Publications and tools on cooperatives

May 2023

  1. Cooperative Care Provision as a Gender-Transformative Decent Work Solution

    19 May 2023

    The ILO’s Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch (GEDI) and Cooperatives Unit (COOP) are working together on building an innovative cross-regional, multi-country programme on Cooperative Care Provision as a Gender transformative Decent Work Solution. The programme aims to enhance care provision through cooperatives and other social and solidarity entities starting with a series of pilot initiatives. The full programme is expected to help strengthen and scale up national support networks to better serve their members by building capacities for improved delivery of services, and advocating for their needs, concerns, and priorities.

April 2023

  1. Think.COOP for refugees and host communities

    11 April 2023

    Think.COOP for refugees and host communities is designed for refugees and host community residents who are interested in joining or starting a cooperative. During this orientation, the participants: (i) learn about the fundamentals of a cooperative business; (ii) understand the conditions under which the cooperative is a better way to doing business; (iii) analyse how social cohesion and trust can help one pursue opportunities to improve one’s livelihood; and (iv) learn how cooperative can contribute to build trust and social cohesion at the community level. At the end of this orientation, the participants will be better able to decide whether the cooperative business model is right for them.

November 2022

  1. ILO Training of Trainers - Think COOP, Start COOP, My COOP

    15 November 2022

October 2022

  1. Measuring Cooperatives: An information guide on the ILO Guidelines concerning Statistics of Cooperatives

    21 October 2022

September 2022

  1. Advancing the 2030 Agenda through the Social and Solidarity Economy

    26 September 2022

    The social and solidarity economy (SSE) is a dynamic force for change that is key to realizing the paradigm shift called for in the 2030 Agenda. This Position Paper of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE) examines the contribution of the SSE to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), identifies policy and legal reforms that can foster an institutional environment conducive to SSE, and calls attention to the need for advocacy and policy innovation at multiple levels of governance – local, regional, national and international.

  2. Social and solidarity economy: Social innovation catalyst in Africa?

    19 September 2022

    The report illustrates and characterizes the social innovation processes carried out by Social and Solidarity Economy Organizations (SSEOs) in five African countries (South Africa, Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia). By analysing practical cases of social innovation, it explores the extent to which SSEOs contribute to generating social innovation in Africa for a more sustainable and inclusive local development, as well as the creation and promotion of decent work for all. The report highlights internal and external factors impacting SSEOs in their social innovation process and it presents a set of policy recommendations to unlock the potential of SSEOs as catalyser of social innovation in African.

  3. Terms of Reference for an implementing partner: Consultancy for delivering a Training of Trainer (ToT) in ILO Cooperative Development Tools (Think.COOP, Start.COOP, My.COOP) in Uganda

    12 September 2022

August 2022

  1. ToR for Consultant - Organize Training of Trainer (ToT) in ILO Cooperative Development Tools (Think.COOP, Start.COOP and My.COOP) in Kenya

    02 August 2022

June 2022

  1. Guide to Recommendation No.189 on Job Creation in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

    27 June 2022

    This Guide to the Recommendation No. 189 provides key elements to support the implementation of policies and strategies to promote decent and sustainable job creation in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).

  2. Cooperatives and the World of Work No. 16 - Legal Compendium on the Social and Solidarity Economy

    03 June 2022

    A shared understanding of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) is emerging from the development of legislation and statistical frameworks on the SSE. Since the turn of the century, legislation on the SSE has been adopted in more than 20 countries. Based on a review of the legal acts, this brief presents and synthesizes the values, principles, organizational forms and policy measures that are subsumed under the SSE.