ICA meaning in Governmental ?

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 to unite, represent and serve co-operatives worldwide. The Alliance maintains the internationally recognised definition of a co-operative in the Statement on the Co-operative Identity. The ICA represents 313 co-operative federations and organisations in 109 countries.

The Alliance provides a global voice and forum for knowledge, expertise and co-ordinated action for and about co-operatives. The members of the Alliance are international and national co-operative organisations from all sectors of the economy, including agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and workers. The Alliance has members from 100 countries, representing close to one billion individuals worldwide. Around one hundred million people work for co-operatives globally. Co-operatives are values-based businesses owned by their members. Whether they are customers, employees or residents, the members get an equal say in the business and a share of the profits.

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

On the first Saturday of July each year, the ICA coordinates celebrations of International Co-operative Day.

In December 2009, the United Nations declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.In 2013 the headquarters was shifted to Brussels in Belgium