Cover story

Message by ILO Director-General Guy Ryder on the occasion of the International Day of Cooperatives 2016

Cooperatives are key to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, says ILO Director-General Guy Ryder on the occasion of International Day of Cooperatives.

Voices from the Cooperative Movement at International Labour Conference 2016

The 105th Session of the International Labour Conference was celebrated at the ILO during the first two weeks of June. The cooperative movement was once again well-represented in the Conference, particularly in the Committees on Decent work in global supply chains, and on Employment and Decent work for the transition to peace. We talked to some of the representatives of the movement participating in the Conference.

Global voices from the cooperative movement at ILC 2016

National voices from the cooperative movement at ILC 2016

News from the field

Helping Syrian refugees formalize their work status through cooperatives

The ILO is working with agricultural cooperatives to help Syrian refugees obtain work permits during a three-month grace period announced by the government of Jordan, in a further step to improve access of Syrian refugees to the formal labour market.

My.Coop training package rolled out in Mongolia

Adaptation of the My.Coop – Managing your agricultural cooperative training package took place within the framework of the ILO’s “Promoting and Building Social Protection and Employment Services for Vulnerable Groups in Mongolia (MAPS)” project, followed by a training of trainers (ToT) for herder cooperative organizations in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, as well as another one further in the field. Read in the article how the first My.Coop trainings went in this country famous for its herders’ cooperatives.

A first step toward strengthening domestic workers’ cooperatives in Trinidad and Tobago

On 23 May 2016, National Union of Domestic Workers (NUDE) and Service Workers Centre Cooperative Society (SWCCS) hosted a multi-stakeholder meeting in Port of Spain. The discussion shed lights on the legal and institutional barriers that domestic workers currently experience in Trinidad and Tobago and how different stakeholders can contribute to improve their benefit and working condition through domestic workers cooperatives. This is part of an exciting initiative with a purpose of supporting the cooperative model for domestic workers in Trinidad and Tobago and beyond.

My.Financial.Coop: Training programme for apex organizations of financial cooperatives

A validation workshop on My.Financial.Coop, a training programme for apex organizations of financial cooperatives, was held in Turin, Italy. The workshop brought together a number of participants from different organizations from around the world for reviewing the curriculum design outline of the tool. More news on this new programme will be available shortly.

Meeting updates

Belgian Cooperative Cera Group visits ILO COOP

ILO COOP received visitors from the Belgian Cera Group Cooperative to exchange and discuss about possible collaboration and joint work between the two organizations.

COPAC Coordinator visits ILO COOP

COPAC Coordinator Fran McCrae visited the ILO to meet with ILO COOP and ILO Statistics to discuss joint activities. ILO will assume the Chair of COPAC in the spring of 2017, and the visit afforded the opportunity to prepare for the transition.

Publications

The Story of the ILO’s Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No.193) in Spanish

The Story of the ILO’s Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No.193) is now available in Spanish, in addition to the English version published earlier. This publication highlights how the Recommendation No. 193 is being used, and its impact on the laws, policies and practices of countries. The publication also provides a brief account of the ILO’s engagement with cooperative development.

Recent ILO publications highlighting cooperatives

A number of recent ILO publications have highlighted cooperatives. These include:

Building Local Development in Rural Areas through Cooperatives and other Social and Solidarity Economy Enterprises and Organizations,
World Employment and Social Outlook 2016: Transforming jobs to end poverty, and
Sectoral Studies on Decent Work in Global Supply Chains: Comparative Analysis of Opportunities and Challenges for Social and Economic Upgrading.