Resources on cooperatives

  1. Statement by the ILO Deputy Director-General for Policy for the International Day of Cooperatives - 3 July 2021

    03 July 2021

    Around the pandemic cooperatives, and other social and solidarity economy institutions have stepped up to support their members and communities across sectors and regions. In moving forward beyond the pandemic, it will be important that cooperatives are also recognized as economic actors that need to benefit from the financial relief packages. Moreover, they need to be considered as critical partners for the longer term in building more resilient communities and strengthening local economies.

  2. ILO COOP Chiefs across time

    03 November 2020

    This page provides bibliographies of the chiefs and heads of the ILO's Cooperatives Unit since its establishment in 1920.

  3. Technical Webinar: The role of cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations in forced displacement contexts

    With the aim of highlighting the role and contributions of cooperatives and SSEOs in forced displacement contexts, the ILO COOP Unit and the PROSPECTS programme are organizing a webinar to allow for interactive discussion between practitioners and project implementers.

  4. ILO participates in a webinar on the Social economy and migrant entrepreneurship

    25 September 2020

    At the webinar organized by 3 EU-funded projects, the Director of the ILO’s Enterprises Department talked about the ILO approach and initiatives related to labour migration and refugee situations including responses through SSE institutions

  5. © SEWA Cooperative Federation 2022

    Cooperatives play an active role in tackling global crises, says ILO Director-General

    03 July 2020

    By adhering to environmental standards and promoting local production, consumer and producer cooperatives can help limit greenhouse gas emissions and sustain supply chains for essential goods and services, says ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, on the International Day of Cooperatives 2020.

  6. Executive summary: Mapping responses by cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations to forced displacement

    23 March 2020

    Produced as part of a wider programme on responding to forced displacement crises, the report identifies good practices, lessons learned and potential areas of innovation by cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy organizations working in displacement contexts.

  7. ILO COOP sends a message to the MedUp Project Peer Review Meeting in Tunis

    17 December 2019

    The message from ILO COOP Manager focused on the role of the ILO in the development of cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE) and how they can contribute to the promotion of gender equality in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

  8. Message from ILO's Director-General Guy Ryder for International Cooperative Day 2019

    05 July 2019

    The 2019 International Day of Cooperatives will be celebrated on Saturday 6 July. This year, in commemoration of the ILO’s centenary, the theme is "cooperatives for decent work" which is closely linked to SDG8. On this occasion ILO Director-General Guy Ryder has issued a video message.

  9. Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 - Cooperative contributions to SDG 16

    21 June 2019

    This brief is part of the Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 series produced by the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC). Through a series of 17 briefs, one for each Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), COPAC hopes to raise awareness about the significant contributions of cooperative enterprises towards achieving the 2030 Agenda in a sustainable, inclusive and responsible way, and encourage continued support for their efforts. This brief in the series focuses on This brief focuses on SDG 16 – Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.

  10. Badra Alawa, ILO DWT/CO-Cairo

    23 August 2017

    COOP Champions features ILO colleagues from around the world working on cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises. It highlights their contributions, and shares highlights of their experiences, current work, and future aspirations.