Building Inclusive Enterprises in Africa: Cooperatives Europe releases new report

Cooperatives Europe released today its latest publication about “Building Inclusive Enterprises in Africa – Cooperative Case Studies”. The document showcases 21 best practices from diverse African cooperatives and how they have an impact on the development of this continent. In particular they highlight the ability of cooperative businesses to empower youth and women, to bring significant improvements to their wider community, to foster fruitful international cooperation opportunities and to promote key economic and social innovations.

This publication is a follow-up of the conference that Cooperatives Europe and ICA Africa jointly organised within the ICA Global conference in Cape Town. In a few weeks, a second report will be released on cooperatives in Latin America following a jointly organised seminar by Cooperatives Europe and Cooperatives of the Americas.

Cooperatives Europe and the Co-operative College drafted the document based on the contributions from experts of the Cooperatives Europe Development Platform.

In her publication foreword, Julie Ward, Member of the European Parliament, wrote: “This paper illustrates the ability of cooperatives as stakeholders to bridge the private sector and civil society, and concretely shows how they can bring positive changes to the lives of local communities in partner countries.”

Commenting on the publication, Marc Noel, Cooperative Development Manager at Cooperatives Europe, said: “We are proud of this document: it shows that, by joining forces, people can change their life for the better if they are given the chance to do so. Where an enabling environment exists, cooperatives and other civil society organisations empower people to take charge of their own development. Policy makers should help to create the conditions for participative and inclusive initiatives like the ones described in our study so that they can be easily realised and replicated.”