Updates on social economy policy: the UN Resolution on the social and solidarity economy

May 11, 2023

On April 18, 2023, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/77/L60 on Promoting the social and solidarity economy for sustainable development (the “Resolution”), a major milestone. Twenty-eight countries from all continents supported this resolution, with no opposing positions. In the last part of a long working process that can be considered to have begun in 2013, with the creation of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on the Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE), fifteen countries promoted this proposal with the support of the members and observers of the aforementioned Task Force.

In terms of scope, the Resolution seeks to encourage wider adoption, promotion and support for an economy based on solidarity principles where production and distribution of goods and services are strongly linked to the quality of life of people. It also promotes access to resources such as credit, insurance, land, technology transfer systems, public initiatives and other forms of support that can help foster social innovations and solidarity economy initiatives.

The Resolution also emphasizes the need to create an enabling environment for social and solidarity economic enterprises, particularly in developing countries. It requests UNTFSSE to develop practical strategies for accelerating the development of these enterprises and support their capacity building in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders. In addition, it calls upon governments at all levels to take active steps to promote and facilitate the development, growth and expansion of social and solidarity economy (SSE) enterprises.

In addition, the Resolution encourages Member States to protect, strengthen and enable associations and organizations that are involved in the promotion of the social and solidarity economy. This includes recognizing SSE actors as legitimate partners for creating public policies at all levels, and to encourage the participation of SSE actors in implementation processes.

The Resolution also calls upon Member States to support global and regional networks/alliances/coalitions that promote the SSE, share information on best practices in the field and conduct advocacy activities at all levels. It further invites the UNTFSSE to coordinate a global forum on the social and solidarity economy to promote exchange of experiences, lessons learned and best practices in this field.

The Resolution concluded by inviting the UNTFSSE to submit a report to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session including recommendations to strengthen the international framework for promoting SSE initiatives. The resolution was welcomed by the SSE community and marks a major milestone in its recognition as an important component of sustainable development.

VIVACE is hopeful that this Resolution will open up opportunities for SSE actors to access resources, support systems and legitimacy that were previously limited, providing impetus for Member States to promote the growth of the social economy, particularly in developing countries.

CPM