News, stories and statements on cooperatives
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International Year of Cooperatives
Healing pharmacies
12 November 2012
As the International Year of Cooperatives draws to an end, ILO News looks at how cooperatives in Turkey offer customers easier and safer access to medicines.
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Banking co-ops
What financial cooperatives can teach the big banks
05 November 2012
The success of financial cooperatives during the global financial crisis shows there is a credible alternative to the investment-owned banking system.
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Microinsurance
The win-win potential of microinsurance for migrants
29 October 2012
International migrants send home over US$ 400 billion a year, yet they and their families often lack basic social protection. That is where microinsurance can step in.
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World Food Day
ILO says cooperatives key to boosting food production
16 October 2012
Agricultural cooperatives – the theme of the 2012 World Food Day – are a vehicle for decent lives and decent work, according to ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.
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Social finance
Giving banks a good name
19 September 2012
Is it possible for banks to devote themselves to the financial welfare of workers and still survive financial crises? The ILO looks at the Rokin Bank, a union-led cooperative in Japan.
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Statement
Co-operatives Make a Better World: Remarks by Mr José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs
06 July 2012
Remarks by Mr José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Director, Employment Sector, ILO, at the Ministerial Breakfast on “Promoting productive capacity for sustainable livelihoods: the role of cooperatives” at ECOSOC, New York, 5 July 2012
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Statement
"Cooperative enterprises build a better world" - Statement by ILO Director-General
06 July 2012
Message by Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO, on the occasion of the 90th ICA International Co-operative Day and the 18th UN International Day of Cooperatives.
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News
Cooperatives: Resilient to crises, key to sustainable growth
06 July 2012
In a message marking International Day of Cooperatives, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia salutes the approximately one billion people worldwide who are involved in cooperatives.
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Article
Turning waste fruit into a profitable business
05 July 2012
Cooperatives have played an important role in Indonesia by helping to boost growth, reduce poverty and promote social cohesion. As the world celebrates the UN International Day of Cooperatives, Gita Lingga reports on a successful project involving rural women in the Maluku islands.
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Article
Cooperatives show the way out of the crisis
04 July 2012
Cooperatives have been more resilient to the global economic and jobs crisis than other sectors. The UN International Day of Cooperatives, which takes place this year on 7 July, offers a chance for cooperatives to reassert their position in the world economy. ILO News interviews Simel Esim, Chief of the ILO’s Cooperative Branch.