ILO COOP/SSE participates to present at the EESC meeting on the Social Economy Category

The second meeting of the EESC meeting on the Social Economy Category for 2023 took place on June 7, 2023. The hybrid meeting included a presentation and discussion with ILO COOP/SSE Unit Manager Simel Esim on the ILC and UN GA resolutions on the SSE.

News | 12 June 2023
The session was chaired by Giuseppe Guerini, spokesperson for the Social Economy Category. After opening the session Mr Guerini gave the floor to Ms. Esim, ILO’s Cooperatives, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit Head to share her thoughts on the resolution on decent work and the social and solidarity economy (2022) and the UN GA resolution on promoting the social and solidarity economy for sustainable development (2023).

Held in hybrid form, the meeting was translated into English, French, Italian and Polish. Ms Esim who joined the meeting remotely noted that the work of the ILO on the social and solidarity economy (SSE) is guided by the resolution on decent work and the SSE that was adopted during the 110th ILC in June 2022 last year. The highlight of the tripartite discussion was an international definition of the SSE that is based on values and principles, she added.

In follow up to the ILC resolution the Office has developed a seven year (2023-29) Office-wide strategy and action plan (SAP), adopted during the 346th session of the ILO’s Governing Body in November 2022, she pointed out. On April 18, the UN GA has adopted a resolution on promoting the social and solidarity economy for sustainable development, she indicated. The governments of Chile, Senegal and Spain co-led this effort with support from the government of France, she noted.

Ms Esim shared the four areas identified in the UN GA resolution for action by Member States, UN agencies, financing institutions and the UN SG with support from the UN Task Force on the SSE. In the ensuing Q&A session, exchanges were held about economic policies, including trade and tax policy in relation the promotion of the SSE.