47th Regular Meeting of the United Nations Task Force on the Social and Solidarity Economy.
Led by the Co-Chairs of the UNTFSSE, Simel Esim from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Chantal Line Carpentier from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the virtual gathering brought together representatives from Members (UN Entities and the OECD) and Observer organizations to share international and regional updates to spur further collaboration on the SSE.
The call began with a welcome to the representatives of new Members, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) as an Observer.
Heidi Christ, lead of Made51 at UNHCR, expressed recommitment towards the task force, noting that, “Livelihoods for refugees is of primary concern to UNHCR, especially as the the refugee crisis deepens and longer-term solutions are needed. We are looking at the solidarity economy as way to offer solutions to refugees in a more protective environment”.
Leida Rijnhout, Chief Executive, WFTO, was appreciative of the positive response received from Members and Observers regarding their joining the task force. She highlighted the link between the SSE and the Fair Trade movement, sharing that “At the WFTO, we certify enterprises based on the fair trade principles. We are also a movement of entrepreneurial activists that promote people and planet over profit.”
Following introductions and general updates, the Co-Chairs presented the new UNTFSSE Action Plan, which details priorities and responsibilities for advancing the SSE agenda and implementing the UNGA Resolution A/RES/77/281. This plan, designed to foster policy coherence, drive capacity building, improve statistics, and increase access to finance, underscores the task force's strategic approach to mobilizing collective expertise and resources.
Further discussions focused on institutionalizing UNTFSSE governance through a newly drafted Terms of Reference and preparation of the Secretary General’s report for the UNGA 79th session. The Secretariat is currently collecting inputs from UN Entities, Member States, and Financial Institutions.
Technical Working Groups are currently being established on SSE Statistics and Financing. These groups will be composed of technical experts who will establish work plans and present updates to the task force at regular meetings. Highlights of recent and upcoming initiatives were shared by task force Members and Observers, including:
ILO’s Regional Conference on the Social and Solidarity Economy for Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia on May 14-15, 2024.
OECD’s Global Action on Mapping of Social Economy Ecosystems.
UNRISD’s four podcast episodes, interviewing authors from the SSE Encyclopedia.
Social Economy Europe’s EU Large Scale partnership for Skills of SE and Proximity Ecosystem.
DIESIS event on the Social Economy in the Western Balkans under the MESMER+ project.
CIRIEC Call for papers for a Special Issue of APCE on “Gender approaches of Social Economy and State-Owned Enterprises”.
EUCLID’s Women in Social Enterprise initiative.
Ms. Esim proposed to hold an online event to mark the occasion of the first year anniversary of the UN General Assembly resolution “Promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy for Sustainable Development” on April 18, 2024. She suggested this would be an occasion to highlight progress that has been made in the one year since the adoption of the resolution at the international and regional levels. Her proposal was well received by Members and Observers of the Task Force. It was agreed that the webinar would take place on April 18, 2024 from 1:30 – 2:45 pm CEST with presentations followed by a brief discussion. The ILO offered to make simultaneous translation available for the event in English, French and Spanish. The UNTFSSE Members and observers agreed to share the announcement and the Zoom link for the event widely.
Led by the Co-Chairs of the UNTFSSE, Simel Esim from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Chantal Line Carpentier from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the virtual gathering brought together representatives from Members (UN Entities and the OECD) and Observer organizations to share international and regional updates to spur further collaboration on the SSE.
The call began with a welcome to the representatives of new Members, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) as an Observer.
Heidi Christ, lead of Made51 at UNHCR, expressed recommitment towards the task force, noting that, “Livelihoods for refugees is of primary concern to UNHCR, especially as the the refugee crisis deepens and longer-term solutions are needed. We are looking at the solidarity economy as way to offer solutions to refugees in a more protective environment”.
Leida Rijnhout, Chief Executive, WFTO, was appreciative of the positive response received from Members and Observers regarding their joining the task force. She highlighted the link between the SSE and the Fair Trade movement, sharing that “At the WFTO, we certify enterprises based on the fair trade principles. We are also a movement of entrepreneurial activists that promote people and planet over profit.”
Following introductions and general updates, the Co-Chairs presented the new UNTFSSE Action Plan, which details priorities and responsibilities for advancing the SSE agenda and implementing the UNGA Resolution A/RES/77/281. This plan, designed to foster policy coherence, drive capacity building, improve statistics, and increase access to finance, underscores the task force's strategic approach to mobilizing collective expertise and resources.
Further discussions focused on institutionalizing UNTFSSE governance through a newly drafted Terms of Reference and preparation of the Secretary General’s report for the UNGA 79th session. The Secretariat is currently collecting inputs from UN Entities, Member States, and Financial Institutions.
Technical Working Groups are currently being established on SSE Statistics and Financing. These groups will be composed of technical experts who will establish work plans and present updates to the task force at regular meetings. Highlights of recent and upcoming initiatives were shared by task force Members and Observers, including:
ILO’s Regional Conference on the Social and Solidarity Economy for Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia on May 14-15, 2024.
OECD’s Global Action on Mapping of Social Economy Ecosystems.
UNRISD’s four podcast episodes, interviewing authors from the SSE Encyclopedia.
Social Economy Europe’s EU Large Scale partnership for Skills of SE and Proximity Ecosystem.
DIESIS event on the Social Economy in the Western Balkans under the MESMER+ project.
CIRIEC Call for papers for a Special Issue of APCE on “Gender approaches of Social Economy and State-Owned Enterprises”.
EUCLID’s Women in Social Enterprise initiative.
Ms. Esim proposed to hold an online event to mark the occasion of the first year anniversary of the UN General Assembly resolution “Promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy for Sustainable Development” on April 18, 2024. She suggested this would be an occasion to highlight progress that has been made in the one year since the adoption of the resolution at the international and regional levels. Her proposal was well received by Members and Observers of the Task Force. It was agreed that the webinar would take place on April 18, 2024 from 1:30 – 2:45 pm CEST with presentations followed by a brief discussion. The ILO offered to make simultaneous translation available for the event in English, French and Spanish. The UNTFSSE Members and observers agreed to share the announcement and the Zoom link for the event widely.
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Towards international statistical guidelines on the prevalence of trafficking in persons.
This side event to the 55th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission will support the agenda item on "data and indicators for the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development", notably SDG Indicator 16.2.2, by providing a first opportunity to discuss the challenges of prevalence estimates at a global level.
Every year, more than 50,000 people are identified as victims of trafficking in persons. Among them, many are supported, but little is known about those who remain in trafficking and exploitative situations, beyond the reach of authorities and protection services. SDG Indicator 16.2.2. on "Number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age and form of exploitation" aims at tracking the world's progress in reducing the prevalence of trafficking in persons, but no universal statistical standard yet exists to collect robust and comparable data on the actual scale of the phenomenon. The new #STATIP (Standard Tools for Analysis of Trafficking in Persons) project, conducted jointly, at the UN level, by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UNODC - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the IOM - UN Migration aims to close that gap, by creating a #statisticalframework to define #traffickinginpersons for prevalence surveys, with submission to the United Nations Statistical Commission expected in 2026. This framework will facilitate the measurement of prevalence by improving the quality and consistency of local, national, regional and global Statistical estimates, and thereby providing reliable evidence to devise more effective and refined anti-trafficking policies.
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