ILO Cooperative, Social & Solidarity Economy Unit

🙌 Follow the launch meeting of the Group of Friends on the Social and Solidarity Economy online!

The Governments of Brazil🇧🇷, Colombia🇨🇴 and Spain🇪🇸 will convene the launch meeting of the Group of Friends on the Social and Solidarity Economy on 11 June 2026 at the headquarters of International Labour Organization in Geneva, as a contribution to the Global Coalition for Social Justice.

The meeting will provide an opportunity for interested governments to mark the establishment of the Group of Friends and to hear reflections from social partners and other relevant stakeholders, including SSE actors and United Nations entities, on cooperation concerning the SSE and related follow-up.

The Group will provide a voluntary platform for intergovernmental cooperation among interested governments, with a view to promoting the contribution of the SSE to decent work, sustainable development and social justice, including through exchange, cooperation and follow-up in relevant multilateral processes.

🗓️ Date and time: 11 June 2026, 10:45–12:00 CEST

⏬ For more information, see: www.unsse.org/ssegof

🔗 Register to follow online: https://ilo-org.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_3rtxAkPaS8ygvjo9NVtYzA

📧 For more information, please contact [email protected]

📰 Catch up on the latest update from the International Labour Organization on cooperatives and the broader social and solidarity economy ( )!

The May edition of our newsletter features the newly released strategic results overview of the ILO’s COOP/SSE portfolio for the 2024–25 biennium, highlighting how work on cooperatives and the broader SSE is advancing across regions and issue areas.

Key updates in this issue also include:

🔹 Progress of initiatives on care provision through cooperatives in Colombia 🇨🇴, Nepal 🇳🇵, and Uzbekistan 🇺🇿.

🔹 How the ILO supports informal economy workers in Pakistan 🇵🇰, Timor-Leste 🇹🇱, and Senegal 🇸🇳, including through cooperatives.

🔹 Hands-on learning on digital innovation in dairy cooperatives in Indonesia 🇮🇩including with young farmers.

🔹 New publications on how cooperatives create pathways to decent work and economic inclusion for refugees and host communities under the PROSPECTS Jordan 🇯🇴 programme.

..and more!

🔗Read the full newsletter: https://adestra.ilo.org/q/1cHdeQbOYxxv/wv

📮Subscribe now: https://ilo.msgfocus.com/k/Ilo/coop_website_form

How did the International Labour Organization support cooperative development and advance the broader social and solidarity economy ( ) in 2024–25?

A newly released strategic results overview presents the highlights of the ILO Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy portfolio during the 2024–25 biennium, showcasing progress across regions and thematic areas.

It brings together examples from across the policy cycle, illustrating the breadth of engagement with Member States, social partners and other stakeholders worldwide. It highlights progress in strengthening policy frameworks, institutional capacities and the integration of cooperatives and the broader SSE into programmes and partnerships.

👉 Dive in: https://www.ilo.org/how-did-ilo-advance-social-and-solidarity-economy-2024%E2%80%9325

🇯🇴 Jordan continues to host large refugee populations alongside vulnerable host communities, with high unemployment and limited economic and decent work opportunities affecting both groups.

🤝In this context, cooperatives offer pathways for communities to work together, pool resources, strengthen livelihoods and access marservices that would otherwise be harder to reach individually.

📘 A new International Labour Organization report documents good practices, lessons learned, and key results of cooperative development interventions implemented during Phase I of ILO PROSPECTS (Partnership for improving prospects for forcibly displaced persons and host communities) in Jordan between 2019 and 2024.

The programme adopted a multi-level approach, working at the:

🏛Macro level (policy) – helping develop a national cooperative strategy and align the cooperative law with international labour standards and cooperative values and principles;

🏢Meso level (institutional) – strengthening the capacity of the Jordan Cooperative Corporation (JCC) as the umbrella organization supporting cooperatives in the country;

👥Micro level (cooperatives and workers) – supporting primary cooperatives, their members, and workers (both refugees and host communities) to improve governance, business operations, and working conditions.

This integrated approach strengthened the role of cooperatives in Jordan's socio-economic development agenda. The report highlights how cooperatives contributed to improved livelihoods, enhanced working conditions, and social cohesion among refugee and host communities.

👉 Read the full report: https://www.ilo.org/resource/report/cooperatives-pathways-advancing-decent-work-and-economic-inclusion-lessons

🇮🇩 In Indonesia, the International Labour Organization facilitated a hands-on learning exchange bringing together dairy cooperatives from East and West Java, alongside Swiss dairy farmers, to explore how digitalization and strengthened cooperatives can help smallholder farmers improve productivity, efficiency and access to finance.

⚙️ Peer learning among Indonesian cooperatives highlighted good practices by KPBS Pangalengan in West Java, including the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-based digital system that connects farmers, cooperatives and industry actors while enabling real-time monitoring of milk production, animal health and farm performance. It demonstrated how digitalization can strengthen cooperative operations, improve traceability and data reliability, and support farmer access to financial services.

💡The exchange also offered practical insights from Swiss dairy farmers on feed systems, animal health and welfare, milk hygiene and quality standards, farm management practices, and the use of digital technologies to support decision-making.

🤝 Organized under the ILO’s PROMISE II IMPACT project, funded by SECO Economic Cooperation and Development 🇨🇭, the activity helped identify practical and adaptable solutions for a more productive, inclusive and sustainable dairy sector in Indonesia.

🔗 Read more: https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/indonesia%E2%80%93switzerland-dairy-exchange-showcases-digital-innovation-boost

🍵 Have you had your cuppa yet this International ?

Before it reaches the teapot, every leaf travels through the hands of workers, growers, and communities whose livelihoods depend on the tea sector. And while tea may be best enjoyed one cup at a time, many of the challenges in the sector are better tackled together.

