Resources on cooperative, social and solidarity economy

  1. The ILO and the AU launch calls for expressions of interest for mapping studies on the social and solidarity economy in select countries in Africa

    04 September 2023

  2. Mapping study on the social and solidarity economy in ZAMBIA

    23 August 2023

  3. ILO’s Cooperatives, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit and Social Finance Programme co-organize an elective session at the Rural development academy 2021

    29 April 2021

    ILO’s Cooperatives, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit and Social Finance Programme co-organized an elective on “Sustainable Finance and Cooperatives in Rural Areas” to highlight the role of cooperatives in the rural economy and access to financial services through a range of traditional and emerging financial service providers.

  4. Cooperatives in Africa

    10 December 2020

    As part of the ILO COOP 100 photo exhibitions, the ILO is featuring the contributions of cooperatives and the wider SSE to advancing decent work and sustainable development. The eighth in the series of slideshows highlights cooperative and wider social and solidarity economy (SSE) enterprises in Africa.

  5. Cooperative Principle 7: Concern for community

    08 December 2020

    The seventh in the series of slideshows highlights the seventh cooperative principle: concern for community. Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.

  6. Institutional and Needs Assessment of Cooperatives and Cooperative Support Organisations in the Tobacco Growing Communities in Kaoma and Nkeyema Districts Sector, Zambia

    24 September 2019

    The ILO is implementing a project “Addressing decent work deficits in the tobacco sector of Zambia”. The proposed one year project will be implemented in Kaoma and Nkeyema Districts of Western Province and will coordinate with and complement similar initiatives in Tanzania, Malawi and in Uganda, which are also working in similar projects. Building on previous ILO’s interventions, the projects will strengthen the capacities of selected farmers’ organizations to address decent work deficits including through the cooperative approach and using ILO adapted tools. Operating in most of the economic sectors where child labour and other decent work deficits are found, particularly in agriculture, cooperatives’ commitment to social responsibility can lend them naturally to play an important role to eliminate child labour and promote decent working conditions. The ILO has long drawn on the strength of the cooperative model in the fight against child labour and other decent work deficits. In this regard, the ILO is calling for proposals for consultancy services to undertake an Institutional and Needs Assessment of Cooperatives and Cooperative Support Organisations in the Tobacco Growing Communities in Kaoma and Nkeyema Districts.

  7. The first roll-out of My.Coop in the Northern Province of Zambia

    28 November 2018

    My.Coop – Managing your agricultural cooperative training package has been translated into Bemba and rolled out for the first time in the Northern Province of Zambia.

  8. Summary report: Cooperatives’ competitiveness potential for trade in SADC countries

    14 June 2018

    The objectives of the research are to determine what opportunities exist for agricultural cooperatives to export, with what products, and to which markets from which SADC countries. The external constraints to increasing cooperative share of export markets and the ability to be competitive in the SADC, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and EU markets have been identified as critical considerations in prioritizing the products, markets and countries.

  9. Desk review of research on HIV/AIDS in the world of work

    31 July 2012

    This desk review was conducted by ILO/AIDS as part of the Inter-Agency Task Team on HIV workplace policies/programmes and private sector engagement (IATT/WPPS). It is based primarily on the research documents shared by the IATT members, covering vulnerability studies, stigma and discrimination studies, impact and cost-benefit studies.

  10. Cooperative Facility for Africa - CoopAfrica

    09 July 2008

    The Cooperative Facility for Africa - CoopAfrica is a technical cooperation programme of the ILO, under DFID funding. From its office in Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), CoopAfrica covers 9 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. CoopAfrica assists cooperatives to improve their governance, efficiency and performance in order to strengthen their capacity to create jobs, access markets, generate income, reduce poverty, provide social protection and give people a voice in society.