42nd Regular Meeting of The UN Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE)

The 42nd UNTFSSE meeting was held virtually on 7 March 2023. It brought together around 30 participants from seven member (ILO, UNRISD, ECLAC, UNDP, UNDESA, UNCTAD and OECD) and eleven observer organizations (Catalyst2030, CIRIEC, CSEND, EMES, EURICSE, DIESIS, GSEF, Euclid Network, ICA, SSE International Forum, RIPESS).

News | 21 March 2023
The meeting started with an introduction by the new Task Force Chair, Chantal Line Carpentier, UNCTAD. Supportive remarks were made by Rie Vejs-Kjeldgaard, Director of ILO’s Sustainable Enterprises, Productivity and Just Transition Department, emphasizing the ILO‘s commitment to SSE and the Task Force through the Vice-Chair and Secretariat.

The Chair went on to lead a review of the priority objectives of the UNTFSSE with various members and observers providing updates on each of the three priority areas of the UNTFSSE workplan 2022-2024.

Reflections on ‘mainstreaming and enhancing the international dimensions of the SSE’ included recent updates on the process leading to a UN resolution on the SSE and sustainable development, shared by Raymond Landveld (UNCTAD), who emphasized the success of the multi-stakeholder event on 13 December and the zero-draft consultations. The Resolution is expected to be adopted as early as April, 2023.

Simel Esim (ILO) then shared on the ILO’s seven-year Strategy and Action Plan (SAP) on Decent Work and the SSE (2023-29), noting that the first year will involve setting the ground work for the three main objectives: 1. Improved understanding of realities and needs related to decent work and the SSE through research, statistics and knowledge management and sharing, 2. Increased capacity to promote decent work and the SSE at the policy, institution and individual levels, and 3. Enhanced coherence on decent work and the SSE at the policy, programmatic and budgetary levels.

The OECD was not able to participate in the Task Force meeting but shared via email that the preparation of the implementation of the toolkit for the recommendation is on-going and that they expect to have a meeting with the Delegates representing countries in our LEED Directing Committees who have accepted to be part of the informal expert group for the implementation of the OECD Recommendation on the SSE and social innovation in June 2022 at the beginning of May.

Reflections on ‘boosting the creation and sharing of knowledge on SSE and SDGs’ included updates on the ongoing and future activities of the Knowledge Hub and the SSE Encyclopedia by UNRISD. ILO updated on the global awareness-raising package on the SSE, being led by ITC-ILO. A presentation of the current communication strategy of the UNTFSSE was given, including the tools on sharing relevant information on events, projects and publications.

The meeting continued with the updates on regional activities of the UNTFSSE. DIESIS has launched the process of enhanced cooperation in the MENA region. RIPESS emphasized the success of the December 14th event in Asia and the INGO webinar held on February 23.

Upcoming events were highlighted, including: GSEF 2023, CIRIEC Research Conference on Social Economy, 111th ILC, Euclid’s Scaling Social Impact, and Catalyst’s session during Catalysing Change Week and others.