Resources on cooperatives

  1. 12th Academy on Social and Solidarity Economy - Elective 5: SSE and formalisation of the informal economy

    31 January 2022

  2. ILO COOP contributes to the HomeNet International webinar on “Home-based workers and the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)”

    31 January 2022

    HomeNet International, a global network of membership-based workers' organizations representing thousands of home-based workers (HBWs) around the world, has organized a second session on home-based workers and the social and solidarity economy.

  3. ILO COOP 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 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.

  4. The ILO Participates in a session on Gender and the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) at the GSEF Global Virtual Forum

    27 October 2020

    Representatives from ILO COOP and ILO Pretoria participated and presented at a session on women in SSE institutions that took place on October 20 as part of the GSEF Global Virtual Forum

  5. Waste pickers’ cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations

    20 August 2019

    Waste pickers make significant contributions to public health, sanitation, and the environment by promoting resource circulation and reducing the amount of landfill. However, they are often not legally recognized as workers and suffer from poor working conditions and lack of social protection. This brief highlights the role of waste pickers' cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy organizations (SSEOs) in integrating and formalizing the work of waste pickers in the recycling value chain and improving their working conditions.

  6. ILO shares its message for a parallel event at the 63rd CSW on empowering women in waste management

    19 March 2019

    ILO has sent a video message for a parallel event to the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on cooperative ways to empower informal women workers in waste management chains.

  7. Cooperative of Associated Work Planeta Verde: Improving living conditions of waste pickers in Colombia

    23 August 2018

    "Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators" is a series of interviews with cooperators from around the world with whom ILO officials have crossed paths during the course of their work with cooperatives. On this occasion, ILO interviewed Martha Elena Iglesias, a waste picker and the leader of Cooperative of Associated Work Planeta Verde in Colombia.

  8. Redesol - Building sustainable and solidary links among waste pickers in the informal economy in Brazil

    20 June 2018

    "Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators" is a series of interviews with cooperative leaders from around the world with whom ILO officials have crossed paths during the course of their work with cooperatives. For this issue ILO interviewed Ms Sonia Dias, Waste Picker Sector Specialist at Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) on Redesol, a network of cooperatives of waste pickers in Brazil.

  9. Cooperatives meeting informal economy workers' child care needs - A Joint ILO and WIEGO Initiative

    25 April 2018

    Cooperatives set up and run by workers in the informal economy are among the solutions in meeting women workers’ care needs, while also helping protect their labour rights. This report complements the ILO's previous studies with cases from Brazil, India, and Guatemala on how informal economy workers’ organizations can mobilize through cooperatives to provide child care services to their members. The case studies highlight diverse forms of child care provision and outline the varied partnerships needed to implement and sustain child care services for informal economy workers.

  10. Domestic workers in Trinidad and Tobago moving toward enhancing sustainability of their cooperative

    21 February 2018

    The ILO partnered with the Service Workers Centre Cooperative Society (SWCC) in Trinidad and Tobago to organize a workshop to discuss concrete steps toward enhancing the sustainability of the cooperative.