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Co-ops are answering the challenge of the SDGs, NCBA CLUSA’s Valeria Roach says at UN event

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Valeria Roach (center), Executive Vice President and CFO of NCBA CLUSA, speaks during a United Nations event commemorating the International Day of Cooperatives.

“As a cooperative community, we not only have the opportunity—but also the responsibility—to play an ever-increasing role in putting people at the center of today’s economy and society,” Valeria Roach, Executive Vice President and CFO of NCBA CLUSA, said at a United Nations event last week.

Held at UN Headquarters in New York on July 7, the event commemorated the 2022 International Day of Cooperatives, celebrated annually on the second Saturday in July, and amplified the critical role co-ops play in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted by all member states in 2015, the SDGs provide a framework for an ambitious plan to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and fix climate change by 2030.

Addressing challenges like these are exactly what co-ops do best, Roach said in her remarks. “Capturing opportunities to solve problems is at the very core of the legacy of cooperatives,” she said. “Co-ops are the key to ensuring a brighter future for people around the world.”

Last week’s event provided an opportunity for member states to share best practices and present their national action plans in support of cooperatives to advance the SDGs. This year’s commemoration also coincided with the 100th anniversary of the International Day of Cooperatives, and the 10th anniversary of the UN International Year of Cooperatives.

Hosted by the Committee for the Promotion of Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Mongolia to the U.S., the event was part of the Voluntary National Review Labs organized by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

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