A/RES/80/182 GA

United Nations A/RES/80/182 General Assembly Distr.: General 22 December 2025 25-20992 (E) *2520992* Eightieth session Agenda item 25 (b) Social development: social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, persons with disabilities and the family Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 15 December 2025 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/80/545, para. 5)] 80/182. Cooperatives in social development The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 47/90 of 16 December 1992, 49/155 of 23 December 1994, 51/58 of 12 December 1996, 54/123 of 17 December 1999, 56/114 of 19 December 2001, 58/131 of 22 December 2003, 60/132 of 16 December 2005, 62/128 of 18 December 2007, 64/136 of 18 December 2009, 65/184 of 21 December 2010, 66/123 of 19 December 2011, 68/133 of 18 December 2013, 70/128 of 17 December 2015, 72/143 of 19 December 2017, 74/119 of 18 December 2019, 76/135 of 16 December 2021 and 78/175 of 19 December 2023 concerning cooperatives in social development, and 78/289 of 24 June 2024 proclaiming the International Year of Cooperatives 2025, Recognizing that cooperatives, in their various forms, promote the fullest possible participation in the economic and social development of local communities and all people, including women, young people, older persons, persons with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples, whose inclusion strengthens economic and social development, and contribute to the eradication of poverty and hunger, Recognizing also that, as cooperative enterprises often serve the socially excluded and vulnerable sectors of the population that traditional profit-driven businesses may not be best placed to address, they are therefore important for the support of socially inclusive policies that drive inclusive development, particularly in developing countries, Recognizing further that cooperatives and other social organizations can be instrumental in promoting a just transition while working on climate change adaptation and mitigation, A/RES/80/182 Cooperatives in social development 25-20992 2/5 Reaffirming the adoption of the outcome document of the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, 1 the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development 2 and the Sevilla Commitment of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development,3 and noting the acknowledgement therein of the role of cooperatives in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and in relation to financing for development, Recalling its resolution 77/281 of 18 April 2023, entitled “Promoting the social and solidarity economy for sustainable development”, in which it recognized that the social and solidarity economy encompasses enterprises, organizations and other entities that are engaged in economic, social and environmental activities to serve the collective and/or general interest, which are based on the principles of voluntary cooperation and mutual aid, democratic and/or participatory governance, autonomy and independence and the primacy of people and social purpose over capital in the distribution and use of surpluses and/or profits, as well as assets, Recognizing the important contribution and potential of all forms of cooperatives to the follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women, including their five-year reviews, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), the World Food Summit, the Second World Assembly on Ageing, the International Conference on Financing for Development, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, Looking forward to the adoption of the Doha Political Declaration of the Second World Summit for Social Development, which, inter alia, highlights the role of cooperatives in its follow-up and implementation, Recognizing that cooperatives can make important contributions towards and benefit from improved global food security through their role as stakeholders in pathways of transformation, as appropriate, towards sustainable, resilient and inclusive food systems, Noting that, globally, there are about 3 million cooperatives, and 10 per cent of workers worldwide are either employed by a cooperative or are worker-owners within a cooperative, Recognizing that cooperatives may contribute to the economic status of women, as well as to their capacity-building, including education and training in key skills, and promote the social and economic development of all persons, including young people, older persons and persons with disabilities, Noting with appreciation the potential role of cooperative development in the improvement of the social and economic conditions of Indigenous Peoples and rural communities, Recognizing that financial cooperatives play a vital role in promoting financial inclusion and local economic development, in particular in rural and remote areas, by expanding access to credit and financial services, thereby reducing inequalities and strengthening the resilience of communities, Welcoming the efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to showcase the role of agricultural cooperatives, including in improving food _______________ 1 Resolution 70/1. 2 Resolution 69/313, annex. 3 Resolution 79/323, annex. Cooperatives in social development A/RES/80/182 3/5 25-20992 security and nutrition, particularly in rural areas, promoting sustainable agricultural practices, improving the agricultural productivity of farmers, including by providing capacity-building and training, and facilitating access to markets, savings, credit, insurance and technology, and in so doing strengthen sustainable food systems, 1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;4 2. Notes with appreciation the celebration of the International Year of Cooperatives in 2012; 3. Also notes with appreciation the proclamation of another International Year of Cooperatives in 2025 and its launch at the Global Cooperative Conference in New Delhi, which encouraged all Member States, as well as the United Nations and all other relevant stakeholders, to take advantage of the International Year of Cooperatives as a way of promoting cooperatives and raising awareness of their contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and to overall social and economic development; 4. Encourages all Member States, as well as the United Nations and all other relevant stakeholders, to share best practices identified through activities implemented during the International Year of Cooperatives and to continue those