The ILO marked the International Year of Cooperatives 2025 by hosting a global webinar on the role of the social and solidarity economy in crisis response. Drawing on experiences from Jordan, the Philippines, Viet Nam and Kenya, the discussion demonstrated how social and solidarity economy organizations can act as core components of national resilience systems during times of crisis.
The ILO emphasized that decent work is fundamental to peace and resilience, a principle embedded in its founding mandate and reinforced through key global standards, including Recommendations No. 205 and No. 204. These standards recognize cooperatives and SSE organizations as essential actors in crisis recovery. To unlock their full potential, countries must strengthen legal frameworks, create supportive financing mechanisms, and formally integrate SSE entities into crisis-response and development strategies.
Examples from various countries illustrate how these organizations operate effectively across different phases of crisis. In Jordan, agricultural cooperatives have protected livelihoods for both Jordanians and Syrian refugees through training, employment services and support for women in rural areas. In the Philippines, a cooperative-driven climate insurance model has helped farmers recover quickly after climate shocks, showing that wider scale-up will require coordinated public–private financing and improved regulatory alignment.
Kenya’s experience showed how cooperative banking can stabilize local economies during systemic disruptions. During COVID-19, the Co-operative Bank of Kenya maintained credit flows and protected jobs, highlighting the need for stronger digital financial inclusion, digital literacy and liquidity support. In Viet Nam, the cooperative alliance used cash-for-work programmes to deliver immediate income to households hit by typhoons while repairing critical infrastructure, though scaling up will require predictable funding and strengthened gender-responsive approaches.
Across these diverse experiences, several priorities emerged: using existing cooperative networks as core components of national preparedness systems, institutionalizing SSE roles across all stages of crisis management, scaling successful innovations, and ensuring that women, refugees, informal workers and marginalized groups are fully included. Strengthening public–private partnerships and building long-term cooperative–government collaboration are also essential to sustaining these models.
The key message is clear: when properly recognized, supported and included in planning, cooperatives and social and solidarity economy entities become indispensable partners in building resilient, inclusive and peaceful societies—both during crises and in times of stability.
