ALLEANZA DELLE COOPERATIVE ITALIANE – IT

About: Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane is the national coordination body made up of the most representative associations of Italian cooperatives (Agci, Confcooperative, Legacoop).

COOPERMONDO (CONFCOOPERATIVE)

Coopermondo (Confcooperative): Confcooperative promotes international cooperative development through its NGO – Coopermondo. It promotes the creation and empowerment of cooperative enterprises in developing countries with the aim of reducing inequalities and promoting economic democracy, inclusive and sustainable development and decent work for all. It equally supports Italian cooperative and social enterprises dedicated to international cooperation.

Sectors: agriculture and fishing, credit, social economy, energy and environment, responsible tourism, education. Women, youth and sustainability.

Services: professional training service for funding mobilization and monitoring of EU and international calls; technical assistance in cooperative development in third countries;

Geography: Africa (Togo, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Benin, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal) & Americas (Colombia). 

Learn more about their work: https://www.coopermondo.it/

HALIÉUS (LEGACOOP)

Haliéus (Legacoop): Founded in 2005 under initiative of Legacoop’s fisheries sector, Haliéus is active in international cooperation initiatives that valorize the experience and expertise of the more than 10,000 cooperative enterprises members of Legacoop. Haliéus mainly supports single cooperatives and cooperative association in the proper use of the cooperative business model, applied to several sectors.

Sectors: agriculture, fisheries, welfare, consumption, fair trade, and sustainable tourism (& more). Youth, Digitalization, Women, cooperative value chains.

Services: capacity building, institutional support, policy reforms, coop startup support; advocacy visa-vis national and international authorities.

Geography: Worldwide. Among others, particular focus on Mediterranean (among others Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, etc), Asia (Laos, Vietnam, Iran) & Africa (Ivory Coast, Senegal, etc).

Learn more about their work: https://www.halieus.it/en/home_en/

About: Cooperative António Sérgio for the Social Economy (CASES) promotes the strengthening of the social economy sector, deepening cooperation between the Portuguese State and organisations representing the social economy sector and assuming the legal form of “public interest cooperatives.”

OCPLP – Cooperative Organization of Portuguese-Speaking Countries: CASES promotes international cooperative development and intercontinental inter-cooperation through the OCPLP, an international association of 31 coops from Lusophone countries. The OCPLP fosters inter-cooperation among cooperatives from Portuguese-speaking countries, serving as a platform that connects cooperative movements with the national authorities of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) member states.

Sectors: social economy, education and training, statistics, microfinance, social impact measurement.

Geography: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste (among others).

Learn more about their work: https://cases.pt/ and https://www.portalocplp.org

About: The Central Union of Forestry Cooperatives of Turkey (OR-KOOP) is primarily a “Labor Cooperative,” and works to ensure that forest villagers receive a fair share of the national income, through ad-hoc training, oversight, and public awareness-raising activities. Although operating nationally, OR-KOOP’s membership to the CEDP is linked to their commitment to cooperative development with international partners such as UNDP, FAO, ILO and its regular involvement in EU programs such as IPARD, Erasmus+, and Interreg.

Sectors: forestry and agriculture; women and youth economic empowerment.

Services: members’ support in production, evaluation and marketing of forestry products, but also advocacy for cooperative members’ legal rights, environmental protection, social security; research, and training.

Geography: Türkiye

Learn more about their work: https://www.orkoop.org.tr/

About: Belgian Raiffeisen Foundation (BRS) – the joint venture of KBC Group and the cooperative Cera – is benefitting from the cooperative experience from Cera and the financial and technical support of KBC Bank & Insurance. Cera is a cooperative financial group with 400,000 members and is a principal shareholder of KBC Group. BRS consists of two organisations: BRS vzw and the cooperative organisation BRS Microfinance Coop. BRS is committed to helping sustainably improve the quality of life of the rural entrepreneurs and the farmers outside Europe. It does so by supporting microfinance and micro-insurance field projects on a cooperative basis, not merely with cash, but more specifically with advice and in a dialogue with the stakeholders.

Sectors: Microfinance (microcredit & microsavings) and microinsurance.

Services: tailor-made microfinance coaching and advice; finance trainings. Capital investment in microfinance institutions

Geography: Africa, Asia and Latin America

Learn more about their work: https://www.brs.coop/en

About COCETA: The Spanish Confederation of Worker Cooperatives (Confederación Española de Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado) – COCETA, promotes and defends the interests of regional unions and federations of worker cooperatives. It represents 17.000 worker cooperatives, 210.000 workers and has a turnover of €1,3 million.  

Sectors: Manufacturing, construction, tourism, as well as social, health and education in Spain.

International Development: Regional members, such as the Association of Asturian Worker-Owned Companies and Social Economy (ASATA) are active in promoting inter-cooperation in Latin America and beyond.

Learn more about their work: https://coceta.coop/

About:  The DGRV – Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband e. V.  –  is the umbrella organization as defined by the Cooperative Act in Germany. The purpose of the confederation is to develop, promote, and represent the cross-sectoral interests of its members and their affiliated cooperative institutions, as well as to advance the cooperative sector, including cooperative auditing. The DGRV advocates for cooperative-friendly framework conditions in society and politics- towards legislative and governmental bodies, committees, and other key institutions in business and civil society. This includes matters such as cooperative legislation, business formation, accounting and auditing, taxation, regulatory issues, and energy policy. Internationally, the DGRV promotes the cooperative idea worldwide and supports the development of cooperative structures as part of German development cooperation. 

