What is Social Solidarity Economy?
Today, perhaps as never before, more people are becoming aware that capitalism has turned our lives and our planet into a commodity. A system that is environmentally unsustainable and socially unjust, and that it is not able to guarantee the happiness and dignified life conditions of all persons in any place on the planet.
Social Solidarity Economy includes a wide range of practices that span economic, social, environmental, political, communitarian or holistic dimensions.
News—
Cancelling debt is sowing justice: for the planet, for women, for life
During Rural Women, Food Sovereignty and Poverty Eradication Week, RIPESS joins the campaign Stop the damage! Cancel the debt NOW! Illegitimate debt, austerity policies and extractivist models imposed by the IMF, the World Bank and countries of the Global North continue to deepen the economic, climate and social crisis that particularly affects rural communities and women in the Global South. [...]
Chandana Pokuna, a community facing microcredit extortion
By Isabel Alvarez Vispo, URGENCI’s President. Originally published in Urgenci's website. When you travel very far away, as far as Sri Lanka, you expect to find landscapes, people, cultures, in short, a part of the world that is very different from your everyday life. And indeed, you find them: temperatures and humidity you have never experienced before, a culture and [...]
Lighting the Path to Rural Transformation : ASSEFA Sangamam 2025 Begins
Shanthigram, Natham – September 28, 2025:The three-day ASSEFA Sangamam 2025 conference began today at Shanthigram village in Natham with the ceremonial lighting of the traditional lamp by Sri J. Chandrapaul, Chairman of ASSEFA. This significant gathering brings together stakeholders to reflect on the progress of Community Organisations promoted by ASSEFA, revisit the ideals of the second phase of the Bhoodan [...]
What is RIPESS?
RIPESS is a global network of continental networks committed to the promotion of Social Solidarity Economy. The member networks themselves (Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania) bring together national and sectorial networks, thus ensuring strong territorial anchoring.
The combined local and global scope gives RIPESS legitimacy to promote SSE, foster intercontinental cooperation, and advocate at different levels. RIPESS members believe in the importance of the globalisation of solidarity, and the ability to build and strengthen an economy that places people and planet at the centre of its activities.
