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These enterprises are more likely to employ young people, reach underserved populations and reinvest their profits locally. Across Africa, social enterprises are already operating at scale and delivering measurable outcomes

Babban Gona, in Nigeria, is a farmer-owned cooperative model serving more than 38,000 smallholders, has doubled yields, tripled incomes and created over 82,000 jobs – 69% for youth. Its 98% loan repayment rate outperforms most banks.

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Like all 4,300 credit unions across the country, Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union is itself a cooperative, but that didn’t necessarily mean its lending team was familiar with the worker-owned cooperative structure. But, as Fernandez kept moving forward the conversation about creating a loan product for them, it didn’t take long for the credit union to realize it really wasn’t going to be much different from its existing small business lending. 

In depopulated areas across Japan, the withdrawal of supermarkets and other businesses has left essential services, vital to residents' daily lives, at risk.

To address this problem, some local governments are turning to resident-led nonprofit organizations known as "workers' cooperatives" as new providers of local services.

Before this week, the challenges were already constant. We are small and grassroots, which means capacity is always the pressure point. Funding is limited, volunteer time is limited, and the needs do not arrive one at a time.

After 30 years as CWCF’s Executive Director and involvement from its early beginnings in 1991, I have decided to retire from CWCF at the end of 2026.  It’s an emotional decision, but it also feels very right.   With a new cycle of Strategic Planning beginning, it’s the right time for new leadership. 

People’s Plumbing is a worker-owned cooperative based in Cleveland that offers plumbing and home repair services through a gift economy model.

Founded by longtime plumber and community organizer Cristobal Van Breen in 2023, the co-op grew out of a belief that access to clean water and safe housing are human rights. Cleveland has no shortage of plumbing and repair needs, which keeps the workers at People’s Plumbing busy with everything from leaky faucets to major sewer line replacements.

Two large, painted signs sit at the entrance to the César Andreu Iglesias Community Garden, a large community garden roughly the size of a city block located in North Philadelphia. “WELCOME. BIENVENIDOS. GROW SHARE GATHER,” reads the first in lavender and green. Beside it, in yellow and red, a second sign declares, “ESTE TERRENO NO ESTA EN VENTA” (this land is not for sale). A raised fist—the universal symbol of solidarity—is painted beneath the text. Together, the two signs convey complementary messages about the garden.

Much of the information provided on the matter of the union contract came from one of the sponsors of the event, the United Steelworkers (USW). While advocating for an atypical collective bargaining agreement, where worker owners are distinguished from an often elected management of some kind, the main reason for sourcing these contracts with unions like USW came down to 2 main reasons. One was to speak plainly, healthcare. USW has a healthcare network attached to many of their current shops, funded through the union itself.

Wednesday, 25 February 2026 | 14:00–15:30 CET

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) will host a webinar co-organized by the regional and global offices to officially launch the Legal Framework Analysis (LFA) for Cooperatives, a harmonised research and analysis initiative examining the state of cooperative legislation worldwide. The LFA is implemented across all ICA Regions as part of an activity co-funded under the ICA–EU Partnership #coops4dev🌍.

In a time when political divisions and economic uncertainty threaten to divide people, worker-owned cooperatives are choosing solidarity and cooperation.

Over the past 12 months, we at TESA have been focused on helping to build the cooperative economy in concrete, practical ways.

Improving awareness about the relevance of co-operative model with the general public, youth and government is the most important issue for co-ops in the annual survey by The Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives. And the job of raising awareness is up to the co-ops themselves and their provincial and national associations.