ILO participates in a session on investing in the SSE to improve employment at the 10th edition of the Mont Blanc Meetings

The session on investing in the SSE to improve employment took place at the 10th edition of the Mont Blanc on October 18 in Cartagena, Colombia.

News | 01 November 2022
The tenth edition of the Mont Blanc Meetings, organized by the SSE International Forum in Cartagena, Colombia was the first time that the meetings took place in the Americas. The general theme of the event was "The Social Solidarity Economy, from local to international solutions in a changing world" with ten chosen sub-themes and six self-managed sessions. It brought together policymakers, practitioners and experts from around the world to discuss the latest trends on the SSE.

The session on investing in the SSE to improve employment took place on October 18, 2022 with the participation of representatives from the ILO (Simel Esim), MERCOSUR (Atahualpa Blanchet), DIESIS (Luca Pastorelli), Planeta Verde (Martha Elena Iglesias), and Angus Development Corporation (Christian Yaccarini). It was chaired by Carlos Acero, the President of Confecoop in Colombia.

The speaker from the ILO, Ms. Simel Esim, the Manager of the Cooperatives, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit, talked about the way the SSE generates employment directly and indirectly through the goods and services they provide. She noted that it is not enough to look at the quantity of employment generated but also the quality. She noted that the focus needs to be on decent work in and through the SSE.

She underlined that the 110th session of the International Labour Conference adopted a resolution and conclusions concerning decent work and the social and solidarity economy. She emphasized that to give effect to the conclusions, the International Labour Office has developed a strategy and action plan on decent work and the social and solidarity economy. The strategy and action plan will be discussed at the 346th session of the ILO Governing Body in November 2022, she mentioned.

She underlined that collaboration and partnership with key stakeholders including the ILO’s tripartite constituents; the UNTFSSE members and observers; other SSE networks and representative bodies from around the world; international research, education and training institutions on the SSE will be critical to the successful implementation of this strategy and action plan.

She also highlighted some emerging priority thematic areas as identified in the strategy and action plan including decent work for care economy workers, transitions from the informal to the formal economy, just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies, decent work in supply chains and decent work in crisis and post-crisis situations.

Luca Pastorelli from DIESIS provided highlights from the European region with a focus on transition to worker ownership. Martha Elena Iglesias from Planeta Verde shared the experiences of a recycling workers cooperative in Medellin. Secretary of the Commission of Labour, Employment Policies, Social Security and Social Economy, Parliament of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Atahualpa Blanchet talked about the policies for the promotion of employment and social security through the SSE in Mercosur. Christian Yaccarini shared the experience of his social enterprise in Canada with respect to creating quality jobs.

To watch the recording of the day and this session, you can visit here.