As part of the Coops4dev project, a regional workshop was held to share and learn about the experiences of school cooperatives and foundations linked to the cooperative sector in the region. The event brought together key stakeholders from the education and cooperative sectors from various countries across the continent, who exchanged experiences, identified common challenges, and generated synergies aimed at collectively building a collaborative work agenda.
The workshop was opened by Danilo Salerno, Regional Director of Cooperatives of the Americas, and Paula Arzadun, Head of Education, Training, and Research. Both emphasized the importance of promoting cooperative and solidarity values from an early age, underscoring the strategic role of school cooperatives as spaces for active learning and civic development. Within this framework, the meeting was contextualized within the International Year of Cooperatives 2025, highlighting the preparatory agenda for this global event.
During the first part of the workshop, a participatory mapping exercise was conducted in which attendees shared experiences with existing initiatives in their respective regions. Highlights included collaborations with teachers, educators from different educational levels, cooperative confederations, and education departments within the cooperatives themselves. This exchange allowed participants to identify the current landscape of school cooperatives in various regions.
In the second part, participants organized themselves into working groups to delve deeper into the projects they promote in their communities. The main challenges facing school cooperatives were discussed, such as the sustainability of the initiatives, student participation, the role of teachers, access to resources, supportive public policies, and the impact of these projects on the educational environment. Strategies for effectively engaging young people and integrating the cooperative perspective into the organizational culture of educational institutions were also discussed.
The day concluded with a plenary session where each group's findings were shared, and joint actions to be implemented in the short and medium term were proposed. Proposals included the creation of new support networks, strengthening teacher capacity, and raising the profile of school cooperatives at the local and regional levels. The need to coordinate efforts with other organizations in the social and solidarity economy ecosystem was also emphasized to ensure the sustainability and positive impact of these initiatives.
This event represented a valuable opportunity to share lessons learned and lay the foundations for collaborative work aimed at strengthening the role of school foundations and cooperatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. All of this was done with the aim of contributing to the development of an education centered on cooperative and solidarity values—essential for the education of new generations—and to promoting concrete contributions to territorial development. This initiative is part of the Coops4dev project, co-financed by the European Union and the International Cooperative Alliance.
