Resources on cooperative, social and solidarity economy

  1. ILO participates in the Framework Conference of the Ibero-American Network for the Promotion of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)

    31 January 2024

    This network, driven by Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain and Portugal, aims to consolidate a regional group that promotes the SSE.

  2. Enterprises Monthly Newsletter

    20 December 2023

  3. © Esneyder Gutiérrez Cardona 2024
    Our cooperative has dignified the work of waste pickers

    30 June 2022

    More than 20 years ago, Martha Elena Iglesias helped found a waster picker cooperative in Colombia called Planeta Verde. Over time, the cooperative has transformed how the local community views waste pickers and a sense of solidarity has developed amongst its members.

  4. 12th Academy on Social and Solidarity Economy - Elective 3: SSE, just transition to climate-neutral and circular economy: innovative ways of production and consumption

    12 January 2022

  5. ILO COOP/SSE participates in the Strategic Workshop “Toward an action plan to eliminate child labour and to promote decent work in solid waste management systems in Mexico”

    28 May 2021

    Head of ILO’s COOP/SSE Unit highlighted the role that cooperatives play for informal waste-pickers to access social protection, generate negotiation power with public and private stakeholders and to formalize their work.

  6. ILO hosts first-ever virtual exhibition on sustainable enterprises

    07 April 2021

    In an online event organized with the ITCILO, ENTERPRISES staff engaged with colleagues from their virtual booths, sharing materials, chatting and networking.

  7. Joint UNTFSSE-SEE event in the framework of European Social Economy Summit

    29 March 2021

    Social Economy Europe and the UN Taskforce on Social and Solidarity Economy will co-organise the event “Social and Solidarity Economy: leading the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the contribution to a fair recovery”.

  8. COVID-19: How cooperatives are transforming rural lives and livelihoods

    03 November 2020

    The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on health, jobs, businesses & economies. Yet, cooperatives have been lifting up their communities. Small-scale producers and family farmers were able to improve their access to markets and financing. Simel Esim, Head of Cooperatives Unit, explains how.

  9. Green Agenda

    26 October 2020

    Climate change is affecting the world of work in various ways, with some new jobs being created and transformed (e.g. renewable energy), while other jobs are being lost or replaced. Given these changes, cooperatives are emerging as economic actors in climate change adaptation (e.g. mutual insurance for crops; agricultural cooperatives supporting diversification of crops or improved watershed management) as well as mitigation (e.g. renewable energy cooperatives, forestry and agroforestry cooperatives) across countries. In urban areas, cooperatives exist in waste management systems, particularly in the form of waste picker cooperatives in countries such as India, Brazil, Colombia and South Africa. Cooperatives across sectors ranging from agriculture to energy are also growingly greening their operations. In the renewable energy industry they have a number of competitive advantages, including democratic local control over energy production and use, the capacity to create local employment, and reasonable pricing.

  10. COPAC organizes an International Day of Cooperatives event on cooperatives and climate action

    22 July 2020

    ILO’s Enterprises Department Director and Chair of the Committee on Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC), Mr van Vuuren, participated as a speaker in a virtual event organized on the occasion of the International Day of Cooperatives focusing on climate action on 9 July 2020.