Author: Katerina Panagi

Icaro is a consortium of social cooperatives, which is inspired by the values of social cooperation and pursues the welfare of individuals and the community of reference (Art. 4 of the Statute). Born in 1995 from the union of a number of cooperatives in the province of Caserta, at present, it represents one of the most visible and authoritative Social Cooperation realities in the Campania Region, uniting about 30 type A and B social cooperatives The Consortium of Social Cooperatives ‘Icaro’, born from the felt need of the founding social cooperatives to formulate concrete answers to the needs of socially weak categories, from the very beginning, has focused its action on the study and research of intervention models for the care and treatment of all pathologies that create a progressive detachment of the subject from the social fabric. In fact, the Corporate Mission of the Icaro Consortium is to provide increasingly comprehensive and advanced services to all users and, at the same time, to offer worker members better working conditions, both economically and professionally. In recent years, the Icaro Consortium has broadened its scope of interest – initially focused on minors at risk of involvement in criminal activities – to all socially weak categories (the elderly, minors, mentally and physically disabled, drug addicts, etc.), realizing “personal services,” such as socio-educational and socio-health care, job placement, training, as well as managing residential and semi-residential reception facilities intended for such users.

Main activities:

• The Icaro Consortium has consolidated significant experience in managing services aimed at meeting people’s needs and defending and protecting human rights, with a view to integrating territorial resources and promoting local development. The “Service Coordination” Area is responsible for coordinating the services of member cooperatives for the elderly, people with physical and mental disabilities, minors and adolescents in difficulty, job placement of socially disadvantaged people, substance addicts, former prisoners

• Icaro offers Project development and/or planning support for member cooperatives wishing to participate in national and/or local calls for proposals in the various areas of expertise (minors, disability, the elderly, equal opportunities, and worldliness). The service also includes reporting of funded projects, i.e., support for certification and reporting of expenses that member cooperatives incur in participating in nationally and locally funded projects promoting social cooperation.
• The Icaro Consortium, through collaboration with the main universities in Campania and with the S.S.S. Consortium of Avellino, organizes and coordinates refresher, continuing education and research activities for the social, social-health and social-educational professions working in the various welfare sectors managed by its member cooperatives.

Email:  info@consorzioicaro.org 

Website: https://www.consorzioicaro.org/

he history of the cooperative, named Kara Bobowski in memory of a girl with disabilities, began in 1992 thanks to a small group of mothers and fathers of “special” children,  eager to do something concrete for their children and for all boys and girls with problems living in their community. In 1987 these families founded  a voluntary association GAD (Parents and Friends of the Disabled), which aimed to provide other families with psychological support and information.

Thanks to the initiative of some young women, who were members of the GAD association, it was decided to establish the Kara Bobowski Social Cooperative, a real social enterprise, which wanted to guarantee continuity and professionalism to the already developed services and to remain closely linked to the territory.

Besides the services provided to people with disabilities, at home, in schools, in the modern daily and residential center “The Dragonfly” and in the socio-occupational laboratory “The Ladybird”, the Kara Bobowski has contributed to:

• launch additional services for children in the towns of Tredozio and Portico, with the aim of supporting young families with children;
• create youth information centers where young people can find not only information but also a place where they can be together, share their interests, as well as receive support and advice to take part in mobility projects, active citizenship and European voluntary services;
• establish, in collaboration with the Cooperative Sadurano, a new Type B Cooperative called “Green Embrace” which is active in the field of social tourism and green, and in which some disadvantaged young people have been integrated.

Moreover, since 1997, thanks to the initiative of its President, the Kara Bobowski has opened its doors to Europe in the belief that the best ideas always arise from the comparison with others.

The Cooperative operates in the following fields of activity:

• daily and residential social rehabilitation assistance for disabled minors, youths and adults;
• educational service for minors and early childhood;
• scholastic assistance;
• domiciliary assistance service for disabled and disadvantaged minors, youths and adults
• planning and provision of a work centre for people with physical and mental disabilities and/or social disadvantages.

Email: progettazione@karabobowski.com 

Website:  https://www.karabobowski.org/en/ 

Officine On/Off is an innovative project promoted by the Youth Policies & Innovation Department of the City of Parma, designed and managed by the non-profit social cooperative Gruppo Scuola in collaboration with the On/Off Social Promotion Association.  Officine ON/OFF is a collaborative community that promotes self-entrepreneurship to support social and technological innovation in the area A coworking space where the multidisciplinary skills of freelancers, professionals and small businesses are shared and enhanced. A digital fabrication lab that provides tools and machinery useful for prototyping and making products  A center for the development of soft skills useful for the employability of adolescents and students and to combat school dropout. A container open to proposals, initiatives and contributions from associations, informal groups, companies, institutions and external realities. A virtuous Community circuit, which gives back to the territory internal skills and resources by involving its inhabitants in socially useful projects.

