Full steam ahead for international development at CCA

By now, most people in the Canadian co-operative world are aware that there are big changes underway at the Canadian Co-operative Association.  After several years of discussion, a new national Apex organization is being launched that can represent all co-operatives, regardless of language or geographic region.  That organization is called Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada (CMC) and it will incorporate the work of two founding organizations, CCA and  le Conseil canadien de la coopération et mutualité (CCCM). 

CMC is destined to do great things, but it will not be a hands-on international development agency as CCA has been in the past.   So what will happen to CCA's International Development program?  It will carry on, and will continue to thrive and grow in its efforts to use the co-operative model to alleviate poverty around the world. 

CCA's international development work will continue to thrive and grow despite upcoming organizational changes.

The Canada-based activities of CCA - government affairs, policy development, facilitating communications and dialogue among co-operatives, etc. - will move from CCA to the new organization.  But CCA will continue to exist as an organization focused exclusively on international development.  For our partners around the world, and for the funding organizations that support us,  there will be no change or disruption. 

Similarly, the Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada, will also continue to exist as it always has, generating revenue in Canada that it can apply to poverty alleviation programs and projects around the world, often with CCA  as the organization doing the work on the ground. In fact, CDF and CCA are working hard to work more closely together - to align operations and communications to make it easier for Canadians to offer their support, and to understand how that support is being used around the world. 

The two boards - CCA and CDF - are now meeting jointly to plan out the future.  And they will be looking for some new people to help with that. CCA is looking for a number of new board members, to be elected at the Annual General Meeting in June, who can help chart the organization's future. That means creative people with a genuine interest in co-operatives and international development, with strong connections to Canadian co-operatives and credit unions, and the governance skills to work with colleagues to get things done.  If you are interested, please contact Heather Staffa at

heather.staffa@coopscanada.coop.