Solidarity Economy recognizes humankind, both the individual and social being, not only as creators and producers of economic wealth but also as co-owners of material wealth, co-users of natural resources, and co-responsible for the conservation of Nature. The dominant system leads to the concentration of wealth among the few and the disenfranchisement of the many. Solidarity Economy strives towards producing and sharing enough material wealth among all in order to generate sustainable conditions for self-managed development of each and every member of societies, the peoples and the planet.

Marcos Arruda, Brasil

Solidarity Economy is characterized by conceptions and practices founded in relations of solidarity-based collaboration, inspired by cultural values that place the human being at its center in its integral dimension, including its ethical and aesthetic, as a subject and goal of economic activity, environmentally sustainable and socially just, instead of the private accumulation of capital. This praxis of production, commercialization, financing and consumption privileges self-management, cooperation, human and community-based development, the satisfaction of human needs, social justice, gender, race and ethnic equality, equal access to information, knowledge and food security, preservation of natural resources through the sustainable and responsible use with the present and future generations, therefore constructing a new form of social inclusion with the participation of all. […] Solidarity Economy-based initiatives have in common the equality of rights, responsibilities and opportunities of all participants in Solidarity Economy-based initiatives, which implies self-management, meaning democratic participation with the equal exercise of power for all in decisions, with the purpose of promoting the overcoming of the contradiction between capital and labor.