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 empowering women informal economy workers in waste management chains. More

The ILO, as the chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), participated in an international conference on the role of SSE in implementing and localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) co-hosted by the Institution for Poverty Alleviation and International Development of Yonsei University (IPAID) of Korea, the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in the Republic of Korea. More

“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 Laurence Kwark, Secretary General of the Global Social Economy Forum (GSEF), an international association of local governments and civil society networks engaged in the promotion of the SSE as a means of achieving inclusive and sustainable local development. GSEF is also one of the observers of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on SSE. More

Submission deadline for the ILO’s call for proposals on “A global mapping of responses by cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations to forced displacement” is fast approaching on Monday, 1 April 2019. More

The 10th edition of the ILO and the Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU) African Cooperative Leaders’ Study Tour will take place from 5-14 September 2019 in Tokyo and the vicinity. Deadline for applications is 25 June 2019. More

Prepared as part of the ILO’s Women at Work Centenary Initiative, this new report explores the structural barriers, including unpaid care work, that shape the nature and extent of women’s engagement in paid employment. It examines how laws, policies and practices in certain countries have addressed these barriers. The role of cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy in women empowerment was reflected in the report notably in creating jobs and increasing income for women workers; providing basic services including childcare; and boosting women’s leadership experiences. More

The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) released a statement on the Report of the ILO’s Global Commission on the Future of Work expressing the commitment of the cooperative movement to contribute to a human-centred agenda for decent work. More

Carried out by Oxfam and S Group, a Finnish retailing cooperative organization, this study assesses the actual and potential human rights impacts at the production stage of SOK Corporation’s Italian processed tomato supply chains, particularly the use of illegal workers and the poor housing conditions of the migrant workers in Southern Italy. S Group aims to take next steps to mitigate the problems. More

Presenting practical examples, this report by Cooperatives Europe looks at cooperatives contributing to the empowerment of minority groups affected by conflict, providing decent work and sustainable development in fragile contexts, as well as supporting mitigation of conflict through partnerships with other actors and the provision of humanitarian support. More

This report by the Democracy Collaborative looks at how workers’ cooperatives and social enterprises can put green infrastructure in place to mitigate the effects of climate change and help neighbourhoods plan for droughts and floods. More

This book examines the hypothesis that humans may be on the threshold of a new historical stage, one characterized by cooperation, democracy, the equitable distribution of resources, and a sustainable relationship with nature and suggests actions that can be taken by individuals, communities, and countries to enable such a transition in the 21st century. More