The 43rd session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) was celebrated in Rome, Italy, in October. CFS is an in clusive international and intergovernmental platform for stakeholders who work towards ensuring food security and nutrition for all. As in several previous editions of CFS, the Committee on the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) organized a side event on Friday 21 October, titled “Cooperatives promoting inclusive rural-urban linkages for sustainable food systems”. The side event, attended by over 50 people, included speakers from organizations promoting cooperative development around the world.

The Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) is a multi-stakeholder partnership of global public and private institutions that champions and supports people-centred and self-sustaining cooperative enterprises as leaders in sustainable development. The members of COPAC include the ILO, FAO, UN DESA, the ICA as well as World Farmers’ Organization. The members collaborate on: Promoting and raising awareness about cooperatives; Strengthening cooperatives around the world through capacity building; Participating in policy initiatives that affect cooperatives; and Serving as a resource for cooperative knowledge through information gathering and sharing.

The ILO participated in the side event, emphasising the importance of a cooperative model in supporting integrated rural development and narrow urban-rural gaps for sustainable food systems. The ILO intervention delivered by Waltteri Katajamaki from the Cooperatives Unit, emphasized three points to consider when including the cooperative model within the context of wider inclusive rural development policies. These include:

• Promoting the development of diversified rural economies, where cooperatives play a key role in supporting interactions between rural and urban economies. Cooperatives have a cross-cutting nature existing across all sectors of the economy, and being involved in flows of people, goods and money between rural and urban areas and regions. Cooperatives can support the diversification of economies for instance through providing accessible entry point for rural entrepreneurship, including but not limited to agriculture and related activities. Special emphasis should be placed on building the skills of women, who often find it more difficult than men to upgrade their economic activities in rural areas beyond low-paying agricultural jobs.
• Second, supporting improved availability and access to quality basic services, such as water and sanitation, health, education and energy, among others. Cooperatives are already providing these services, particularly in areas where other private sector or public service providers are unable or unwilling to go. Investments in basic services in rural areas should be encouraged, and cooperatives, as community-based enterprises, should be encouraged to provide these quality services through for instance ensuring the appropriate enabling environment for them to operate. Promoting productive employment and decent work for improved rural livelihoods. This includes smallholder farmers as well as agricultural and other rural workers, and is a key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and particularly the SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth. There are several ways in which cooperatives can promote more and better jobs for sustainable food systems. These include for instance through upgrading value chains and connecting higher up in the value chains; accessing higher value markets for example through cooperative to cooperative trade or niche markets like fair trade; and facilitating the provision of economies of scale.
• Promoting productive employment and decent work for improved rural livelihoods. This includes smallholder farmers as well as agricultural and other rural workers, and is a key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and particularly the SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth. There are several ways in which cooperatives can promote more and better jobs for sustainable food systems. These include for instance through upgrading value chains and connecting higher up in the value chains; accessing higher value markets for example through cooperative to cooperative trade or niche markets like fair trade; and facilitating the provision of economies of scale.

The key messages from the side event include the following:

• Cooperatives are strategic partners and key agents of change for building inclusive rural-urban linkages and sustainable food systems.
• Cooperatives and other forms of collective action link producers and consumers, resulting in shorter food value chains and benefits for their members and wider communities, such as: local, low-carbon, safe food; diversified rural economies; achieving scale and asset/risk sharing for farmers; preserving local cultures; and supporting solidarity-based partnerships between farmers and consumers.
• There is a need for increased awareness about the cooperative model and its role in supporting inclusive rural-urban linkages for achieving sustainable food systems.
• Cooperatives need to be supported in terms of their organizational capacities and with an enabling environment conducive to their development, including the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks and policies, creation of consultation frameworks and policy dialogue spaces, as well as investment opportunities.