StreetNet International: Organizing street vendors towards formalization and economic empowerment

16 July 2019

“Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators” is a series of interviews with co-operators from around the world with whom ILO officials have crossed paths during the course of their work on cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE). On this occasion, ILO interviewed Ms Oksana Abboud, International Coordinator at StreetNet International.

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How social cooperatives help informal workers

16 July 2019

Does organizing informal workers into their own cooperatives help them? Most certainly. Let me tell you about two poor salt-pan workers from the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK), Gujarat, India.

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.

Uses of cooperatives and other SSE organizations reflected at the 2018 edition of the ITC-ILO Academy on the transition to the formal economy

29 November 2018

ILO’s participation in the WIEGO General Assembly

29 November 2018

ILO COOP participated in the seventh General Assembly of Women in Informal Economy: Globalizing Organizing (WIEGO) that took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from 12-14 November 2018.

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.

Advancing cooperation among women workers in the informal economy: The SEWA way

05 July 2018

This report aims to provide an understanding of the challenges and opportunities for cooperatives and other SSE units in empowering women workers in the informal economy, with a specific focus on SEWA’s experience. It is based on individual interviews and focus group discussions with select cooperative leaders and members and also uses select studies presenting the forty-year experience of SEWA with cooperatives.

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.

International conference on cooperatives explores key issues facing workers and enterprises in the changing world of work

07 May 2018

The ILO jointly organized the International Conference on Cooperatives in the Changing World of Work (CCWW) from April 29 to May 1, 2018 in Kozhikode, Kerala.

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.