Social and Solidarity Economy and Human Rights: Addressing Contemporary Social Challenges

Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) has gained increasing attention as an alternative approach to addressing contemporary societal challenges, including inequality, social exclusion, precarious work, and the climate crisis. While existing discussions often emphasize economic performance, social impact, or contributions to sustainable development, less attention has been paid to the relationship between SSE and human rights.

This session explores how SSE can contribute to the realization of human rights through democratic participation, social inclusion, solidarity, decent work, community empowerment, and collective action. It also examines the limitations of existing social value assessment frameworks and considers how a human rights-based approach may provide new perspectives for understanding and evaluating the social contributions of SSE organizations.

We welcome theoretical, empirical, and comparative studies on topics including, but not limited to, social and solidarity economy, cooperatives, social enterprises, social value, human rights, social inclusion, democratic governance, sustainable development, and the SDGs.

The session will consist of paper presentations followed by discussion, with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary and international dialogue on the role of SSE in addressing contemporary societal challenges and advancing human rights.