Legacoop Emilia-Romagna is a partner in the FAIRE Project — Training, Animation, Employment, Networking, Empowerment — funded by the Emilia-Romagna Region and coordinated by the cooperative CIM Onlus. The partnership also includes Cospe Onlus and local Senegalese partners: the Departmental Council of Kaolack and Enfance & Paix.
The project aims to promote the development of a green and solidarity-based economy in Senegal by building a sustainable system of employment and vocational training, fostering the socioeconomic inclusion of Senegalese women and youth in vulnerable situations.
Among the planned activities is an exchange of best practices on the green economy, with particular attention to how enterprises implement environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable activities — and how such practices enhance job opportunities and active labor policies.
To support this exchange, a mission to Emilia-Romagna was organized for a Senegalese delegation composed of three institutional representatives, held from November 4 to 7, 2025, coinciding with Ecomondo, the international trade fair for the green and circular economy held annually in Rimini.
During the mission, the delegation took part in visits to local cooperatives and in institutional and business meetings organized as part of Ecomondo.
The first stop was a visit to the Consorzio Sativa, a cooperative enterprise specializing in the selection, preservation, production, and sale of seeds — particularly vegetable varieties. Sativa’s main partner is C.A.C. – Cooperativa Agricola Cesenate, Italy’s largest association of farmers engaged in contract-based multiplication of vegetable and industrial seeds.
Sativa’s General Director, Simone Belletti, welcomed the delegation and presented the cooperative’s activities and strategies, highlighting its production of high-quality seeds exported worldwide.
On the afternoon of November 5, the delegation attended a conference organized by CIM Onlus in Cesena, dedicated to the exchange of experiences on the green economy between Italy and Senegal.
The following day, the delegation participated in Ecomondo, where — with the support of Innovacoop and Legacoop Nazionale — a workshop was held to showcase several cooperatives engaged in the green economy. On this occasion, the Senegalese representatives met with various Italian institutions and cooperatives, including EconomiaCircolare.com, ART-ER – Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development Division, La Città Verde, Legacoop Nazionale, and Innovacoop.
The mission concluded with a visit to the social cooperative La Città Verde, active in green area maintenance and waste management. The cooperative promotes the employment of people in vulnerable conditions, representing a concrete example of a sustainable social enterprise.
The mission was organised by Legacoop Emilia-Romagna and CIM Onlus and was attended by the former Director of the Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute, the General Secretary of the Kaolack Region and the coordinator of the Senegalese Employment Centres, demonstrating the strong institutional interest in the Emilia-Romagna cooperative model and its good practices in sustainability and inclusion.
