The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) is a non-governmental Co-operative Federation or, more precisely, a co-operative union representing co-operatives and the co-operative movement worldwide. It was founded in 1895 as a result of actions by Edward Vansittart Neale and the Christian Socialists. The ICA maintains the currently accepted version of the Rochdale Principles of Cooperation and the Statement on the Co-operative Identity.^[1] ICA represents 224 co-operative federations and organisations in 87 countries.

In 2006 the ICA published the first major index of the world's largest co-operative and mutual enterprises, the ICA Global 300,^[2] which demonstrated the scale of the co-operative movement globally.

[edit] Structure

The ICA consists of a 20-member governing board, a General Assembly, four regional assemblies (one each for Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Americas), an Audit and Control Committee, and both sectoral committees and thematic committees.

[edit] Regional Assemblies

• ICA Asia - Pacific
• ICA Africa
• Cooperatives Europe
• ICA Americas

[edit] Sectoral Committees

• International Co-operative Agricultural Organisation (ICAO)
• International Co-operative Banking Association (ICBA)
• Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide (CCW)
• International Co-operative Fisheries Organisation (ICFO)
• International Health Co-operative Organisation (IHCO)
• International Co-operative Housing Organisation (ICA Housing)
• International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF)
• International Organisation of Industrial, Artisanal and Service Producers' Co-operatives (CICOPA)
• International Association of Tourism (TICA)

[edit] Thematic Committees

• Committee on Co-operative Research
• Communications Committee
• Human Resource Development Committee
• Gender Equality Committee

[edit] The flag

Old ICA flag (1925). For current ICA flag see the ICA website

ICA adopted its original rainbow flag in 1925, with the seven colors symbolizing unity in diversity and the power of light, enlightenment, and progress.^[3] The new flag was adopted in 2001 at the ICA congress in Seoul, South Korea, to avoid confusion with other rainbow flags, several of which had become very well known in the 20th century. The present flag shows the ICA seven-color logo on a white background. The logo depicts a quarter rainbow with a flock of stylized doves of peace scattering from the top and the letters ICA underneath. The rainbow has only six stripes (red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue) and the seventh color (purple) appears in the lettering under the rainbow. The flag exists in four different versions showing the ICA acronym in different languages (ACI in Spanish and French, IGB in German, and МКА in Russian).

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of Co-operative Federations

[edit] External links

• The International Co-operative Alliance
• The ICA news aggregation website
• The story of the ICA flag

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