Opportunities and Challenges of Statistics on Social and Solidarity Economy: Expert Workshop

As policy makers pay increasing attention to the social and solidarity economy (SSE) as a means of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the demand for statistics on SSE, which are needed for social and political recognition and government support, is also growing. Over the last three decades, national statistical agencies and researchers (academic and institutional) have done significant work to develop methodologies and gather data at the national and international levels. Despite these achievements, many countries and regions lack statistical information about SSE in their territories, and globally agreed statistical methods and indicators which ensure systematic data collection and coordination between various statistical offices have yet to be established.

What are the methodological challenges and how can we address them? To answer these questions, the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE) in collaboration with UNRISD, ICA, CIRIEC and SE Europe are organizing this workshop to take stock of knowledge on the production of statistics on SSE, identify the limitations and benefits of various methodologies and indicators for SSE, and suggest ways to move forward.

The workshop is a constituent part of the research project Opportunities and Challenges of Statistics on Social and Solidarity Economy, which falls under the SSE Knowledge Hub for the SDGs, an initiative of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE), implemented by UNRISD.

Please visit the Task Force page on the workshop to view the materials presented . View the concept note here.

Workshop objectives

Within the framework of the research project, the workshop will assess lessons and findings from past research on the topic and suggest a way forward, providing the basis for the development of recommendations on how to improve SSE statistics in future.

It aims to:

• deepen the understanding of how statistics on SSE are presented in different parts of the world, with a focus on the methodologies and available data sets;
• examine the strengths and weaknesses of the diverse approaches to generating statistics on SSE;
• provide suggestions as to how the statistics on SSE may be better presented;
• explore innovative approaches to measure the impact of SSE on sustainable development, and
• mobilize inputs from participants on the “Opportunities and Challenges of Statistics on the Social and Solidarity Economy” project’s research agenda.

Provisional programme

10:00 – 13:00 Morning Session

• Welcome: Alain Coheur
  Union Nationale des Mutualités Socialistes/Solidaris, and European Social and Economic Committee (EESC)

Moderator: Ilcheong Yi, Senior Research Coordinator, UNRISD

• “Methods and indicators to measure the social economy and its impacts”
  Marie J. Bouchard, president, CIRIEC International Scientific Commission on social and cooperative economy; professor, Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada); external coordinator for the project “Opportunities and Challenges of Statistics on SSE”
  
• “Lessons from experiences and recent evolutions in producing statistics on SSE in the EU”
  Rafael Chaves, professor, University of Valencia (Spain) and CIRIEC-España; member of GECES
  
• “Consolidating statistics on Cooperatives – Current Status”
  Manpreet Singh, Senior Statistician, ILO, and Young Hyung Kim, Technical Specialist on COOP & SSE development, ILO
  
• “The Portuguese modular approach in measuring the social economy”
  Ana Cristina Ramos, National Account Department, Unit for Satellite Accounts and Quality Assessment of the National Accounts, Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (INE), Portugal
  
• “EU strategy about SSE statistics”
  Patrick Klein, Administrator, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW), European Commission

13:00-14:30 Lunch

14:30-16:00 Afternoon Session
Moderator: Victor Meseguer, Director, Social Economy Europe

• “The importance of demonstrating the socioeconomic impact and weight of SSE: The way forward.”
  Discussion with participants