Cooperatives

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A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

The ILO views cooperatives as important in improving the living and working conditions of women and men globally as well as making essential infrastructure and services available even in areas neglected by the state and investor-driven enterprises. Cooperatives have a proven record of creating and sustaining employment – they are estimated to provide at least 279 million jobs today; they contribute to promoting decent work and advancing sustainable development goals. The ILO activities are guided by the international standard on cooperatives, the ILO Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No.193).

As people-centered, principle driven, member owned businesses cooperatives have a long tradition of promoting equality.

Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, International Day of Cooperatives 2015

What's new

  1. Publication

    Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 - Cooperative contributions to SDG 10

    09 August 2018

  2. Meeting document

    Guidelines concerning statistics of cooperatives (draft)

    01 August 2018

  3. Meeting document

    Statistics of cooperatives

    01 August 2018

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Highlights for August

  1. Cooperatives and World of Work Series No. 5

    A cooperative way for empowering indigenous peoples

  2. Cooperatives and the World of Work Series No. 8

    Cooperatives and the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: Cooperatives and Non-Discrimination at Work

  3. Area of work 

    August 2018

    Cooperatives and Youth Employment

Featured publications

  1. Monthly newsletter

  2. Cooperatives and the World of Work Series 

  3. Statistics on Cooperatives Countries in Focus series

  4. Cooperative legislation and policy

Spotlight interview with co-operators

  1. Interview with Rudi Dalvai, President, World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO)

    20 June 2018

  2. Redesol - Building sustainable and solidary links among waste pickers in the informal economy in Brazil

    20 June 2018

  3. Advancing women’s cooperatives in Turkey

    08 March 2018

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Training Resources

  1. Think.COOP

    Think.COOP - a new orientation tool on cooperatives

  2. My.COOP - Managing your agricultural cooperative

  3. ILO SSE Academy

  4. Training resource pack for agricultural cooperatives on the elimination of hazardous child labour

  5. Cooperatives legislation and policy

  6. Project design manual

  7. MATCOM - Training for the management of cooperatives

Videos

  1. Cooperatives and Future of work

  2. Cooperatives ensure no one is left behind

COOP Champions

  1. COOP Champions

    Sandra Yu, ILO DWT Bangkok

    29 November 2017

    COOP Champions features ILO colleagues from around the world working on cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises. It highlights their contributions, and shares highlights of their experiences, current work, and future aspirations.

  2. COOP Champions

    Yumi Nabeshima, ILO Tokyo

    26 September 2017

    COOP Champions features ILO colleagues from around the world working on cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises. It highlights their contributions, and shares highlights of their experiences, current work, and future aspirations.

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