Africa-Press – Liberia. Stakeholders comprising those from the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA), the Liberia National Federation of Cooperative Societies (LNFCS) and the Liberia Credit Union National Association (LCUNA), the Ministry of Agriculture, the UN agencies and others on Saturday, July 6, 2024, joined other countries of the world to observe the International Cooperatives Day (ICD).
The day was set aside by the United Nations General Assembly Proclamation Resolution 47/90 that the first Saturday of July be observed as International Cooperatives Day. It aimed to increase awareness of the significant roles of cooperatives and promote the movements’ ideas of international solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and world peace. ICD further showcases the unique contributions of cooperatives to making the world a better place. The event underscores the contributions of the cooperatives movement to resolving the many problems addressed by member states of the United Nations.
In Liberia, the stakeholders celebrated the ICD in Voinjama City Lofa County, highlighting the important contributions that cooperatives have made or are making to the Liberian economy.
The program included a parade through the main streets of the city and with an indoor activity where cooperatives members showcase success stories and where speeches were made by several stakeholders. A special statement from the president of Liberia, Joseph Nyumah Boakai was also read.
Moreover, during the program several distinct personalities, including the President, were also honored for their contribution to the cooperatives movement since 1971.
It brought together over hundred cooperative members from three counties: Lofa, Bong, and Nimba.
Also attending the program were officials of the CDA, Ministry of Agriculture, the Liberia Agriculture Regulatory Authority (LACRA) and other stakeholders.
On December 16, 1992, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed in Resolution 47/90 “the first Saturday of July to be International Day of Cooperatives, marking the centenary of the establishment of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA)”. This year’s 2024 celebration was both the 29th United Nations International Day of Cooperatives and the 102nd International Cooperatives Day.
The Day theme was celebrated under the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better Future for All”, which supports the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8, which calls for “Inclusive Development and Decent Work.” The theme also aligns with the objectives of the upcoming UN Summit of the Future, whose theme is: “Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow.”
However, in Liberia, the theme selected by the stakeholders was “Food Security and Sustainability through Cooperatives,” which aligns with the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) of the ARREST (Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation and Tourism) Agenda of the Government of Liberia.
A special statement from the office of the President of Liberia, Joseph Nyumah Boakai, read by the Superintendent of Lofa County, J. Lavelah Massaquoi in commemoration of the day, underscored the significant contributions by cooperatives in Liberia before the civil war and even now.
According to the statement, because cooperatives have the potential to generate jobs and contribute to food security and financial stability, the Boakai’s administration under the National Agriculture Development Plan for Liberia, cooperatives will be required to form themselves into clusters and will be strengthened in order to support production and marketing of products.
The statement mentioned that Liberia has an outstanding history about the involvement of cooperatives.
According to the President’s statement, the first cooperatives society, Intofawor Farmers’ Cooperative Society was established on September 24, 1971 in Foya, Lofa County, followed by the establishment of the Gbandi Farmers’ Cooperative Society and the Voinjama District Farmers’ Cooperative Society, all in the same county.
According to the statement, since 1989, the cooperative movement of Liberia has joined other world cooperative movement bodies in observance of the International Cooperatives Day.
Regrettably, such global event had not been observed since then until 2019 and now because of the civil crisis and the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in recent past years and the CoronaVirus pandemic, which further exacerbated the decline in social cohesion and social capital development of community members including agricultural production in many parts of the country where the majority members of Liberia’s cooperative movement are concentrated.
Meanwhile, the Lofa County Superintendent, while reading the statement, said that the citizens of his county will need to support the President in achieving his ARREST agenda for food self-sufficiency and job creation.
Under the ARREST agenda, President Boakai has earmarked agriculture as the number one priority for the development of his country.
Also speaking, the Deputy Agriculture Minister of Regional Development Research and Extension, Moses Gbaryan, called on cooperative societies to work diligently for the development of the agricultural sector.
He said that the Ministry of Agriculture remains committed to working with the CDA to create more opportunities for cooperative members.
However, the Minister mentioned that cooperatives must be able to demonstrate integrity in order to benefit from the Ministry.
“We have noticed that some cooperatives are not working in the interest of its members and resources are not properly managed. This is something that cooperatives must stop. We want cooperatives to assist smaller organizations,” minister Gbaryan said.
For her part, the Registrar General of the CDA, Lwopu G. Kandakai, expressed gratitude for the interest that the government has in cooperatives.
She said that cooperatives contributed immensely towards the development of the country before the war and that the time is now for the country to regain that status.
“It was due to the existence of vibrant cooperatives that Liberia was involved in export. There is a need to invest more into cooperatives in order to take the country to another level,” she said.
At the same time, the CDA registrar General used the occasion to honor several individuals including the President of Liberia for their contributions to Liberia’s cooperatives movements since 1971.
For More News And Analysis About Liberia Follow Africa-Press
