The Role of Social and Solidarity Economy in employment generation. Concept note.

The recent global crises that impacted peoples and economies worldwide refocus the attention on the need for more inclusive and sustainable patterns of development. Growing recognition of the scale of precarious employment, climate change and inequality have further reinforced the imperative of rethinking conventional approaches to growth and distribution. Global summits and policy processes such as Rio+20, the drafting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Financing for Development agenda appear to have strengthened the political commitment to addressing the challenge of inclusive and sustainable development. The ILO report “World of Work

2014: Developing with Jobs” confirms that conventional development approaches are not conducive to decent work. A common theme in all such initiatives is the need for integrated approaches to development and policy making. There is also growing acknowledgement that development strategy in a context of multiple crises (economic, social and environmental) and complexity cannot be driven by top-down policy making but must be informed by active citizenship and participatory governance. Thus, local conomic development (LED) strategies by promoting social cohesion and economic inclusion can play a crucial role in optimizing local employment generation for sustainable and inclusive growth.

ILO.org