During the past few years, we have witnessed major breakthroughs in Latin America. In
several countries, the labour movement has invested resources to support what is being
called the solidarity economy. In Brazil, in addition to a strong civil society network
supported by the labour movement, the Brazilian government has created a Solidarity
Economy Secretariat that coordinates inter-ministerial support, assures the involvement
of a broad range of social movements and maintains links with regional and municipal
policies in favour of the solidarity economy. In Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico and
Venezuela, emerging civil society networks are taking root and we are witnessing the
beginnings of new public policy initiatives. In Ecuador, the approach has gone one step
further: the new constitution adopted by referendum in 2008 establishes the importance
of the social and solidarity economy development model and recognises the plurality of
the economy, based on public, social and private enterprise, as does the newly approved
Bolivian constitution