The United Nations declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC).
This constitutes an important occasion for the cooperative movement to raise public awareness of the co-operative business model. 
The main objective of the International Year of Cooperatives is to strengthen public awareness of
co-operatives and their contribution to socio-economic development as well as to promote this form of enterprise. The Year highlights also the impact of co-operatives on poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. The UN encourages the governments of individual countries to establish suitable policies and adopt such legal solutions and regulations which will enable the creation, development and stability of co-operatives.
The theme of the International Year of Cooperatives is “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World” and its logo reflects the definition of a co-operative which is a voluntary association of people who fulfil their economic, social and cultural needs by co-owning an enterprise that is governed by them democratically (the international definition of a co-operative).
The International Year of Cooperatives constitutes a great occasion for all co-operative organisations and enterprises to highlight the important role of this sector in national economies.
National Auditing Union of Workers’ Co-operatives planned numerous events which will contribute to achieving the objectives of the International Year of Cooperatives, the most important of which is to raise public awareness of co-operative enterprises. All the activities will be conducted in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The International Year of Cooperatives was inaugurated in Warsaw on 1st February , during the conference in the Presidential Palace which was attended by the Nobel Peace Prize Winner of 2006, Professor Muhammad Yunus. The Polish Social Economy Meetings, which will take place in Krakow in October 2012, will constitute the most important event of the IYC. Furthermore, numerous regional events open to wide audience and supported by press articles will take place during the Year to help raising public awareness of the co-operative movement and the activities of co-operatives.
The updated information about those events will be published on our website.
More detailed information about the IYC celebrations worldwide are available on the official UN website dedicated to the IYC: http://social.un.org/coopsyear/.