That is where cooperatives come in.

For many tea-growing communities, cooperatives offer a way to work collectively, strengthen their voice, improve livelihoods and address challenges that are difficult to tackle alone.

The International Labour Organization works with its constituents and partners to support cooperatives across tea supply chains, helping them contribute to decent work, safer workplaces and stronger protection for members, workers and their families.

In Kenya 🇰🇪, through training under the ILO’s ACCEL Africa project, cooperative leaders, trainers and service providers in tea-growing regions are building practical skills to support cooperative formation, improve cooperative governance and integrate child labour prevention into day-to-day practices of cooperatives. 👉 https://www.ilo.org/resource/article/ilo-strengthens-cooperatives-help-eliminate-child-labour-kenya%E2%80%99s-tea-and

In Nepal 🇳🇵, the ILO’s Safety + Health for All flagship programme is working with the Central Tea Cooperative Federation to make tea farms safer and healthier places to work. Protective equipment, first aid stations and fire safety drills implemented by over 100 cooperatives are helping reduce risks and strengthening occupational safety and health ( ) while supporting a more sustainable tea sector. 👉 https://www.ilo.org/resource/article/safer-and-healthier-tea-farms-provide-greater-market-access

On , these examples remind us that a better cup of tea begins long before it is brewed – in tea-growing communities where cooperatives can help make work safer, livelihoods stronger and supply chains more responsible.

🇵🇰 The International Labour Organization, together with the Pakistan United Workers Federation, co-organized the first national training-of-trainers workshop on the adapted ILO 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸.𝗖𝗢𝗢𝗣 and 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁.𝗖𝗢𝗢𝗣 tools in Lahore from 27 April to 2 May 2026.

The workshop brought together government institutions, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and technical experts to explore how cooperative approaches can support the formalization of the work of informal waste pickers in Pakistan.

As a next step, selected local participants will deliver adapted training for informal waste pickers in Islamabad Capital Territory and Sahiwal, Punjab Province, to support the establishment of a viable cooperative model.

Opportunities will also be explored with national and local authorities to legally recognize waste pickers' cooperatives as partners in the waste management system.

Ultimately, the initiative aims to enhance the visibility, bargaining power and livelihoods of waste pickers, while supporting their transition to less informal and more secure employment.

🔗 Read more: https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/first-training-trainers%E2%80%99-workshop-cooperatives-held-pakistan

ℹ️ The initiative is part of the Promoting Rights and Social Inclusion through Organization and Formalization (PRS) – Phase 2 Project, funded by the Government of Japan.

International Labour Organization - Pakistan

🇳🇵🤝 A new partnership between the International Labour Organization and the National Cooperative Federation of Nepal (NCF) will help expand access to quality and affordable care services and better care jobs through care cooperatives, supporting more women across Nepal to engage in paid work and pursue broader economic opportunities.

The initiative will support the establishment of care centres in Madhesh, Karnali, and Sudurpashchim Provinces, regions where access to such services is limited and needs are high. These centres will provide community-based care services while also connecting people to information and support on social security.

By supporting the development of national standards, local needs assessments, and training sessions using ILO tools such as Think.CareCoop and Start.CareCoop, the initiative will equip the cooperatives to deliver quality care services while contributing to the structured, sustainable, inclusive and gender-equitable growth of the care sector.

The partnership will also support the development of a national pool of trainers on care cooperatives and foster care champions across the three provinces. These champions will advocate for the recognition, reduction, and redistribution of unpaid care work, while advancing decent work, representation in social dialogue, and collective bargaining for care workers.

🔗 Read the full press release: https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/investing-care-new-partnership-expand-jobs-support-families-and-advance

🔗 Access the ILO’s Think.CareCoop and Start.CareCoop: https://www.ilo.org/resource/training-material/thinkcarecoop-and-startcarecoop

🆕 Consultancy opportunities!

The International Labour Organization is seeking two consultants (Lead Consultant and Supporting Consultant) to support the diagnostic assessment and policy development process for the social and solidarity economy (SSE) in Iraq 🇮🇶 under the ILO PROSPECTS Partnership.

The consultants will work with the Government of Iraq through the National SSE Committee (Diwani Order No. 61 of 2025) to develop an inclusive, evidence-based national SSE policy aligned with the ILO Resolution on decent work and the SSE.

The assignments will be implemented in close coordination with relevant government institutions, social partners, and other stakeholders, under ILO supervision.

🔗 More info on the calls for:

👉 the Lead Consultant: https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/300413

👉 the Supporting Consultant: https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/300409

🗓️ Deadline for both calls: 19 May 2026

Prospects ILO

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia is strengthening national capacities to promote cooperatives by building a pool of certified cooperative trainers to expand access to locally delivered training and advisory services.

In April 2026, workshops using the International Labour Organization’s 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸.𝗖𝗢𝗢𝗣 and 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁.𝗖𝗢𝗢𝗣 tools were held in Riyadh and Jeddah, bringing together cooperative members and trainer candidates as part of the certification process following an earlier training of trainers workshop.

A total of 52 cooperative members, including 15 women, took part across sectors including agriculture, food processing, fisheries, multipurpose, culture, housing, tourism and handicrafts.

Implemented under the ILO project “Fostering cooperative development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the activity contributes to longer-term institutional outcomes, including:

🔹 the establishment of a national pool of certified cooperative trainers

🔹 increased availability of localized training and advisory services

🔹 stronger alignment between cooperative development and national economic development priorities, particularly Saudi Vision 2030

🔗 Read more: https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/saudi-arabia-strengthens-national-capacities-cooperative-development