Guidance and resources for the cooperative, social and solidarity economy

SSE: Education and training

The ILO provides education and training services that enable cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy (SSE) entities to become more sustainable.

7 May 2018

Content also available in: العربية español français

Social and solidarity economy (cross-cutting)

The four modules of the course are:

Module 1 - The SSE as a game changer: understanding the concept and its building blocks – available in Arabic , English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili

Module 2 - The social and solidarity economy as a tool for decent work and inclusion – available in Arabic , English , French , Portuguese , Russian , Spanish

Module 3 - Follow-up to the resolution concerning decent work and the social and solidarity economy – available in Arabic , English , French , Portuguese , Russian , and Spanish

Module 4 - The pivotal role of the SSE in advancing inclusive and sustainable development – available in Arabic , English , French , Korean , Portuguese , Russian, Spanish and Swahili

Publication date: 2023
The Social and Solidarity Economy Academy is an interregional training opportunity gathering practitioners and policymakers from all around the world, to share their experiences, best practices and challenges from their work in the SSE. The training seeks to provide a better understanding of the concept of SSE, discuss the relevance of SSE as a development alternative and its relation to the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, and further build and strengthen networks of SSE practitioners.

12th edition
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Cooperatives

As part of the “Cooperative Care Provision as a Gender-Transformative Decent Work Solution” – a cross-regional, multi-country programme led by ILO’s Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit (COOP/SSE) of the Enterprises Department and the ILO’s Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch (GEDI) of the WORKQUALITY Department – the ILO is promoting a care provision model through cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy (SSE) entities.

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Published 2025
Think.COOP is a low-cost, easy to use training module for those interested in establishing or joining a cooperative. By drawing on technical content from existing materials from different ILO cooperative training tools and peer-to-peer, activity based learning methodology from the ILO’s Community-Based Enterprise Development (C-BED) programme, Think.COOP is a 6-hour module providing simple information on basics on the concept of cooperation, importance of relationships, and introduction to the cooperative principles and business model. To date, the Think.COOP training has been implemented in Cambodia, Myanmar, Turkey, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Peru, Madagascar, Mauritania, Comoros, the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, India, Timor-Leste, Moldova, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Niger, Ethiopia, and Côte d’Ivoire.

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Think.COOP for refugees and host communities
Publication date: 2018
Start.COOP is a training tool for those interested in starting a cooperative in a participatory manner. It is one of the three training tools on cooperatives that is a part of Our.Coop package. Start.COOP is a low-cost, easy to use tool for those interested in starting and launching a cooperative in a participatory manner. It draws on technical content from existing materials in different ILO cooperative training tools. It also uses a peer-to-peer, activity-based learning methodology from the ILO’s Community-Based Enterprise Development (C-BED) programme. Start.Coop helps the participants identify the core members of their cooperative, define their business ideas, research the feasibility of this business idea, prepare their business plan and decide on the organizational set-up of their cooperative. The package contains: a training guide, a facilitator’s guide and two power point presentations that can be used for training of facilitators and direct beneficiaries. To date, the Start.COOP training has been implemented in Cambodia, Bolivia, Peru, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Mauritania, Comoros, the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, Timor-Leste, Moldova, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Niger, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire.

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Publication date: 2018
The objective of the training package on “The role of cooperatives in eliminating Child Labour” is to raise awareness of management, staff and members of agricultural cooperatives about child labour so that they are able to decide on and implement a set of actions that will contribute to the prevention and elimination of child labour within the cooperative’s and members’ operations as well as in their communities. It uses a situated learning approach, where participants are actively involved in their learning experience and learning focuses on skills and competencies specific to their professional practices. The training package builds on previous materials on cooperatives and child labour as well as ILO’s practical experience. The training package contains: a Facilitator guide to train field trainers and a Facilitator Guide to train management, staff and members of agricultural cooperatives.

Facilitator guide to train field trainers
Facilitator guide to train management, staff and members of agricultural cooperatives
Publication date: 2021
My.COOP is a training package and programme on the management of agricultural cooperatives, developed through a partnership of several organizations including the ILO, the FAO, the International Training Centre of the ILO, Agriterra, the Royal Tropical Institute and the Wageningen University and Research Centre. It has been designed for existing and potential managers of agricultural cooperatives as well as for members involved in managerial tasks to strengthen the management of agricultural cooperatives and provide guidance to cater for member satisfaction, business opportunities and social considerations.

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Stock-taking brief 2012-2017
Guide for potential users
Publication date: 2012
ApexFinCoop is a training programme to support financial cooperative apex organizations in developing and implementing an effective strategic planning, with the objective of fulfilling their functions over the long term in a cost-effective way, to the satisfaction of their members. It is built on a partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITC-ILO). The programme has been implemented in several countries including in Ghana with the Ghana Credit Unions Association (CUA) in December 2017 and in Nepal with the Nepal Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions (NEFSCUN) in June 2019.

