Cooperatives (COOP)
This page is no longer actively updated. Please visit ILO COOP to find out more about ILO’s work on cooperatives
ILO activities are guided by the international standard on cooperatives, the ILO Recommendation on the Promotion of Cooperatives, 2002 (R.193) . ILO's Cooperatives Unit (COOP) serves ILO constituents and cooperative organizations in four priority areas:
The ILO works in partnership with the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) , the representative world body of cooperatives and is a member of the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) , an interagency committee which promotes sustainable cooperative development. It also collaborates with cooperative development agencies and training institutions.
- Raising public awareness on cooperatives through evidence based advocacy and sensitization to cooperative values and principles;
- Ensuring the competitiveness of cooperatives by developing tailored tools to cooperative stakeholders including management training, audit manuals and assistance programmes.
- Promoting the inclusion of teaching of cooperative principles and practices at all levels of the national education and training systems; and,
- Providing advice on cooperative policy and cooperative law, including participatory policy and law making and the impact on cooperatives of taxation policies, labour law, accounting standards, and competition law among others.
- Partnerships for cooperative promotion
The ILO works in partnership with the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) , the representative world body of cooperatives and is a member of the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) , an interagency committee which promotes sustainable cooperative development. It also collaborates with cooperative development agencies and training institutions.