Rebuilding an Inclusive World in the Wake of the Pandemic: Women’s Cooperatives Lead the Way brings together evidence, experiences, and policy recommendations emerging from a global dialogue hosted by SEWA Cooperative Federation, WIEGO, and ICA-AP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on research from India and international experiences shared by women cooperators, the note documents how informal women workers faced a triple crisis of health, livelihoods, and unpaid care work. It highlights the severe economic disruptions experienced across sectors, while also demonstrating how women’s cooperatives responded rapidly through relief distribution, health outreach, livelihood support, insurance services, and business adaptation.
At its core, the publication argues that women’s cooperatives are not merely economic institutions but essential community-based systems of resilience during times of crisis. Building on lessons from the pandemic, it calls for greater investment in women-owned cooperatives, stronger Women’s Enterprise Support Systems (WESS), digital inclusion, universal social protection, access to finance, and meaningful representation of women cooperators in policy-making processes. The note presents a roadmap for recovery that places informal women workers at the centre of rebuilding more inclusive, equitable, and resilient economies.
