Africa held its 12th Africa Ministerial Co-operative Conference and 13th Regional Assembly.

October 3^rd – 5^th was a week full of events in Africa region organized by the Alliance Africa. The events ran from a Gender training workshop that happened concurrently with the 13^th Regional Assembly, a thematic Ministerial Conference and 12^th Africa Ministerial Co-operative Conference.

The gender training was about Mainstreaming Gender into Co-operative Leadership and Governance that aimed to bring out the importance of mainstreaming gender in co-operative development. Precisely, the training focused on why gender equality is critical in co-operatives development, the effects of gender perspectives on women & development, the situation of gender equality in co-operatives movement and why co-operative is the best means for development and promotion of gender equality.

The 13^th Regional Assembly on the other hand was full of anticipations since members were eager to hear from the retiring President Mr. Stanley Muchiri, introduction of the new members and the by-election. Mr. Muchiri had set to retire with the by-election that saw Mr. Japheth Magomere elected as the new President from (Co-operative Insurance Company of Kenya), Mr. Mike Duru as the Vice President (Zimbabwe National Association of Housing Co-operatives) and Mr. George Magutu (Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Co-operative Ltd) as a member at large. In his statement, Mr. Muchiri noted that he maintained a deep conviction in the strength of the co-operative movement. While the incoming President Mr. Magomere highlighted that he will work tirelessly, with his eyes on the goals that the region will agree on together, his ears open to the voices of all, and his heart committed to all African Co-operators; in his acceptance speech.

“Leveraging the Co-operative Advantage for the Africa Free Trade Area” was the theme of the 12th Africa Ministerial Co-operative Conference that was held on 4^th October. This gave room for discussions on how Africa as a continent needs to step up and solve its problems through greater collaborations, create jobs for the teeming youth population and benefit from the Africa Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which are far much more as compared to its predicaments. The climax of the busy week was seen on 5^th October when the ministers and cooperative representatives responsible for co-operative development from different countries met to take stock of the achievements made on the resolution of the 11^th Ministerial Conference and deliberated on how best they could leverage on the co-operative enterprise model for the African Continent Free Trade Area agreement recently signed by African governments. They also encouraged intra- trade among African countries through co-operatives since it increases national trade by strengthening national co-operative value chains.