The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives under the theme Cooperatives Build a Better World. This declaration recognizes the role cooperatives play in strengthening communities and addressing systemic inequalities. Despite their contributions to equitable food systems, cooperatives face persistent challenges that limit their full potential, particularly for women.
What are cooperatives?
Cooperatives are member-driven organizations built on shared ownership, collective decision-making, and resource pooling. With over three million cooperatives worldwide, they represent a significant part of agrifood systems. They can empower small-scale farmers and rural communities by improving access to markets, credit, training, and infrastructure, which can help them negotiate better prices, adopt sustainable practices, and withstand market and environmental shocks. With nearly half of the world’s smallholder farmers being women, cooperatives have the potential to greatly benefit their wellbeing, but the full picture is more complicated.
Can the International Year of Cooperatives improve conditions for women farmers?
In many regions, structural inequalities that have historically undermined women’s agency persist, especially where financial resources are limited and legal frameworks inadequate. For women who continue to face systemic barriers to land rights, leadership roles, and access to credit and training, cooperatives bring limited advantage.
Cooperatives’ potential to lift women up
Among the five key contributions of cooperatives to agrifood systems identified by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), two hold the potential to benefit women farmers as part of a cooperative. Small-scale production and inclusive employment, and Sustainability and efficient resource use can help counteract social and gender inequalities and structural power imbalances by stimulating employment for marginalized or disadvantaged groups. With this, they could not only contribute to social justice, but also strengthen local economies. Through shared resources and planning, cooperatives promote efficient use of natural resources while revitalizing traditional practices. They also encourage links with other forms of solidarity efforts such as social enterprises and integrate related activities such as circular economy and agritourism in their collaborations.
International years can catalyse change, but they must go beyond symbolic recognition to deliver The International Year of Cooperatives in 2025 provides a platform to emphasize the importance of these collective efforts and to advocate for stronger policies and investments that enable cooperatives to thrive.
While commitment and recognition at the global level are important, what matters most is the follow-through: ensuring that attention leads to meaningful action in the form of support for cooperatives and their members. SIANI hopes that 2025 will inspire efforts to accelerate this change and strengthen cooperatives as a cornerstone of sustainable development. By addressing systemic barriers and fostering equitable participation, cooperatives can contribute to a more inclusive and resilient future for all.