International Year of Cooperatives
ILO highlights the role of the social and solidarity economy in advancing more human-centred measurement of progress
At an expert roundtable at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the ILO underscored how cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE) can inform global efforts to move beyond GDP, ensuring that measures of progress reflect human rights, equality and sustainability.
24 October 2025
Geneva (ILO News) – On 8–9 October 2025, the Expert Roundtable “Embedding Human Rights in Metrics of Progress” convened at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to advance the global conversation on Beyond GDP frameworks. The roundtable brought together experts, policymakers and practitioners to explore economic indicators that can better reflect well-being, inclusion, environmental sustainability and intergenerational justice. The discussions contributed directly to the work of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, whose recommendations are expected in early 2026.
Simel Esim, Head of the ILO’s Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy (COOP/SSE) Unit and Chair of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE), joined the panel “Beyond GDP in Action: Lessons from Climate, Care and Inequality Indicators and Policy Practice.”
She emphasized that economies should exist to serve people — not the other way around. An overreliance on GDP as the dominant economic indicator can overshadow other more meaningful measures of progress, she noted. Such measures include well-being and sustainability indicators, as well as multidimensional poverty measures that account for business survival, employment retention and continuity — areas where cooperatives and other SSE entities demonstrate measurable contributions.
Esim stressed that an excessive focus on GDP-centred metrics sidelines the social, environmental and cultural dimensions essential to understanding human progress and community well-being. Cooperatives and other SSE entities, she noted, put human rights into practice by embedding equality, inclusion and participation into the way value is created and shared.
She highlighted the ILO’s ongoing work to advance international statistical guidelines and participatory methodologies that capture the broader economic, social, cultural and environmental contributions of cooperatives — beyond what GDP reflects. By shifting the focus from “value-added” to “values,” these efforts aim to bring measurement closer to the ILO’s social justice mandate, improving not only the conditions of work but also the conditions of workers.
She also pointed to the ILO-chaired UNTFSSE’s collaboration with Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, to document links between the human rights economy and the SSE — with a joint brief forthcoming.
Speakers at the event further called for community-driven monitoring, attention to horizontal inequalities and participatory approaches to ensure no one is left behind. Experts stressed that measuring well-being, equity and sustainability is not merely a technical exercise — it is a political and ethical imperative.
As part of its second United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2025 engagements, the ILO’s participation in this event reaffirmed that cooperatives and the wider SSE embody the human-centred values and practices needed to guide societies toward more inclusive, equitable and sustainable models of development.