April 24, 2013

Contributor:  LegaCoop, Messina

Workshop: Social inclusion, job creation, economics / Innovative socially inclusive initiatives

Local cooperation for sustainable development

The Legacoop is an association of cooperatives that promotes human capital as the main factor of enterprise.

The cooperative community that is promoted by Legacoop has the objective of producing benefits in favor of a community which the founders belong to or elect as their own. This objective is pursued through the production of goods and services that transform the fundamental aspects of quality of social and economic life into stable practices. (see http://www.legacoop.coop/multimedia/Cooperative%20Comunita/guidacoopcomunitanuova.pdf).

A cooperative community can be formed by single citizens with small enterprises and single-autonomous producers. The aim is to put together their strong points to reach the common target which is the growth of their community.

Benefits (environmental/social/economical…)

Every member of the cooperative community becomes an active part of the local economic system as a seller, producer and consumer.

Pro:

• Direct involvement of citizens and entrepreneurs in the policies of growth of the community
• Creation of a sustainable local economy

Contra:Changing the slow behaviour to pass from a limited vision of single business to a cooperative system of business

What are the lessons learn to be used/transferred/implemented in the other partner cities?

The cooperative forms appear as the better way to sustain the local agricultural economy and small urban communities.