Amid what the UN Secretary-General has called a "global development emergency", and with only 35 per cent of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on track, development actors are rethinking traditional economic models in the face of widening inequalities and intensifying ecological strain. At its 53rd Regular Meeting, the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on the Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE) was invited to help shape a new roadmap for poverty eradication rooted in the values and principles of the social and solidarity economy (SSE).
The invitation came from Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, who outlined the New Economies for Eradicating Poverty initiative to be launched at the Second World Summit for Social Development. As part of this effort, a Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth is under development and is expected to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in 2026. The roadmap builds on the 2024 report Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth which highlighted "stimulating the social and solidarity economy" as the first priority for moving "from the profit-driven economy to the human rights economy".
More should be done to expand the imagination of policymakers to make it possible to achieve real social progress without depending on infinite GDP growth … At the heart of this agenda is the social and solidarity economy.
- Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights
De Schutter encouraged the Task Force to contribute to shaping the roadmap's five indicative policy areas: access to social protection and services; labour policies and the care economy; economic systems transformation; climate, environment and resources; and trade, finance, debt and global solidarity.
Simel Esim, Head of the ILO's Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit and Chair of the UNTFSSE, welcomed the invitation and opportunities for collaboration building on ongoing efforts by Task Force members and observers, including on measuring the economic contribution of the SSE beyond GDP. She noted that the Task Force's upcoming Technical Symposium would provide an opportunity to elaborate its next work plan and explore the links with the human rights economy and the roadmap. Co-organized with the Government of Spain (Ministry of Labour and Social Economy), CEPES (Spanish Business Confederation of the Social Economy) and the Council of Government of the Region of Murcia, the Technical Symposium is set to take place in Murcia, Spain on 4-5 December 2025.
The meeting also featured updates on ongoing multilateral processes. Updates were shared on recent global advocacy successes, including the inclusion of SSE in the Financing for Development outcome document and the High-Level Political Forum, as well as the organization of related side events. Konstantinos Papadakis (UN DESA) briefed the group on preparations for the World Social Summit in Qatar, including a new reference to the SSE in revision 2 of the draft political declaration.
The meeting also featured a forward-looking exchange moderated by representatives from CIRIEC, EMES and EURICSE, on emerging SSE research topics related to the informal economy, economic democracy, the climate emergency, and crisis situations. Participants also explored ways to better connect research, policy and practice.