activities, as appropriate; 5. Calls for the proclamation of an International Year of Cooperatives every 10 years following the International Year of Cooperatives in 2025, to encourage effective leveraging of the cooperative enterprise model to advance social and economic development; 6. Encourages Governments, as appropriate, to provide targeted budgetary support to scale up the capacity of cooperatives, promote them, in particular those led by the poor, young people, women, older persons, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and those in vulnerable situations, as well as include them in sectoral strategies, such as agriculture, health, education and employment; 7. Also encourages Governments, as appropriate, to consult with cooperatives as part of their preparations for their voluntary national reviews for the high-level political forum on sustainable development; 8. Draws the attention of Governments to the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General to focus support on cooperatives as sustainable and successful business enterprises by strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem for cooperatives, enabling them to further contribute directly to decent employment generation, poverty and hunger eradication, education, social protection, including universal health coverage, financial inclusion and the creation of affordable housing options across a variety of economic sectors in urban and rural areas and to review existing legislation and regulations to make the national legal and regulatory environment more conducive to the creation and growth of cooperatives by improving existing laws and regulations and/or by establishing new ones, especially in the areas of access to capital, autonomy, competitiveness and fair taxation; 9. Invites Governments and international organizations, in partnership with cooperatives and cooperative organizations, to strengthen and build the capacity of all forms of cooperatives, especially those run by the poor, young people, women, older persons, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and those in vulnerable situations, so that they can empower people to transform their lives and communities positively and build inclusive societies, and to ensure the full, equal and meaningful _______________ 4 A/80/168. A/RES/80/182 Cooperatives in social development 25-20992 4/5 participation of women and young people in cooperatives, in particular in their decision-making processes; 10. Invites Governments to strengthen efforts to enhance food security and nutrition to foster sustainable production and consumption, to promote the progressive realization of the right to adequate food and to focus efforts on smallholders and women farmers, as well as on agricultural and food cooperatives and farmers’ networks, supported by measures to improve access to markets and financial capital, create enabling domestic and international environments and strengthen collaboration across the many initiatives in this area, including regional initiatives; 11. Also invites Governments, in collaboration with cooperative organizations and relevant stakeholders, to promote conditions for financial cooperatives to effectively perform as relevant instruments of access to affordable finance and for local economic development; 12. Encourages Governments to promote access to information and communications technologies as a vital channel for collaboration and the expansion of cooperatives, especially in rural areas, working towards closing the digital divides, including for all women and girls, persons with disabilities and older persons; 13. Also encourages Governments to intensify and expand the availability, accessibility and dissemination of evidence-based research on the operations and contribution of cooperatives, to develop a statistical framework for the systematic collection of comprehensive and disaggregated data on and the best practices of cooperative enterprises, taking into consideration available methodologies, such as the guidelines concerning statistics of cooperatives, in collaboration with all stakeholders, and to raise public awareness of the linkages between cooperatives and sustainable development, especially in the areas of social inclusion, decent employment creation, poverty eradication in all its forms and dimensions, inequality reduction, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and peacebuilding; 14. Invites Governments, relevant international organizations, the specialized agencies and local, national and international cooperative organizations to continue to observe the International Day of Cooperatives annually, on the first Saturday of July, as proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 47/90; 15. Invites Governments, in collaboration with the cooperative movement, to develop programmes aimed at enhancing the capacity-building of cooperatives, including by strengthening the organizational, management and financial skills of their members, while respecting the principles of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and to introduce and support programmes to improve the access of cooperatives to new technologies; 16. Encourages Governments to take appropriate measures to adopt or develop legislation and policies that provide women with equal access to land and support women’s cooperatives and agricultural programmes and enable women’s cooperatives to benefit from public and private sector procurement processes and increase trade; 17. Requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the relevant United Nations and other international organizations and national, regional and international cooperative organizations, to continue to render support to Member States, as appropriate, in their efforts to create a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, integrating cooperative values, principles and business models into educational programming, including school curricula, as appropriate, providing assistance for human resources development, technical advice and training and Cooperatives in social development A/RES/80/182 5/5 25-20992 promoting an exchange of experience and best practices through, inter alia, conferences, workshops and seminars at the national and regional levels, within existing resources; 18. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its eighty-second session a report on the implementation of the present resolution. 62nd plenary meeting 15 December 2025

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