End of year message from ILO COOP

We have come to the end of another calendar year. We are grateful to you for your engagement with us. At the ILO, 2023 was our first year in implementing the Officewide strategy and action plan on decent work and the social and solidarity economy (2023-29). We launched research initiatives in 11 countries in Asia and Africa. We developed and adapted capacity building tools on the SSE and its entities for different topical areas (child labour and occupational safety and health), contexts (refugees and host communities) and sectors (aquaculture and care economy). We also presented a roadmap on developing guidelines for statistics of the social and solidarity economy and reported on our progress testing the Guidelines concerning Statistics of Cooperatives at the 21st International Conference of Labour Statisticians.

This year continued to witness important landmarks on the multilateral area. In April 2023, the 77th UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on promoting the social and solidarity economy. As co-founders, co-chairs and secretariat of the UN Interagency Task Force on the Social and Solidarity Economy, we co-organized our fourth technical seminar in Montreal, Quebec. With ITC ILO Turin, we developed English, French and Spanish versions of two modules for an online open access awareness-raising package on the SSE. We have drafted an action plan (2024-26) toward the implementation of the resolution, with other Members and Observers of the Task Force, that will go into effect next year. In November, the 78th United Nations General Assembly has adopted a new resolution on cooperatives in social development calling for the proclamation of 2025 as the second UN International Year of Cooperatives.

As we step into the new year, our commitment and resolve in delivering on the ILO’s decent work and social justice agenda in and through the social and solidarity economy remain strong. In ILO COOP, we thank you for your guidance, support, and contributions in 2023 and wish you a holiday season of peace. Looking forward to our collaboration in 2024.