Statistics advance cooperative innovation and impact

© ICA

Geneva (ILO News) - Moderated by Prof. Sonja Novkovic, Academic Director of the International Centre for Co-operative Management at Saint Mary’s University, Canada, the session at the Global Cooperative Conference in New Delhi, brought together thought leaders to discuss how cooperatives can harness innovation, tackle global challenges, and define their contributions through robust data.

Panelists highlighted the diverse ways cooperatives are innovating and contributing to sustainable development. 

• Prof Axel Marx, Deputy Director of KU Leuven’s Centre for Global Governance Studies, advocated for stronger collaboration between cooperatives and voluntary sustainability standards to amplify their shared impact. 
• Dr Sifa Chiyoge, Director of ICA Africa, described the CoopStar initiative, which is helping African cooperatives drive the transition to a circular and sustainable economy by “socializing the circular economy.” 
• Prof Trebor Scholz of the Platform Cooperatives Consortium showcased the transformative potential of worker- and user-owned platforms, emphasizing that systemic change requires policy engagement. 
• Dr Ilcheong Yi, Senior Research Coordinator at UNRISD, introduced the SDPI measurement tool, which addresses gaps in traditional ESG frameworks by focusing on authentic, context-specific indicators. 
• Ms Tone Cecile Faugli, Managing Director of Fairtrade Norway, emphasized that cooperatives lie at the heart of fair trade, fostering social capital and creating meaningful platforms for small-scale farmers to collaborate and grow. 
• Finally, Ms Simel Esim, Manager of the ILO Cooperative and SSE Unit, focused on the critical importance of statistics in measuring the contributions of cooperatives and the broader Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE).

As part of the session, Ms Simel Esim provided an in-depth overview of the ILO’s pioneering work in cooperative statistics, emphasizing that measuring cooperative impact is essential to unlocking their full potential. Without reliable, harmonized data, it is impossible to assess cooperatives’ size, reach, or economic contributions, let alone design effective policies to support them. She explained how the ILO’s efforts in cooperative statistics trace back to the 2012 International Year of Cooperatives (IYC), which highlighted a global need for better data. This realization led to a 2013 resolution at the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS), providing the ILO with a mandate to address conceptual and methodological gaps in cooperative data collection.

ILO’s Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No. 193) states that national policies should “seek to improve national statistics on cooperatives with a view to the formulation and implementation of development policies”. To reaffirm this, the 19th Session of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2013 included cooperatives in the Conference agenda for the first time in its history. The discussion converged towards the need for accurate, reliable, relevant and comparable statistics on the economic and social impact of cooperatives on the economies. 

At the 19th ICLS, a Resolution concerning further work on statistics of cooperatives was adopted with a view to carry out further developmental work on the measurement of cooperatives and conduct pilot studies in a number of countries to test various measurement approaches on collecting data on cooperatives.  In line with the Resolution, the ILO Department of Statistics, the Cooperatives Unit at the ILO Enterprises Department and the members of the Technical Working Group at Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) prepared the Guidelines on Cooperative Statistics. These guidelines standardize how cooperative data is collected and analyzed globally. To operationalize the guidelines, the ILO conducted pilot studies in Costa Rica, Italy, Korea, Türkiye, and Tanzania, testing methods for data collection and creating national action plans. Around each pilot, the ILO facilitated collaboration between national statistics offices, cooperative registrars, and other stakeholders, fostering dialogue and alignment on data collection practices.

"The questions are not if one method is better than the other. These are complementary short-term and long-term strategies. By addressing the gaps in data collection, we aim to enhance the visibility and recognition of cooperatives and the SSE as distinct economic actors."

Expanding to the Social and Solidarity Economy

Ms Esim emphasized that while these efforts have paved the way for progress, significant gaps remain, particularly in the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). To address these, the ILO plans to launch two technical working groups in 2025: one on measuring the economic contributions of cooperatives and another on SSE statistics. These groups will build on existing cooperative frameworks while expanding their scope to include the broader SSE. She highlighted that harmonized, comparable data is not just about improving measurement—it is about enhancing the visibility and recognition of cooperatives and SSE entities as distinct economic actors. This visibility supports more effective policymaking and allows cooperatives to demonstrate their unique contributions to addressing global challenges.

© ICA

Looking ahead

Ms Esim concluded with a forward-looking vision for cooperative and SSE statistics. The ILO envisions comprehensive guidelines on SSE statistics and a manual on cooperative statistics by 2028. This work will be supported by a Community of Practice to ensure diverse perspectives are incorporated and progress is shared widely. The session underscored the transformative potential of cooperatives in shaping a sustainable future while reaffirming the importance of robust data to measure and amplify their impact. Through its leadership in cooperative and SSE statistics, the ILO is not only setting global standards but also empowering cooperatives to be recognized as central actors in building a more equitable and sustainable world.

We must develop new indicators where necessary and refine existing ones to capture the unique contributions of cooperatives and SSE entities.