COOP Staff News
October 2020

Mr. Kim expressed “Thanks to great help from colleagues in the team and the department, I could successfully finish my term at ILO COOP. I will not forget my time at the ILO where I learned a lot about the world of work and got equipped with the invaluable international working experience. The highlights of my time at the ILO include the adoption of the guidelines concerning cooperative statistics at the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, and the launch of Strengthening Social and Solidarity Economy in Asia project. In the beginning, working on cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy was a new field for me considering my past work experience. Now, I feel I have a much broader professional perspective of this portfolio and its contributions to the world of work and wider economy. I have no doubt that my work experience at ILO COOP is a great contribution to my professional learning and growth.”
July 2020

Prior to joining ILO COOP, she worked as a Junior Policy Analyst at the OECD contributing to publications and capacity building projects on the social economy, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Ms. Ahn holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute, Geneva in Switzerland. Her thesis focused on the role of producer coffee cooperative in empowering women producers in Machakos, Kenya.

“As a person coming from the cooperative movement, it has been a great honour working with amazing colleagues at the ILO, the only UN agency that has an explicit mandate on cooperatives, and also getting involved in the ILO COOP Centenary activities. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the colleagues with whom I have crossed paths.
My time at ILO COOP has been very interesting and beneficial for me and eventually for the Japanese cooperative movement. It allowed me to gain a wider and deeper knowledge on the potential role of cooperatives in a changing world of work, and how such potential can be further enhanced by governments and social partners. Moreover, it gave me insights on public policies concerning the social and solidarity economy (SSE) which aim to develop cooperative and solidarity-based actors across different legal forms including cooperatives.
I believe one of the keys to cooperative development in the future is to break down silos and work with other actors in the SSE and beyond, and by so doing, stimulating social innovation. I hope in my new capacity I can promote such collaboration and contribute to sustainable development of local communities.”
December 2019

“During my time at ILO COOP, I had the opportunity to learn about the diverse world of the SSE and its initiatives internationally thanks to the UN Task Force on SSE. I was able learn about the work of the ILO to promote SSE and how it works in partnership with ILO's constituents, civil society, and other UN Agencies. Working with the COOP Unit and developing my experience was a motivating and enriching opportunity. I will be glad to bring back these experiences to Cuba to foster SSE organizations as the leaders they can be in sustainable development."
October 2019

July 2019

“During my internship with ILO COOP, I had the opportunity to gain insights in the diverse world of cooperatives and learn about the ILO’s work to advance decent work in and through cooperatives. Working with the COOP Unit and building on their expertise was a motivating experience and getting their feedback was enriching. One of the highlights of my internship was the Centenary session of the International Labour Conference, during which I could experience the inner workings of the unique organization that is the ILO. I am sure that I can draw on the experiences I made here in the future and am thankful that I had the opportunity to work with ILO COOP.”
January 2019

November 2018

Before joining the ILO, Valentina was Country Representative of COSPE Onlus in Lebanon and worked as project manager in the Mediterranean area over the past four years, managing projects in the sector of development and international cooperation.
July 2018

"My time at the ILO has allowed me to learn and grow both personally and professionally. Being able to collaborate with so many talented individuals on a variety of topics has been most enriching. I bring with me all that I have learned and I am truly humbled to have been able to contribute to the promotion of social justice during this year and a half. I hope that my career will allow me to continue my work at the international level and foster the creation of bridge between civil society and global policy makers in the pursuit of true sustainable development."
June 2018

“The diversity of tasks and immersion in an international environment formed a great learning opportunity. I gained a better understanding on how cooperatives work across different sectors from waste-pickers to home-based workers in the garment sector. It was also very motivating to work in team, get feedback and exchange with experts. I hope my future career path will take me abroad again to work with people in rural areas supporting their livelihoods and business opportunities.”
April 2018

“My time at COOP has been extremely interesting and fruitful. We have managed to develop a good number of different and varied projects and tools to promote cooperative development across the globe. I’m sure that in my new position I will have a chance to continue supporting cooperative work as well. Cooperatives are absolutely key players in the rural economy, and contribute to the improvement of rural livelihoods in a variety of ways. There is a lot of potential to use the cooperative approach as a driver for rural development.”

January 2018

She holds an MSc in Rural Economics and Management and has been a PhD candidate in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Ghent University (Belgium) since December 2014. Her research focusses on the implications of EU trade for plantation workers’ livelihoods in Central America. She gained fieldwork experience in the pineapple sector of Costa Rica and with smallholder coffee farmers in Ecuador. Prior to her PhD, she assisted in a fair trade impact evaluation project at the Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia. She has a special research interest in corporate social responsibility and decent work in agricultural value chains.
November 2017

Ms Vasiliki Kanaki has completed her six-month internship with ILO COOP in October 2017. She contributed to the Unit’s work in the development of training materials for start-up cooperatives. ILO COOP wishes her all the best in her future endeavours.
May 2017

April 2017

Satoko Horiuchi, a research and knowledge management officer seconded from Japanese Consumers’ Cooperative Union (JCCU), completed her three-year assignment with ILO COOP in April 2017. Ms Horiuchi contributed to the Unit’s work on communications, including editing the COOP News Update , coordinating the Unit’s publications, and supporting the management of its website. In addition, she engaged with the organization of the ILO-JCCU study tour and the coordination of the research on providing care through cooperatives. In ILO COOP we are grateful for the contributions of Ms Horiuchi and wish her the best in her new assignment at JCCU.
Building on the successful partnership between the ILO and JCCU, this secondment arrangement continues with the appointment of Ms Mina Waki, who joined ILO COOP as a technical officer in April. Based on her prior experiences in digital marketing and website management in JCCU she will contribute to the Unit’s work in the field of communications, and in organizing the upcoming editions of the ILO-JCCU study tour. We welcome Ms Waki and look forward to working with her during her tenure with the ILO.
February 2017

Reflecting on his experience with the ILO, Mr Joo stated “Compared to my work experience as a government official, the ILO staff works with people from diverse cultures and with a wide array of backgrounds. In addition, the work often requires understanding on the complexity of international politics .This requires us to be more active in communication and listening to the partners and constituents with an open mind, in order to implement demand driven initiatives, which respond to the voices from the field.”

Laura Cicciarelli joined ILO COOP in February as an intern to support the work of the Senior Specialist on social and solidarity economy (SSE). Ms Cicciarelli will work on a wide range of SSE-related issues, such as the elaboration of public policy papers, preparation of articles, case studies, presentations and project documents, and assisting in networking with ILO’s partners in the field of SSE. Before joining the ILO, Laura was an intern at Chantier de l’économie sociale, collaborating in the organization of the 2016 Global Social Economy Forum in Montreal.
She is currently in the final stages of a Master’s degree in Environmental Management at Université de Sherbrooke, in the province of Québec, Canada.