Sectors:

• Cross-sector cooperative economy in Germany: credit, rural/agriculture & food, commercial/SME & services, energy, and consumer.
• Cooperative law, accounting, and auditing standards.
• International cooperative development and capacity building.

Services:

• Advocacy and policy work for cooperative-friendly framework conditions in society and politics – towards legislative and governmental bodies, committees, and key institutions in business and civil society.
• Cooperative auditing, including guidance and standard-setting for the cooperative auditing network.
• Legal, tax, and technical advisory for members and associated auditing federations.
• Support for cooperative start-ups and modernization through tools such as model statutes, GenoCanvas, and GenoPlan.
• Capacity building, association development, and advisory services in international cooperation projects.

Countries: Germany (nationwide); international engagement across Asia, Latin America, and Africa – with project offices in Turkey, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam, South Africa, Eswatini, Benin, Tunisia, Kenya, Uganda, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Paraguay. 

Learn more: https://www.dgrv.coop/about-us/ 

About: Euro Coop, a European sectoral member of Cooperatives Europe, represents the national organisations of consumer co-operatives in 20 European countries. Founded in 1957, Euro Coop was one of the first Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) to be recognised by the European Commission for the promotion of the interests of consumer co-operatives and their members.

Sector: Retail

Services: Cooperative advocacy around ethical sourcing, production and labelling (e.g. organic farming and Fair Trade), packaging and food waste issues, big environmental and societal challenges (e.g. climate change) as well as all aspects related to sustainable food production and consumption. 

Geography: European Union; Africa (through its members e.g., Central COOP (UK) action in Malawi)

Learn more about their work; https://www.eurocoop.coop

About FFD: FFD, the Finnish Agri-Agency for Food and Forest Development, is a non-profit organization supporting agricultural producer organizations, forest owners’ organisations and cooperatives in developing countries. FFD was formed in 2012 by four Finnish farmers’ and forest producers’ organizations to coordinate Finnish farmer-to-farmer development cooperation efforts.

Sectors: Their projects support various rural livelihoods in countries of the global south, focusing on agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, aquaculture and beekeeping. The project partner is always a local producer organization, forest owner or grower organization, cooperative or cooperative federation. The projects train farmers, strengthen local organizations, improve the value chain of products and producers’ connections to markets. 

Countries: Currently, FFD supports organizations and cooperatives in Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.

Learn more about their work: https://www.ffd.fi/about-us

About: Established in 1992, Kooperationen is the Danish Cooperative Employers’ Organisation with a network of 137 member companies and 14.000 employees, making it the apex organization for Danish co-operatives. They are committed to creating synergies and amplification of the cooperative identity to promote the benefits of cooperatives.

Sectors: Members represent a wide range of business fields, from the banking and industry sector to craftsman and construction businesses, conference centres and museums. Focus on green and digital transitions; circular economy.

Services: Kooperationen provides professional legal advice and counselling within areas such as employment law, company law and construction law to strengthen cooperative legal frameworks in developing countries and ensure equitable livelihoods. In their international projects, they focus on training and capacity building, consulting, institutional and network building and strengthening. 

Geography: EU countries, rest of the world.

Learn more about their work: https://kooperationen.dk/english/

About: Norges Vel is an independent nonprofit organisation committed to using the coop business model to create dynamic local communities through economic development and job creation in Norway and abroad. It supports local communities increase food security and jobs through sustainable use of local natural resources, assisting smallholders in developing countries to shift from subsistence farming to business farming.

Sectors: agriculture, aquaculture, plus five overarching themes: Entrepreneurship and cooperation; the value chain approach; Climate and environment; Gender equality; Anticorruption.

Services: Training and Capacity Building, access to local market and financial services; awareness raising for women and youth; advocacy for sustainable framework conditions for sector development

Geography: Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar), with partners in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

Learn more about their work: https://www.norgesvel.com/about-norges-vel

About: REScoop.eu, a European sectoral member of Cooperatives Europe, is the European federation of energy communities. It has a growing network of 2.500 energy communities across Europe and jointly represents over 2 million citizens, committed to promoting the cooperative business model in the energy sector.

Sector: Energy

Services: Representation of energy cooperatives to European policymakers, coalition building among energy communities through tools and contacts and international exchanges.

Geography: EU (Greece, Croatia, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland and Estonia), Eastern Europe and Western Balkans.

Learn more about their work: https://www.rescoop.eu/

About: with 100 years of experience in cooperative education, the UKCC’s mission is to inspire and enable people, through co-operative learning, on how to use the cooperative business model to transform lives and tackle inequalities in communities in third countries, creating a fairer world. Across the UK, they work with schools and use co-operation as a solution for the problems young people and disadvantaged groups face in today’s society.

Sector: Research; Co-operative Education and Training; International Co-operative Development; Youth

Services: coop-2-coop exchanges; design and update of cooperative curriculum programmes and ad-hoc cooperative training across sectors through a pathway approach.

Countries: Africa (Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda); Asia (Philippines, Sri Lanka); UK

Learn more about their work: https://www.co-op.ac.uk/

About: WeEffect is the international development organisation of the Swedish cooperative movement. It works in two areas: the right to food with support for farmers’ own organisations, and the right to decent housing with support for cooperative housing associations. Through long-term partnerships with local CSO, farmer organisations, cooperative federations, WeEffect supports the transition to sustainable and gender-equal agriculture where women have the same opportunities as men to adapt to climate change, to organise themselves, own land and be able to live and work in security.

Sectors: Agri-food; gender equality, housing; care economy; climate justice

Services: Organisational and business development, advocacy, technical advice, sustainable farming and food production, education and training and adaptation to climate change.

Geography: Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa

Learn more about their work: https://www.weeffect.org/