Argentina’s cooperative movements looks into expanding the social cooperative model

In Argentina many worker cooperatives are dedicated to the care, support, and reintegration of people with disabilities, addiction and psychiatric problems, and also those in conflict with the law. Expanding the social cooperative model to the care of children and old people is one of the objectives being explored through exchanges in various academic circles in Argentina. In November expert discussions were held to tackle carers’ needs from a cooperative perspective under the title “Social Cooperatives in Latin America and Europe. Access to work, care, and the provision of support services”.

“It is a major issue, and if we don’t face up to it we could be in trouble. We are looking back to the origins of cooperatives, to a time when there were different needs: but needs change, and so do the opportunities to tackle them through common projects such as these. The dynamics of society mean that we can no longer take on the same responsibilities for people who need special care as we did some decades ago”, said the President of Cooperar, Ariel Guarco.

The Centro de Estudios de la Economía Social de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (CEES-Untref) (Social Economy Research Centre, National University of Third February, in English) organised the event. The director of CEES-Untref, Jorge Bragulat, said “we are determined to develop this model: even though there is still no legislation in place in Argentina, there are countless examples. The event we are launching at the University has a theoretical foundation, but includes practical experiences – because one of the key points of all this is to be able to combine theory and practice”.

The experiences panel is made up of worker cooperatives Copaam, La Huella, Communitas and Kabrones, as well as the Federación Argentina de Entidades Solidarias de Salud (Faess) (Federation of Solidarity-based Health Companies, Argentina, in English)

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