Graciela Fernández, President of Cooperatives of the Americas, presented some ideas and experiences from the region at an international seminar held with public and private stakeholders in Chile.
“Throughout our vast continent there are multiple examples of innovation and many cutting-edge cooperative experiences in terms of building sustainable development strategies,” said Graciela Fernández during her presentation at the seminar. AgroCoopInnova, held in Santiago de Chile on Friday, June 14.
The president of Cooperatives of the Americas pointed out three key sectors to innovate: the green economy, with environmental and economic sense; the care economy, guaranteeing the right to health and personal care; and the integration of the production-consumption chain, overcoming market distortions through alliances between states and cooperatives and integrating the links of the value chains.
Fernández also put as a model of innovation the network of incubators that is being created in the region with support from the European Union, based on the successful track record that the company has in Uruguay. Incubacoop, a device promoted by the public institute Inacoop and the Cudecoop confederation to accompany the creation of new cooperatives in strategic or opportunity fields.
“To make these transformations possible, we need to work together and grow, in number and capabilities. That is why we want to take advantage of the path towards 2025, the International Year of Cooperatives, which we will be launching in a previous ceremony on July 9 in New York and then during the Global Conference of the International Cooperative Alliance in New Delhi, from July 26 to 30. November."
The AgroCoopInnova meeting was convened by the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture, the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation, the National Confederation of Federations of Agricultural and Forestry Cooperatives and Associations (Campocoop) and the National Union of Cooperative Family Farming (Unaf).
Under the title Business innovation experiences and strategies for the cooperative model in Latin America, allowed us to share different perspectives and value cooperative experiences in rural areas, thus promoting the continental and global proposal of building a sustainable future for people and the planet from the cooperative model.