Two-pager brochure
Publication date: 2017
The ILO’s Recommendation 193 on the Promotion of Cooperatives was adopted in 2002 and provides an internationally agreed template for national policy. This guide will help cooperatives, governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations to know more about the Recommendation and how to use it for the development of cooperatives as a viable option for advancing sustainable development.

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Publication date: 2014
The ILO has played a key role in providing guidance and advice on the creation of enabling environments for cooperative development. In the mid-1990s it first commissioned the elaboration of guidelines for cooperative legislation to fill the gap of information on how to draft a cooperative law and policy. In 2005 a second edition was produced to provide information on two new international instruments on cooperatives – the United Nations Guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, and the 2002 ILO Recommendation No. 193 on the promotion of cooperatives. This third edition has been produced to incorporate more new developments that impact how cooperative law is being developed.

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Publication date: 2012
This handbook lists the essential things to know about cooperatives for all those who are interested as members, future members, politicians or staff of national or international institutions in charge of the promotion and development of cooperatives. In simple, understandable language, the handbook deals in turn with the characteristic features of cooperatives, cooperative enterprise as a whole, the promotion of cooperatives and the close ties that exist between the ILO and cooperatives.

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Publication date: 2011
This source book aims to change the way we think about training in the cooperative context. It speaks of new organizational and training paradigms. It hopes to introduce innovation in cooperatives through helping trainers become more innovative themselves. It aims at making a qualitative change in the way the trainer sees him or herself and use that knowledge to dramatically improve training methods. It hopes to build on the competencies that trainers already have and help them develop the “spark” that will really make a difference.

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Date of publication: 2009
Developed by the ILO and the International Co-operative Alliance, this training pack helps agricultural cooperatives to learn about the problems of child labour and take actions to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, particularly hazardous child labour, in their business activities, their supply chains, and in the local areas and communities where they are based.

Book 1. Trainer’s guide
Book 2. Training course activities for cooperatives
Publication date: 2009
This SYNDICOOP Handbook is designed to help replicate the approach by serving as a resource for trade union and cooperative organizers and trainers. It was finalized by members of the International Steering Committee of the SYNDICOOP Programme, mainly comprising representatives from the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU now ITUC), the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) and ILO together with National Steering Committee members from all four programme countries as well as project staff.

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Publication date: 2006
Developed in close collaboration between the ILO and the International Co-operative Alliance Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ICA-ROAP), the training manual aims to assist trainers of cooperatives to: 1) raise the awareness of cooperative leaders on the manifestations of gender bias in cooperatives, and on the effects of discrimination against women on the personal and interpersonal growth of their leaders and members, as well as on the organizational development of cooperatives; and 2) build-up the capacity of current and potential women cooperative leaders by equipping them with knowledge and skills on the nature of cooperatives, gender-responsive leadership, cooperative enterprise management, coping with challenges and personal development.

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Publication date: 2005
The objectives are: (a) to train the management staff of cooperatives; (b) develop the capability of the whole management staff in order for then to efficiently service the cooperatives members; and (c) assist the manager in training cooperatives with the end view of enhancing the staff performance.

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Publication date: 1994
MATCOM is a set of 40 trainers’ manuals and 60 learning elements covering different types of cooperatives and a wide range of technical areas. The materials were developed between 1978-1989 through the ILO MATCOM Project financed by Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

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Publication date: 1978-1991

Self-help groups

Social enterprises

This self-paced course helps aspiring social entrepreneurs without a clear business idea generate, analyse and select a viable social enterprise idea. Focusing on key concepts, personal assessment, and idea evaluation, it enables learners to develop a business plan. Developed in and intended for use in South Africa, this course delivers practical insights that resonate with social entrepreneurs around the globe.

Publication date: 2021
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The ISE programme is for people who have no previous exposure to social enterprise and wish to find out more about it. The main target audience is potential social entrepreneurs, but the programme is also relevant for existing entrepreneurs, employees of non-profit organisations, conventional for-profit businesses, business development service providers or other support agencies, policy makers or other stakeholders.

Trainers' guide
Learners' guide
Publication date: 2011
The Generate Your Social Business Plan programme is for people who have a concrete social business idea and want to start a social business. Ideally learners will have already completed the Generate your Social Business Idea training, although this is not compulsory.

Trainers' guide
Learners' guide
Publication date: 2011
The Generate Your Social Business Idea programme is for people who have no concrete business idea and want to start a social business. However, to develop
a business plan for the social business it is necessary to have a clear idea of the business they propose to start and how it will address social needs in their community.

Learners' guide
Publication date: 2011