FUTURE OF UK AID AND DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
THE CO-OPERATIVE GROUP SUBMISSION
Introduction
The Co-operative Group (Co-op) is the UK’s largest co-operative, with seven million members nationwide, and a long history of ethical leadership – from pioneering Fairtrade products to taking early action on climate change.
Sustainable development requires more than service provision – it requires agency, dignity and choice. Co-operatives provide exactly that through a structure where communities define their own priorities, pool resources and drive long-term change.
This submission sets out Co-op’s commitment to global development, rooted in co-operative enterprise as a model for locally led, inclusive growth. The Co-op has a public commitment to invest at least 0.7% of pre-tax profits in international development. We do this because we believe it is the right and fair thing to do based on:
- Building inclusive supply chains;
- Supporting climate resilience; and
- Promoting peace through co-operation
We contribute to Disasters Emergency Committee appeals as well as supporting individuals partners bi-laterally like Medical Aid for Palestinians and Oxfam– to support civilians facing acute violence and displacement.
We invest in Fairtrade producers on the frontlines of the climate crisis Our Climate Justice campaign amplifies the voices of those least responsible yet most affected. We have called for the reinstatement of the 0.7% aid commitment and through partnerships such as The One Foundation and Water Unite, we have helped 3.2 million people access sustainable clean water, sanitation, hygiene and contributed to building long-term resilience.
Through our Peace and Co-operation campaign, thousands of our members have urged UK Government to double funding for co-operative development via Overseas Development Assistance, recognising that co-operatives help rebuild trust, economic inclusion and social cohesion in conflict-affected areas.
We believe that co-operation and co-operatives remain the most powerful route to fair, inclusive and lasting development.
From Donor to Investor
We welcome the intention to transition from a donor to an investor model. This reflects our own approach which views aid not as charity but as an investment in shared prosperity.
In 2024, the Co-op’s Fairtrade sourcing supported 178 producer organisations across 28 countries – the majority of which are co-operatives. These relationships provide not only fair prices but also sustained commercial relationships, technical support, and co-investment in resilience.
Our support for the Fairtrade Alliance on Climate-Smart Supply Chains in Africa (FACSCA), a Co-op funded initiative delivered with Fairtrade Africa, is an example of this. The programme worked with more than 19,000 smallholder co-operative coffee, tea and flowers producers across Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia to strengthen climate resilience through training on sustainable agricultural practices to establishing tree nurseries, diversification enterprises and climate-smart demonstration plots. Enabling producers to adapt to changing weather patterns protects their livelihoods and builds long-term resilience in communities central to our supply chains.
The power of co-operation to build peace through shared enterprise is central to our Peace and Co-operation campaign. We’ve highlighted examples of co-operatives supporting reconciliation in post-conflict settings like Guatemala, Rwanda and Bosnia. We’ve also showcased co-operative communities like Wahat al-Salam Neve Shalom in Israel, where Jewish and Palestinian families live together demonstrating peace is possible.
We believe that sustainable trade is critical to any sustainable peace. We are exploring how we can use our trading relationships to help build robust and equitable economies, as our trading partnerships with Zaytoun and Taybeh Brewing Company – both in the West Bank – demonstrate.
From Service Delivery to System Support
Our projects are designed to build capacity and embed lasting change – our clean water, sanitation and hygiene programmes are not one-off installations, but long-term system solutions with community ownership, prepaid maintenance structures, and training for local governance.
Our investment in Fairtrade supports long-term resilience by guaranteeing a minimum price and premium, which producer organisations can reinvest in their communities – from improving infrastructure and farming practices to supporting local services and development priorities. These mechanisms reduce reliance on external aid by empowering communities to meet their own development needs.
We see co-operatives themselves as key system-builders. They provide structure, governance, and accountability that enable communities to organise around shared challenges – whether that’s improving access to markets, managing shared resources, or delivering local training and employment. Co-operatives are not short-term interventions but enduring institutions that enable collective action, local accountability and economic resilience.
