Three ILO projects on social and solidarity economy policy presented at the Enterprises Department’s virtual exhibit

The COOP Unit of the ILO has shared highlights from three social and solidarity economy (SSE) policy projects from six countries in Asia and two countries in Africa during the ILO Enterprises Department’s virtual exhibit as part of its global team meeting.

News | 26 February 2021
A booth on “Co-creation of social and solidarity economy policy through participatory processes” was presented during the Global Technical Team Meeting of the Enterprises Department of the ILO on 24 February 2021. This booth was part of an online exhibition held for ILO staff from around the world to explore ILO approaches and tools in promoting sustainable business practices.

The booth showcased good practices in building an inclusive SSE policy based on learning from three development cooperation projects: adoption and implementation of a bill on social and solidarity economy in Tunisia; co-constructing a SSE policy in South Africa; and exploring a better understanding for context-relevant SSE policies in six countries in Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, China and Japan).

The first case featured the Promotion of Organizations and Mechanisms of Social and Solidarity Economy (‘PROMESS’) project in Tunisia where the ILO is technically supporting the Tunisian government, social partners and civil society in establishing a conducive policy and institutional environment for the development of SSE in Tunisia. The ILO has accompanied national stakeholders in the development of a bill on social and solidarity economy that was adopted on 17 June 2020, following a three year process of tripartite consultations.

The second case showcased the project on the development of a social economy policy in South Africa. In 2017, the ILO started supporting its constituents toward formulating a social economy policy for South Africa. The policy is intended to provide a consistent and coherent framework that supports the growth of social economy enterprises and organizations. This booth displayed how an extensive consultative process with provincial governments and key stakeholders was critical in building trust in the policy development process and in bringing ownership and legitimacy to the policy.

The final case highlighted a development project on strengthening the Social and Solidarity Economy Policy across six countries in Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, China and Japan). The project aims to enhance the understanding on the SSE in Asia and the Pacific region and provide technical support to countries in need to develop and strengthen their SSE policy. The research phase of the project has recently come to completion and its results will be available shortly. The second phase of the initiative focuses on capacity-building. Toward that end a workshop will be held on March 29-31 to bring together representatives from governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, practitioners and researchers in the six countries to brainstorm around concrete strategies in developing and strengthening SSE policies in their respective countries.

The booth presented short video messages from ILO project managers introducing the three respective projects. It also featured a wide range of resources, including the PROMESS project brochure and video, illustrations 1 and 2 of Green Paper in South Africa, and a recording of the conference, sharing key findings of ILO project on strengthening SSE policy in Asia.