Publications and tools on cooperatives

October 2014

  1. Tackling informality in e-waste management: The potential of cooperative enterprises

    21 October 2014

    The present paper is the product of a joint effort by the Sectoral Policies Department and the Cooperatives Unit of the International Labour Organization (ILO). This initiative supports the ILO’s commitment to promote forms of employment that safeguard the environment, eradicate poverty and promote social justice through sustainable enterprises and decent work, as reinforced by the international Labour Conference (ILC), at its 102nd session in June 2013.

  2. COOP NEWS UPDATE

    06 October 2014

    This issue of the COOP News includes articles on various events, projects, trainings and meetings related to the work of the ILO's COOP Unit between April and August, 2014.

September 2014

  1. Leveraging the cooperative advantage for women’s empowerment and gender equality

    15 September 2014

    This note is a part of the ILO COOP Cooperatives and the World of Work Series.

  2. Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A contribution to the post-2015 development debate

    10 September 2014

    This paper highlights the contribution of cooperatives to sustainable development with a view to stimulating discussion on the role of cooperatives in the design and implementation of SDGs.

July 2014

  1. Findings of the Assessment of Agricultural Cooperatives in West Bank: Challenges and Opportunities

    15 July 2014

    This policy brief presents concrete strategies to improve the challenging situation that workers face in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) by exploring the full potential of agricultural cooperative enterprises in the West Bank.

June 2014

  1. Cooperative movement engagement in sustainable development and the post-2015 process: Survey findings

    27 June 2014

    In order to bring cooperative voices into the discussion around the post-2015 development agenda, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) have launched an initiative on the contribution of cooperatives to sustainable development. This brief reports on the results of an online survey that investigated the current and potential contributions of cooperatives to sustainable development.

May 2014

  1. ILO and Cooperatives - ILO COOP NEWS No. 1, 2014

    19 May 2014

    This issue of the COOP News includes articles on various events, projects, trainings and meetings related to the work of the ILO's COOP Unit between January and March, 2014.

April 2014

  1. The ILO/United Nations Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) 2013 annual report

    24 April 2014

    The report categorizes interventions in three levels – macro, meso and micro levels. At the macro-level, on interventions aiming at policy making, knowledge sharing and advocacy; at meso level, where most of the ILO interventions during 2012/13 financial year were concentrated, on a number of institutional strengthening and individual capacity building interventions. ILO’s contribution in the UNDAP has also focused on direct action with beneficiaries. At micro-level interventions the report covers voices from the beneficiaries themselves as they describe the result of such direct actions.

  2. Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Contribution to the Post-2015 Development Debate. A policy brief

    08 April 2014

    This brief summarizes the main findings of a forthcoming report of the same title, by Frederick O. Wanyama of Maseno University in Kenya, prepared as part of ILO’s contribution to the initiative on the contribution of cooperatives to sustainable development.

  3. Trade unions and worker cooperatives: Where are we at?

    01 April 2014

    Last May, ACTRAV and the ILO cooperative branch held a seminar on the topic of relations between trade unions and worker cooperatives. The goal was to re-examine the relationship between the two movements by taking stock of recent initiatives around the world. To be sure, the relationship between trade unions and cooperatives is as long as the history of trade unions. In fact, it is fair to say that the first associations of workers that emerged in Europe looked more like cooperatives than trade unions.