Revitalising the World Alliance for Sustainable Development

If we don’t do it all together, we will fail. This was the UN’s message when launching the SDG17. They warn that urgent action is needed to mobilise, redirect and unblock the transforming power of thousands of millions of euros  of private resources to meet the sustainable development goals. The healthcare cooperative model of the Fundación Espriu has had a great impact and its experiences led to the creation of the International Health Cooperatives Organisation, IHCO, which is currently led by Dr. Carlos Zarco as its chairman.

From the very beginning, the Fundación Espriu has had an international vocation. From Barcelona, Doctor Espriu expanded his model to the rest of Spain and to Europe. “We continue to demonstrate that his idea was the most suitable,” Doctor Carlos Zarco states and for this reason the Fundación Espriu is working to take healthcare cooperativism around the world.

INTERNATIONAL VOCATION

“We have an excellent relationship with the World Health Organisation and last year we were present at some seminars in Geneva to see how cooperatives can help to achieve the SDGs,” Zarco recalls. “We are working for healthcare cooperativism to be recognised internationally and we are highly satisfied that it has been put on the UN’s agenda.” And the fact is that the 74th Assembly of the United Nations, held in November, 2019 included a motion related to the role of cooperatives in social development and the Fundación Espriu was expressly mentioned.

A successful sustainable development programme requires alliances between governments, the private sector and civil society according to the United Nations. Here lies the Fundación Espriu’s international importance and its leadership in the International  Health Cooperatives Organisation , IHCO, which Dr. Zarco has presided over since 2017. “It is one of our outstanding issues. I have held this position for three years and I have travelled all over the world. The knowledge and respect that the Fundación Espriu has around the world is not known in Spain. Internationally, nobody would think about dealing with healthcare cooperativism without talking to us, one of the central pillars of the social economy. The 2019 World Cooperative Monitor report acknowledges us as the second network of healthcare cooperatives in the world by invoicing volume. Our aim is to spread the news about healthcare cooperativism so that it can grow all over the world.

DATA

• Official aid for development was placed at 135.2 billion dollars in 2014, the highest level ever reached.
• 79% of imports from developing countries enter developed countries without paying taxes.