Resources on cooperatives

  1. SEWA Cooperative Federation in India: Towards self-reliance

    16 August 2017

    "Spotlight Interviews with Cooperators" 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 Mirai Chatterjee, Chairperson of the SEWA Cooperative Federation and Director of the SEWA Social Security Team, who has been working at SEWA for 33 years.

  2. Cooperation among workers in the informal economy: A focus on home-based workers and waste pickers - A Joint ILO and WIEGO Initiative

    03 August 2017

    This report on “Cooperation among workers in the informal economy: A focus on home-based workers and waste pickers” is part of a joint ILO and WIEGO initiative, which aims to understand the nature and scope of cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises and organizations formed by workers in the informal economy. It focuses on the current challenges, opportunities, obstacles and practices among cooperatives of waste pickers and home-based workers in order to inform future actions and interventions that support cooperative growth.

  3. ILO COOP eNewsUpdate No. 6, July 2017

    19 July 2017

    This latest issue of the ILO COOP Newsletter highlights a number of recent events and developments on cooperatives.

  4. Özge Berber-Agtaş, ILO Office for Turkey in Ankara

    06 July 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.

  5. Summary of Key Findings - Cooperation among workers in the informal economy: A focus on home based workers and waste pickers

    03 July 2017

    This is a summary of key findings of the report “Cooperation among workers in the informal economy: A focus on home-based workers and waste pickers”. This report is part of the joint ILO and WIEGO initiative, which aims to understand the nature and scope of cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises and organizations formed by workers in the informal economy. It focuses on the current challenges, opportunities, obstacles and practices among cooperatives of waste pickers and home-based workers in order to inform future actions and interventions that support cooperative growth.

  6. ILO COOP eNewsUpdate No. 5, June 2017

    29 June 2017

    This latest issue of the ILO COOP Newsletter highlights a number of recent events and developments on cooperatives.

  7. Domestic workers in Trinidad and Tobago develop a business plan for their cooperative

    22 June 2017

    On May 12 to 13, the ILO organised a workshop with domestic workers and their union in Trinidad and Tobago to develop a business plan for their cooperative. The workshop used the C-BED methodology, a low cost, action-based and participatory group learning approach designed by the ILO to help entrepreneurs and micro-business owners in planning and improving their businesses.

  8. ILO COOP eNewsUpdate No. 1, February 2017

    14 February 2017

    The ILO Cooperatives Unit launched its eNewsletter on 1 July 2016, this electronic newsletter replaces the previous paper version. The newsletter includes articles on various events, projects, training and meetings related to the work of the ILO and Cooperatives.

  9. Transition to the formal economy

    09 February 2017

    Workers in the informal economy are mostly involved in micro and small enterprises. In the majority of cases they are unprotected and have no formal recognition. They operate as individuals or in small groups, have no access to financial services, nor do they have representation or voice. They are susceptible to all kinds of risks and their transition from informality to formality is slow and dreary. Cooperatives enable formalization by transforming what are often marginal survival activities into legally protected work, fully integrated into the mainstream economy.

  10. A passion, mission - organizing waste pickers.

    21 December 2016

    During “The Potential of Cooperatives & the Role of Waste Pickers in the Recycling Sector” workshop in Ankara, Turkey, on 20-21 December 2016, ILO COOP spoke to Manuel Mateu an Engineer from the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE) in Argentina, about his work as an organiser of waste pickers.