Economies that prioritise people and the planet - Solidarity and Wellbeing Economy:
Are they the same?
Global Tapestry of Alternatives-Solidarity Economy Thematic Group
26 March 2026
What is the solidarity economy, its origins and various formulations?
Globally, the era of coloniality and racial capitalism is in great upheaval; we have entered a period of intensifying crises of new proportions. Economic institutions, social relations, and political structures are being contested everywhere. Five men now own as much wealth as half the world’s population combined. Global disparities are harshly evident.
At times of heightened insecurity, communities intensify their efforts, locating the means for survival. This momentum has compelled many to action, organizing what is sometimes referred to as a “new” economy, though in actuality it is a “knew” economy that deepens the connection to a variety of strategies that are rooted in ancestral and indigenous ways of being, thinking, knowing and doing.
Defining Economy
Eco means home. So an ecosystem is the relationships in a home, and ecology is knowing one’s home. Economy is then the management of home.
Under capitalism, economies include the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services. However, the large majority of activities are invisible within the traditional capitalist economy which focuses on wages, labor, profit, private ownership, and markets.
Coloniality and capitalism have reshaped and constrained our understanding of how people live, to eliminate the dominant way that people have always cared for themselves and each other.
The Solidarity Economy
The phrase “solidarity economy” largely refers to the movement that builds upon long standing practices engaged by marginalized and oppressed communities.
That being, utilizing collective means of meeting needs, solving problems and distributing power.
It is a systemic framework that holds principles of interdependence, radical democracy and justice, being in right relation with nature, and collective liberation at its core.
In this way, solidarity economy principles and practices recognize that our individual struggles and well-being are bound together.
Solidarity Economy
Principles
Solidarity Economy
Principles
Solidarity Economy
Practices
Solidarity Economy Grounded Formations
Solidarity Economy Grounded Formations
Solidarity Economy Grounded Formations
The Rojava Revolution (Kurdistan / Syria / Turkey)
Rojava, a region in north and east Syria that in 2012 initiated a social revolution in 2012 that was grounded in self-governance, women’s freedom, pluriversalism, direct democracy and an economy rooted in cooperatives.
Rojava adheres to the ideology of democratic confederalism grounded in: gender emancipation, direct democracy, and social ecology. It is estimated that 75% of the economy is cooperative, managed by the people.
Solidarity Economy vs Wellbeing Economy�
A wellbeing economy focuses on reshaping policies and economic systems so that success is measured by human and ecological wellbeing rather than GDP. It often engages with governments and institutions. In contrast, the solidarity economy emerges from grassroots practices like cooperatives, mutual aid, and community networks emphasizing collective ownership, democratic control, and everyday economic alternatives.
Connection
Both challenge the dominant profit-driven model and center people, care, and ecology. They aim for justice, sustainability, and dignity, and both seek to redefine what the economy is for shifting from growth to wellbeing and collective flourishing.
Open Discussion
How do Wellbeing Economy and Solidarity Economy complement each other, and where do they differ in practice or philosophy?
On a bigger picture level, how are these two approaches working to shift the dominant growth-focused economic model?