PRO.COOP.

Promotion of Cooperative enterprises in Balkan Europe for social and economic cohesion

SMEs Development

Project objectives:

PRO.COOP. general objectives were: the provision of assistance and promotion services to cooperative associations and associations’ members in the Balkan countries (Montenegro, Croatia and Bulgaria), the improvement of the local environment in which the cooperatives work and the increasing of their economic potential. From the Italian side, the project aimed at a more developed internationalization of the cooperative system.

Project activities:

  • Realization of an analysis on legal, juridical and organisational issues of the cooperative systems in the beneficiaries countries, finding out weak points and opportunities offered by the systems and trying to harmonize them with the Italian and European model;
  • Technical assistance initiatives, aimed at strengthening Balkan cooperative associations and at spreading the opportunities offered by Italian associations for the Balkan co-operatives. The initiatives included the realization of management tools (a Vademecum), two internships in Italy for employees of the Croatian and Montenegrin Associations; two on-job-trainings in Croatia and Montenegro;
  • Realization of three seminars in Croatia and Montenegro for the promotion of the project at local level;
  • Implementation of a pilot civil action in Montenegro, aimed at giving a practical example of civil economy through the creation of a new entrepreneurial activity, which helps disadvantaged people to re-enter in the labour market, according to the model of Italian social cooperatives;
  • Establishment of a desk dedicated to the development of the opportunities between Italian and Balkan co-operatives and creation of a database of the business opportunities;
  • Realization of two business initiatives (B2B) in Croatia and Montenegro for Italian and Balkan co-operatives;
  • Participation of the partners in a trade fair on social cooperation;
  • Promotional and dissemination initiatives, carried out during all the project implementation phases.

Expected results:

  • Analysis of the juridical status of the co-operative system in the beneficiaries’ countries and definition of legislative proposals;
  • Promotion of the Italian and European cooperative systems and models in the beneficiaries’ countries;
  • Introduction of technology, methods and product innovation tools for the cooperatives of the Balkan area;
  • Improvement of professional skills of the cooperatives’ associations personnel and development of modern and innovative services rendered to Italian enterprises;
  • Increasing of business relations between Italian and Balkan cooperatives;
  • Improvement of the cooperative’s image in the Balkan countries, thank to the information spread about similar experiences in other countries;
  • Reinforcement of the Italian productive system in the Balkan area, by developing existing entrepreneurial relations and creating new development opportunities for Italian enterprises;
  • Strengthening of the relations between Croatia, Montenegro and the European Union, favouring their juridical and economic integration in the single market.

Type of service

Project design. Partnership and project activities co-ordination. Technical Secretariat activity (organisation of meetings, events).

Accounting, monitoring and reporting.

News and documents

Italy and the Balkans: the co-operation of the co-operatives. The activities of PRO-COOP project
PRO.COOP.
Initiatives

Italy and the Balkans: the co-operation of the co-operatives. The activities of PRO-COOP project

Informest has promoted the international cooperation project PRO.COOP in collaboration with ICE and with the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, LegaCoop FVG and Confcoop FVG as project partners. Financed by the Law n. 84/2001, the project aimed at sustaining and fostering the Italian cooperative system in the Balkan countries. It thus strengthened the Italian […]

1 March 2010 Read
All News: PRO.COOP.

General information

Start date: 01/03/2008
End date: 31/12/2010

Role: Lead Partner

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