Fostering cooperative development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The five priority areas under the first phase of the partnership programme included employment and labour market policy development, social dialogue, fundamental principles and rights at works, skills development, and occupational safety and health. Under the second phase, an additional sixth pillar on the development of cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE) is being implemented in partnership with the Social Development Sector of the MHRSD. 

Cooperative development has been identified as a strategic entry point for the country, as the Saudi Vision of 2030 calls for reduced unemployment rates among Saudis by creating productive employment opportunities including for women, ensuring food security and rural development, and reducing inequalities to empower marginalized groups. As of 2023, a total of 410 cooperatives were operating in the Kingdom, predominantly multi-purpose cooperatives. There was substantial growth between 2019 and 2023 in emerging sectors including: housing (80 per cent), professional services (53 per cent), services (103 per cent), healthcare (46 per cent) and tourism (60 per cent). To further support such growth MHRSD has undertaken recent efforts to formulate a National Cooperative Strategy and amend the cooperative law. The ILO is contributing to such growth in line with ILO’s Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No. 193). 

Alongside the policy and legal initiatives, the ILO will assist the MHRSD in strengthening the existing knowledge base and statistics on cooperatives aligned with the ILO’s Guidelines concerning Statistics on Cooperatives adopted at the International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 2018. Reliable and comparable statistics on cooperatives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are critical to better quantify the economic and social role of cooperatives and feed into the development of evidence-based policies and programmes and ensure their effective monitoring and evaluation.

The cooperative support programme is designed to achieve five main outcomes: 

• Reviewing policy and legal frameworks: by analysing the National Cooperative Strategy and the Executive Regulation of the Amended Cooperative Law in line with international labour standards, the national context, and international good practices.
• Enhancing institutional support by strengthening the role and capacity of Cooperative Societies Council, the APEX organization for cooperatives, which aims to support cooperatives in the country through fostering a collaborative work culture, building human, financial and technical capacities, and establishing strong partnerships. 
• Building technical capacities of MHRSD, primary and secondary cooperatives and education institutions on cooperative development and management. Training efforts under this outcome aim to institutionalise learning among cooperative service providers and educational institutions, complemented by study tours to create partnerships with other countries and benefit from good practices. 
• Advancing statistical data by producing a report on the state of national statistics concerning cooperatives in the country and developing a roadmap in close collaboration with the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) towards improving them in line with the ILO Guidelines concerning Statistics on Cooperatives. 
• Promoting co-operators and raising awareness about innovative cooperative experiences from around the world through virtual study tours, webinars, and videos. 

Through these coordinated efforts, the ILO and the MHRSD are committed to significantly enhance the cooperative landscape in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. By addressing challenges at policy, legal, institutional, and cooperative levels, the programme aims to create a strong enabling environment for cooperatives. The initiative not only aims to boost their economic and social contributions but also ensures the promotion of decent work contributing to sustainable development across the Kingdom.

For more information about the programme, please contact coop@ilo.org