FEBRUARY 2018

GLOBAL UPDATES
GLOBAL
International Co-operative Alliance
appoints new director general
The International Co-operative Alliance
has announced Bruno Roelants as its new
director general. He will start in his new
position over the coming weeks.
Currently secretary general of the
International organisation of industrial
and service cooperatives (CICOPA), Mr
Roelants has been with the Alliance since
2002. Under his leadership CICOPA has
increased its membership from 18 to 32
countries. He has been involved in the cooperative
movement for over 30 years.
Mr Roelants has also been secretary
general of the regional organisation,
CECOP CICOPA-Europe, since 2006.
As part of his role, he has worked on
development projects in China, India, and
Eastern Europe. In 2002 he coordinated
the co-operative movement’s negotiating
group on the ILO Recommendation 193 on
the Promotion of Cooperatives.
He holds a Master’s degree in Labour
Studies and has taught courses on
co-operatives in Italy. A co-author of
Cooperatives, Territories and Jobs (2011)
and Capital and the Debt Trap – Learning
from Cooperatives in the Global Crisis
(2013), Mr Roelants has also led the
report Cooperative Growth for the 21st
Century (2013).
He said: “I am humbled by your
decision to appoint me to this position,
and I commit myself to serve you as
a board and the wider co-operative
movement as well as I possibly can. It is
a big honour but, more importantly, I am
filled with enthusiasm at taking up this
new position, just when a new president
and a new board have been elected.
“I will need the help of all of you in the
International Co-operative Alliance – as
with the smallest co-operative, you don’t
get anywhere without co-operating.”
The director general was selected by the
Alliance board’s Search Committee, which
was supported by the Global Recruitment
Specialists firm.
Ariel Guarco, president of the Alliance,
said: “We are very happy to have reached
a consensus and have been able to choose
between people of very
high level. We believe that
Bruno Roelants is a highly
trained person with a
broad experience in the
co-operative movement
that will allow him to
carry out and play an
excellent role.”
Mr Roelants will
become the Alliance’s
16th director general. He
will take over from Charles
Gould, who has been at the
helm of the organisation
since 2010. During Mr Gould’s term the
Alliance launched the World Co-operative
Monitor, a report mapping the global
co-operative sector and including
statistical and comparative data.
He has also worked with the board of
directors on developing its Blueprint for a
Co-operative Decade as well as increasing
its influence within global policy-making
bodies. The incoming director general will
play a key role in drafting a new strategic
plan for the Alliance, as the Blueprint
draws to a close.
Mr Gould said: “The past seven years
with the Alliance have been extremely
fulfilling. It has been a real privilege
to work with such a great staff team,
board and members. I’m now looking
forward to continuing to support the
co-operative movement from a distance
especially at this time when it has so
much to offer the world.”
Mr Roelants’ appointment follows
the appointment in November of Carlos
Zarco as president of International Health
Co-operative Organization, a sector body
of the alliance for health co-operatives.
Dr Zarco is director-general of Fundacion
Espriu, a network of health co-operatives,
which provides health services to more
than two million people across Spain.
He said: “My main priority is to try
to expand the health co-ops belonging
to the IHCO. There are, at present, 14
organisations, and I think that despite
p Mr Roelants is the 16th director general of the Alliance
p Outgoing director general Charles Gould
p Dr Carlos Zarco, new president of the IHCO
the economic difficulties faced by some
health co-operatives, we should be aiming
to have a presence on all five continents.
Meanwhile, in terms of daily operations,
we are considering the types of initiative
that would be of interest to our members,
while aiming to offer added value through
our organisation, assisting those activities
that are common to all of us.”
14 | FEBRUARY 2018