The institutions, governments, member organizations, and observers of the Ibero-American Network for the Promotion of Social and Solidarity Economy (RIFESS) agree to issue this Declaration with the aim of reaffirming the strategic role of Social and Solidarity Economy and economies for life in the construction of inclusive, sustainable, and socially just models.
We recall that the social and solidarity economy is firmly anchored in the mandate, regulatory frameworks, and decisions of the governing bodies of the multilateral system, in particular the International Labor Organization, which for more than a century has recognized and developed a specific role in relation to cooperatives and associative forms. Similarly, the United Nations General Assembly has been consolidating this approach through recent resolutions that recognize these definitions and guidelines, promote inter-institutional coordination, and call for systematic monitoring of progress, reaffirming the centrality of the Social and Solidarity Economy in the global development agenda.
We recognize that the Social and Solidarity Economy is a strategic pillar for building models centered on people, communities, territories, and the care of life in all its dimensions, contributing to decent work, social inclusion, territorial cohesion, and environmental sustainability.
We affirm that economies for life, understood as those that prioritize collective well-being, care, ecosystem sustainability, and dignity in work, find in the Social and Solidarity Economy a fundamental institutional, productive, and democratic support for their deployment at the local, national, and international levels.
We highlight that, in the Ibero-American region, these approaches have been consolidated as part of public agendas aimed at strengthening popular, community, cooperative, and solidarity-based economies, with concrete impacts on the stability of livelihoods, the provision of essential services, resilience to crises, and the reduction of structural inequalities.
We value the historic and distinctive role of the International Labor Organization and its Cooperative and Social and Solidarity Economy Unit (COOP/SSE), as the only unit specializing in this area within the United Nations system, in promoting economic development with social justice, as well as the importance of the Social and Solidarity Economy having within the multilateral system, specialized institutional spaces that ensure continuity, regulatory coherence, and technical quality in its approach.
We express our concern about the processes of redefining priorities currently under discussion, which could result in a weakening of institutional capacities dedicated to the social and solidarity economy, affecting the work of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE), which has been in existence since 2013.
We believe that any reduction in resources or discontinuation of these spaces would limit the multilateral system’s capacity to effectively support the transition to economies for life, by restricting comprehensive approaches that articulate employment, social protection, care, environmental sustainability, and territorial development from a rights-based perspective.
We call for the preservation and strengthening of the institutional, regulatory, and financial infrastructure that supports the development of the Social and Solidarity Economy at the national, regional, and international levels, avoiding processes that could affect its ability to contribute to collective well-being.
We emphasize that, for Ibero-American countries, the Social and Solidarity Economy and economies for life constitute a strategic agenda of high public value, linked to economic security, social and productive inclusion, the response to the impacts of climate change, and the construction of more just, resilient, and democratic societies.
We reaffirm the importance of preserving and strengthening existing institutional mechanisms for the promotion and coordination of the Social and Solidarity Economy at the international level, in line with its strategic relevance and with the commitments made within the framework of multilateralism.
We express the willingness of RIFESS to continue acting as a regional space for political coordination, dialogue, and cooperation, contributing its Ibero-American experience to the strengthening of the Social and Solidarity Economy and economies for life in international development agendas.
We respectfully invite governments, international organizations, cooperation agencies, observer entities, platforms that accompany these processes from their statutory guidelines, and those organizations that are not part of RIFESS but that advance related processes, to adhere to this Declaration, reaffirming their commitment to a robust, visible, and fully integrated Social and Solidarity Economy in the multilateral system, as a basis for transitioning toward economies that place life, decent work, and collective well-being at the center.
RIFESS institutions and signatory organizations
- Brazil – NATIONAL SECRETARIAT FOR POPULAR AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY SENAES
- Chile – NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ASSOCIATIVITY AND COOPERATIVISM – INAC
- Chile – DIVISION OF ASSOCIATIVITY AND COOPERATIVES – DAES / MINECONOMÍA
- Colombia – SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT FOR SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATIONS
- Colombia – ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL PROSPERITY
- Costa Rica – MINISTRY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL SECURITY
- Ecuador – NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF POPULAR AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY
- Spain – MINISTRY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL ECONOMY
- Guatemala – DEPUTY MINISTRY OF MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
- Mexico – NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ECONOMY – INAES
- Paraguay – MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
- Dominican Republic – INSTITUTE FOR COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND CREDIT (IDECOOP)
- Uruguay – NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF COOPERATIVISM OF URUGUAY (INACOOP)
- Honduras – SECRETARY OF STATE FOR LABOR AND SOCIAL SECURITY – SETRASS
- SOCIAL ECONOMY EUROPE
- JAVERIANA PONTIFICAL UNIVERSITY
- INTERCONTINENTAL NETWORK FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE SSE – RIPESS LAC
- COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION (GCSI)
- CIRIEC / OIBESCOOP – Ibero-American Observatory on Employment and the Social and Cooperative Economy
- ESS Forum International – The International Forum for the Social and
Solidarity Economy