In December 2024, we were founder members of The Fund for International Co-operative Development which aims to bring together the global co-operative movement of 3 million co-operatives to support investment into the co-operatives and anchor co-operative institutions across the world.
We have funded training and supported exchanges between UK and international co-ops to build this institutional strength – and believe this kind of locally rooted infrastructure deserves greater focus within Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) spend if the goal is genuinely sustainable development. At present, Co-op is working bi-laterally with co-operatives in the Ukraine and with the Co-operative Union of Palestine to support their capacity to build robust and resilient economies.
When aid supports the growth and governance of co-operatives, it leaves behind permanent community capacity – not just temporary outputs. By building institutions that are owned and led by their members, co-operatives help communities plan for the long term, not just meet short-term needs.
From Grants to Expertise
We believe co-operatives are not only effective delivery vehicles but are institutions of shared knowledge, mutual accountability and practical problem-solving. In many of the world’s most fragile contexts, co-operatives already exist as community-built systems for organising livelihoods, finance, land and care bringing the kind of embedded, trusted expertise that aid often struggles to replicate.
The UK co-operative movement has historically supported co-operative development in diverse contexts – from training 30,000 people (75% women) in Rwanda to strengthen food security, to rebuilding co-operatives in northern Sri Lanka following conflict and natural disaster. It has helped farmers in Zambia and Malawi increase incomes through agricultural co-ops showing co-operative development delivers durable, self-sustaining economic gains.
We work with partners like The One Foundation to embed this same ethos in wider system-building. In Ghana, our water programme delivered access for 55,000 people in 10 communities while training 170 local technicians and establishing accountable governance structures. Through aligned partnerships with Water Unite, we have supported climate-smart infrastructure projects that prioritise community leadership, environmental restoration and decent work – such as the Greater Cape Town Water Fund.
These are not one-off projects. They reflect a different model where expertise sits with communities and external partners help unlock and strengthen it. Co-operatives – by design – do this.
If the UK Government is serious about moving away from grants and towards lasting, locally held capacity, it must put co-operatives at the centre. Experience and evidence show what the shift from grants to expertise can look like when it’s grounded in trusted partnerships and community voice; co-operatives should be recognised as a vital source of expertise in UK development policy.
However, expertise can never be a substitute for funding. It must be provided in partnership with financial support, so that local communities have the means to act on the advice they receive. Our model is built on this – investing both resources and technical support in a spirit of partnership.
From International to Local
As a member-owned business with deep roots in the UK’s communities, we recognise the power of local voice and agency and we have seen that international development is most successful when locally led. Fairtrade producer organisations, for example, decide how to spend their premiums and shape their own climate adaptation and resilience plans.
Co-operatives are inherently local institutions that are created, owned and governed by their members. They command trust and legitimacy in ways externally led projects often cannot. This makes them ideally placed to lead local delivery and sustain impact. In conflict and post-conflict areas, they often become spaces where shared purpose replaces division. Their structure gives people both a voice and a stake in shared success. This is why increased UK support for co-operatives as part of development assistance is so important.
Conclusion
Co-operatives are not short-term interventions but enduring institutions that enable collective action, local accountability, and economic resilience. When aid supports the growth and governance of co-operatives, it leaves behind permanent community capacity.
For co-operatives to thrive, they must be supported as institutions in their own right – not merely as convenient delivery partners for external programmes. Through ODA, the UK Government should invest in the long-term governance, capability, and independence of co-operatives, enabling them to shape development and sustain impact well beyond the life of any project.
Co-op stands ready to contribute to a fairer and more sustainable future for UK aid but we urge the Government to:
- Restore the 0.7% ODA commitment
- Prioritise climate finance and locally led adaptation
- Expand investment in co-operative development
- Mobilise UK and international co-operative expertise through partnerships that build local capacity
We will continue to invest 0.7% of our pre-tax profits in international development and our experience shows that when development is co-operative, it delivers lasting results.
We would welcome the opportunity to share further case studies, partner insights, and delivery models with the Committee to support this important inquiry.