The target groups the work with are the following:

• Students and Neets
• YOUTH & ADULTS: Freelancers, start uppers and would-be freelancers.
• THIRD SECTOR: associations (cultural, aps, voluntary, etc.), Cooperatives and consortia, social enterprises
• ENTERPRISES: Companies and entrepreneurial realities eager to activate open innovation pathways, smart working and participatory planning

Main activities:

• To Business Companies they offer Communication project development, rebranding, and prototyping / Convention, team building, and offsite hosting / Training and consulting on open innovation, agile working, and new organizational models.
• To 3^rd sector actors (social enterprises) they offer Activation of communities and networks / Development of social innovation projects / Management and coordination of fundraising campaigns / Training in fundraising, communication and online presence.
• To Freelancers they offer equipped and competitively priced work spaces / Rebranding and entrepreneurial training / Networking opportunities with professionals and companies in the area

Email: info@officineonoff.com

Website: https://officineonoff.com/ 

he Confederation of Italian Cooperatives, Confcooperative is the main organization of representation, assistance and protection of the cooperative movement and Italian social enterprises by number of companies (18,500), people employed (525,000) and turnover (66 billion euros in turnover). The shareholders represented are over 3.2 million.In 2011 Confcooperative promoted the birth of the Alliance of Italian Cooperatives. 

Confcooperative pays great attention to the development of relationships with the cooperative movements of other countries. It promotes the growth of the cooperative movement and cooperatives in developing countries and recently democratic systems. It is associated with the International Cooperative Alliance, Cooperatives Europe and various sectoral and representative bodies to the European Commission.

It carries out activities in the Romagna region to represent and promote the cooperative movement, committing itself, on a daily basis, to the development of a business model centered on economic efficiency, the democratic participation of members and the values of mutuality and subsidiarity.

Confcooperative Romagna is a business union and, as such, represents cooperatives in territorial and corporate bargaining. It also offers management and development support services to cooperatives through a staff of specialized professionals. Confcooperative Romagna’s technicians and officials play a central role in monitoring the health of enterprises and providing them with assistance for efficient management geared toward growth and consolidation.

Email: romagna@confcooperative.it

Website: https://www.romagna.confcooperative.it/ 

IM Onlus was born in February 2011 from the meeting of the paths, professional and life, of a group of experts, Italian and foreign, of migration and international cooperation. The bet of the opening of this cooperative stemmed from our desire to make available our expertise in immigration legislation to promote the socio-work inclusion of migrants living in Italy and to support the diaspora, present in the territory, in the transfer of skills in the country of origin. Precisely to give life to this work of “bridging” the transfer of knowledge and technical skills, both ours and those of the Senegalese diaspora, in May 2011 CoopCIM was also born, the Senegalese part of CIM onlus that has allowed our reality to collaborate both with Senegalese associations present in the territory of the Emilia Romagna region and with a part of local authorities in Senegal. The last small branch of CIM onlus arrived in 2016 in Abruzzo, entering into an agreement with the Italian Red Cross Committee (CRI) of Cepagatti (PE) and starting projects with associations and public bodies in the area regarding the integration of foreign citizens.

Main activities:

• Study Center: CIM onlus is also a Study Center, whose researchers are engaged in the design, implementation, and dissemination of research on issues related to migration and decentralized cooperation together with Municipalities and Universities. The research in which CIM cooperative is engaged aims to identify good practices, disseminate them, and implement interventions.

• Legal Advice: The CIM onlus desk was created as an aid to foreign citizens who too often feel at the mercy of our country’s complicated immigration legislation. The cooperative offers a complete service, from taking charge of the file until the withdrawal of the clearance in the prefecture, dealing with practices related to entry visas and applications for the issuance and/or renewal of residence permits.
  
• International Cooperation: Since 2011, CIM Onlus has been carrying out international cooperation, decentralized cooperation and partnership building projects. These activities are also carried out in collaboration with members of the diaspora to create opportunities for co-development and ensure a dignified life for communities in the countries of origin. The activities carried out abroad by the CIM cooperative are carried out in partnership with NGO Associations, cooperatives, Local Authorities, Schools, Universities and Research Institutes in Italy and in the countries of intervention. These ways of working allow the consolidation of international networks and ensure that some foreigners living in Italy can operate in their countries of origin according to the skills acquired during the years of work abroad, through the transfer of specific know-how.

Email:  info@cimonlus.it

Website: https://www.cimonlus.it/