Cooperatives

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A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

The ILO views cooperatives as important in improving the living and working conditions of women and men globally as well as making essential infrastructure and services available even in areas neglected by the state and investor-driven enterprises. Cooperatives have a proven record of creating and sustaining employment – they are estimated to provide at least 279 million jobs today; they contribute to promoting decent work and advancing sustainable development goals. The ILO activities are guided by the international standard on cooperatives, the ILO Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No.193).

As people-centered, principle driven, member owned businesses cooperatives have a long tradition of promoting equality.

Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, International Day of Cooperatives 2015

What's new

  1. Publication

    Cooperatives and the World of Work

    18 June 2019

  2. News

    ILO contributes to a conference in Turkey on renewable energy through a video message

    14 June 2019

  3. News

    The ICA intervenes at the 108th ILC Committee that is considering an ILO Centenary Declaration

    13 June 2019

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Highlights for June

  1. Area of work

    ILO Resources on Cooperating out of Child Labour

    June 2019

  2. Area of work

    Care Provision through Cooperatives

    June 2019

  3. Area of work

    Resources on Cooperatives and the Green Agenda

    June 2019

Featured publications

  1. Monthly newsletter

  2. Statistics on Cooperatives Countries in Focus series

  3. Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 series

  4. Cooperatives and the World of Work Series 

  5. Cooperative legislation and policy

Spotlight interview with co-operators

  1. Siôn Whellens: Incubating worker cooperatives in the changing world of work

    29 May 2019

  2. Centre for Co-operative Studies: Building a solid knowledge base on the cooperative business model

    29 April 2019

  3. GSEF: Promoting the social and solidarity economy for human-centred development

    28 March 2019

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Training Resources

  1. Start.COOP

    Start.COOP - a new training tool for launching a cooperative 

  2. Think.COOP

    Think.COOP - a new orientation tool on cooperatives 

  3. My.COOP - Managing your agricultural cooperative

     

  4. ILO SSE Academy

  5. Training resource pack for agricultural cooperatives on the elimination of hazardous child labour

  6. Cooperatives legislation and policy

  7. Project design manual

  8. MATCOM - Training for the management of cooperatives

Videos

  1. ILO’s work on cooperatives and women’s empowerment and gender equality

  2. Empowering Women in Waste Management

  3. Cooperatives, Sustainable Development and Decent Work

  4. À l’occasion du Séminaire de l'OIT et de l’Alliance Coopérative du Japon : Activités des coopératives en Afrique Francophone

  5. GSEF2018 Bilbao

  6. ILO's Presentation on tools on Cooperatives

  7. ILO Message for the "Sowing the Seeds: Platform Cooperativism for Asia" Conference in Hong Kong

  8. ILO Statement for the 2nd International Forum on Cooperative Law

  9. Cooperatives and Future of work

  10. Cooperatives ensure no one is left behind

COOP Champions

  1. COOP Champions

    John Bliek, Enterprises Specialist at ILO Office for the Andean Countries

    18 April 2019

    COOP Champions features ILO colleagues from around the world working on cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises. It highlights their contributions, and shares highlights of their experiences, current work, and future aspirations.

  2. COOP Champions

    Charles Bodwell, Enterprise Development Specialist at ILO DWT Bangkok

    11 January 2019

    COOP Champions features ILO colleagues from around the world working on cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises. It highlights their contributions, and shares highlights of their experiences, current work, and future aspirations.

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