UNIMED Delegation – Brazil
In September, Legacoop Emilia-Romagna hosted a delegation from UNIMED, the organization representing Brazil’s medical cooperatives.
The delegation came from the State of Minas Gerais, where UNIMED operates through a network of 66 healthcare cooperatives. The group’s goal was to learn more about the Italian cooperative movement’s experience in the healthcare and cooperative credit sectors.
The delegates met with Filippo Barbieri, coordinator of Legacoop’s Health Project, which aims to strengthen the National Health Service by creating an integrated cooperative ecosystem capable of connecting health, social inclusion, housing, culture, and the environment.
ASCOOP Delegation – Colombia
A few weeks later, Legacoop Emilia-Romagna welcomed a delegation from ASCOOP – Asociación Colombiana de Cooperativas, engaged in a study tour to identify socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable business models, with a particular focus on cooperative credit and finance.
In this context, the meeting with Gabriele Giulietti of Banca Etica was a particularly significant moment. Banca Etica promotes ethical and solidarity-based finance, building relationships with institutions and organizations in various countries — in Europe and beyond — committed to sustainable human, social, and environmental development.
The bank has also long been active in Argentina through CreSud, a company founded in 1999 to provide financial resources and assistance to microfinance organizations, cooperatives, fair-trade producers, and NGOs operating in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Gemeente Breda Delegation – The Netherlands
Finally, Legacoop Emilia-Romagna hosted a Dutch delegation made up of directors from several social enterprises in the southern Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, each city or local authority manages its own social enterprise designed to provide new opportunities for people facing barriers to employment, although organized differently from Italian social cooperatives.
The visit, organized by the Municipality of Breda, aimed to learn more about the Italian model of social cooperatives and to gather best practices that could be applied in the Dutch context.
During their stay, the delegates met with some of the most significant cooperative organizations in the region, including Copaps, Giovani Rilegatori, Piazza Grande, and Eta Beta. These cooperatives presented their social and work inclusion activities, governance models, and the distinctive characteristics of type A and B social cooperatives.
These visits confirm how Emilia-Romagna continues to represent an international point of reference for the cooperative movement, thanks to its ability to combine innovation, solidarity, and sustainability within a participatory economic model deeply rooted in the region.
