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The National Cooperative Union of India released a statement on the role of cooperatives and the apex union in responding to the COVID-19 related challenges. The first initiative of Indian cooperators from across the country is to support the  Prime Minister’s clarion call to observe a self-imposed ‘Janata (public) curfew’ on Sunday 22^nd March and restrict their movement to very essential activities.

Cooperative Business New Zealand reported that even with significant government support schemes being rapidly activated around wage subsidies, bank loans, etc., the country was already seeing a significant rise in unemployment, now now anticipated to rise to between 10-30% over the coming year/s). Food supply is not an issue, as New Zealand is able to source locally and the cooperative community (generates 19% of New Zealand's GDP) provides a significant proportion of the food supplies (both as a producer, but also as one of the two major super market food chains).

AJEEC NISPED of Israel opened the doors to the first COVID-19 Situation Room in the Negev Bedouin community to  centralize efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. The Situation Room is a partnership between all the civil society and cooperative organizations in the Negev and all local municipalities.

A multitude of collective cooperative efforts in Iran are underway to increase production of materials and items needed for personal protection equipment. This includes masks, disinfectants, detergents, clothing and even raw materials.

COOPERAR from Argentina sent out a message to cooperators and the community as a whole to reaffirm that the cooperative model is the answer to the health emergency. The message can be read here.

iCOOP Korea increased its capacities in special disaster zones and created a COVID-19 Social Healing Project which collected KRW 4.9 Million to support the underprivileged as well as travel and service organizations. Read more  on the iCOOP website here.

HeW Coop, Japan set up a task force on February 19, 2020 to take cognizance of the crisis and ascertain the role of cooperatives in fighting the pandemic. The Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU) informed the government the difficulties and challenges in the healthcare and welfare businesses.

The Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia in Spain has implemented a series of measures for cooperatives, including free legal and economic advice, a solidarity contingency fund that offers immediate liquidity and opening of a line of guarantees to access higher funding, and online training sessions. Courier cooperatives distributed health care material to the community, agricultural cooperatives collaborated with local governments to disinfect installations and streets in cities.

The National Cooperative Business Association - Cooperative League of the USA (NCBA-CLUSA) reported that cooperatives are eligible to have access to the economic disaster packages passed by the U.S. Congress. The organization is working to ensure cooperatives in all sectors are eligible. Cooperatives in major sectors deemed essential services – including food, agriculture and credit union, are part of this disaster package.

Sweden based We Effect gathered information from their partner organizations (mostly cooperatives) in 23 countries and ran a Twitter campaign using #coronavoices. In collaboration with 30 organizations, this leading global NGO advocated with lawmakers to defend the 1% of Gross National Product dedicated to developing cooperatives. Complete coverage of European countries’ cooperative response prepared by Cooperatives Europe can be found here.