Building the Care Economy Together: Cooperative Solutions for Decent Work and Inclusion. A Focus on the Americas

04 September 2026

In the context of the ICA Global Conference 2026 “Building Bridges: Cooperative Contributions for a Peaceful World”, held in Panama held from 13 to 18 September 2026, CICOPA and CICOPA Americas are organizing “Building the Care Economy Together: Cooperative Solutions for Decent Work and Inclusion. A focus on the Americas“, a side event dedicated to exploring the contribution of cooperatives to a more inclusive and sustainable care economy.

The care economy is one of the fastest-growing sectors worldwide, driven by demographic change, ageing populations and increasing demand for childcare, disability support, long-term care and community health services. At the same time, care work often remains undervalued and characterised by labour shortages, low pay and difficult working conditions.

Across the world, cooperatives are developing innovative responses to these challenges. Through worker, social and multi-stakeholder cooperative models, they deliver quality care services while creating decent jobs, strengthening workers’ participation and promoting the inclusion of women, migrants, indigenous peoples, and other groups facing barriers in the labour market.

In CICOPA’s global network, there is growing interest in care cooperatives, reflecting both the increasing demand for care services and the strong potential of cooperative models to address existing gaps. Existing experiences demonstrate that cooperatives can simultaneously improve care outcomes, strengthen workers’ voice and democratic participation, create quality jobs, and contribute to more inclusive and resilient communities. These experiences offer valuable lessons for cooperative federations and organisations seeking to develop and strengthen cooperative care models.

This event aims at drawing lessons from global experiences to support the development of cooperative care solutions in the Americas, while fostering cooperation across the wider CICOPA network.

Practical Information

When: 17 September 2026
Where: Panama
Format: In-person only
Interpretation: English and Spanish interpretation will be provided. To benefit of interepretation, please take with you your phone and headphones.

> View the programme

> Register here*

*Important Information

This event is organised as a side event of the ICA Global Conference 2026. Participation in this event is reserved for individuals registered for the ICA Global Conference. Registration for this event does not provide access to the ICA Global Conference. Participants wishing to attend the Conference must complete the ICA Global Conference registration process separately. More information is available at https://icapanama2026.coop/.