of the ICA shared thoughts about how to make the most of the 2025 International Year of Cooperatives.
“Let the world see us, hear us and join us,” said Luengo. “One light is small and easily missed. But lots of lights are visible in the dark.”
“We need to be proud of being cooperatives,” added Albizurri. “Next year is a huge opportunity - we need to be loud about it.”
This is important, said 2021 Rochdale Pioneers Award winner Howard Brodsky, because “too much of the world knows too little about cooperatives”.
“People learn by stories, not numbers,” he said. “We’re a force, and we need to tell our stories better, in a powerful way … 2025 is the time to light us up.”
Delegates also heard from Rinky Kumari, an Indian football coach who, as a player, toured the world. “I was the captain – that motivated me to focus on my education and I was later selected for a course at Mondragon University. There I learnt about collaboration and how cooperatives work and share decisions. It’s a team.”
The conclusion was clear: more communication means more cooperatives. The answer? “Communicate, communicate, communicate!”
Watch the full opening ceremony here!
