Publications and tools on cooperatives

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.

Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 - Cooperative contributions to SDG 14

26 July 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 14 – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 Cooperative contributions to SDG 12

20 June 2018

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 focuses on SDG 12 – ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Summary report: Cooperatives’ competitiveness potential for trade in SADC countries

14 June 2018

The objectives of the research are to determine what opportunities exist for agricultural cooperatives to export, with what products, and to which markets from which SADC countries. The external constraints to increasing cooperative share of export markets and the ability to be competitive in the SADC, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and EU markets have been identified as critical considerations in prioritizing the products, markets and countries.

Public policies for social and solidarity economy: Assessing progress in seven countries

13 October 2017

This particular study is a comparative analysis of seven ILO case studies. In the first part, an overview of the public policies for social and solidarity economy in Brazil, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, the Philippines, South Africa, the Republic of Korea and Italy is presented. The second part offers a comparative perspective of public policy for social and solidarity economy in terms of key instruments, achievements and limitations. Different pathways are identified and four specific challenges related to state capacity, policy coherence, participation and sustainability are examined.

COOP news update

26 January 2015

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 September and December, 2014.

ILO