THE 2ND CO-OP MOVEMENT ANNUAL STAKEHOLDERS' & PLATFORM COOPERATIVISM CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE 2024

In this era of an ever-changing technology and fast rising influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we ask, ‘What is the impact of the digital era on co-operatives globally, in Africa, and, particularly, in Kenya?’ We seek to identify opportunities for the co-operative movement which could further enhance and embellish the place of cooperatives in Kenya’s socio-economic development. With the Year 2025 declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Co-operatives, and cognizant of the critical role digitization plays, co-operatives should accelerate the momentum to embrace technology and demonstrate their contribution to Sustainable Development Goals and Kenya’s Vision 2030. The government of Kenya through the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) is providing the infrastructure for a digital superhighway. This digital superhighway will create new opportunities for a tech industry that will bring renewed energy into the center of the co-operative movement and attract youth to the sector.
To delve into this further, The Co-operative University of Kenya, the State Department for Co-operatives and the Platform Cooperativism Consortium are organizing a joint meeting to explore these topics. The five-day Joint Co-operative Conference scheduled for 4th - 8th November 2024 has “Digital Africa Rising” as the overarching theme. The conference is divided into two parts. The first two of five days will be the annual co-operative stakeholders' conference which will bring together the key players in Kenya’s extensive cooperative movement to discuss the place of technology in the country’s co-operative space. It will bring participants from across Kenya’s co-operative spectrum. The last three days will be devoted to an international audience at the Platform Cooperative Consortium scientific conference which will bring together participants from across the globe to participate in the annual event.