Established through a decision at the third session of the ILO’s Governing Body on 23 March 1920, the ILO’s Cooperatives Unit (COOP) marks its Centenary in 2020. During the course of the year, we will have a series of events, publications and a photo exhibit to reflect on the ILO’s contributions to cooperative development so far and discuss future of cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE) in a changing world of work. Find out more information on these events and the history of the Unit on ILO COOP 100 Feature. Read more

The project, supported by the Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, aims to enhance employment and livelihood opportunities for Palestinian women and men by activating a supportive institutional, regulatory and promotional environment for autonomous and economically self-reliant cooperatives. Read more

Social Finance and Vic Van Vuuren, Director of the Enterprises Department, attended the 2020 Private Finance for Sustainable Development Conference, organized by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Vic spoke about the ILO’s work on a panel about "Private Finance for Inclusive Growth, Employment and Decent Work for All (SDG 8)". Read more

The ILO’s Global Estimates of Child Labour reports that on any given day in 2016, 152 million children were in child labour, depriving them of their childhood, their potential and dignity and harming their physical and mental development. Read on Social Finance’s newly launched thematic page how the financial sector can engage to put one of the most deplorable plagues of human history in the museum. Read more

Social Finance released new Financial Education training materials for Argentina and Cabo Verde. The Financial Education programme aims to increase access to finance by improving the financial capabilities of potential clients. The new training materials target families and women in Argentina (in Spanish) and youth in Cabo Verde (in Spanish). Read more

The UN Joint SDG Fund has recently launched its call for proposals on “SDG financing”. The ILO is getting ready to engage with sister UN agencies, to innovate and get more public and private financing behind the SDGs. Read more

The Council for Labour and Social Dialogue of the Union économique et monétaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA)/West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) is the first subregional social dialogue institution to discuss the promotion of the MNE Declaration and to adopt specific recommendations addressed to its member States and social partners for the application of its principles. Read more

On 22nd January 2020, the ILO and the SCORE Academy signed an implementation agreement on the SCORE project in Phase III. The SCORE Academy will support Decent Work in global supply chains by delivering the ILO SCORE Training in China to suppliers of the world largest corporations. The agreement signing with SCORE Academy marks a milestone for the ILO SCORE project in China. Read more

To assist authorities and interested stakeholders in assessing national legislation governing Employment Injury Insurance Schemes, the Global Programme of Employment Injury Insurance and Protection of the ILO has developed an Assessment Tool on the Fundamental Elements of an EII Scheme Based on Technical Guidelines and ILO Standards (Convention No. 121 inter alia). Read more