Innovation in social cooperatives, the ability to meet country welfare needs in terms of elderly and children care and work integration of disadvantaged people are some of the topics to be analyzed at the two-day conference.

“Social cooperatives have gone from being a pioneering experience of about 650 companies in 1985 to more than 12,000 active today, presenting itself as an important and consolidated social, economic and employment force.

We have accomplished a lot, and indeed the social perspective and the solidarity, which advocated the founding of the first cooperatives of social solidarity, has become a model of success”, says the President of Federsolidarietà, Giuseppe Guerini. Latest facts and figures According to recently released information by Confcooperative, social cooperatives have created 20 new jobs per day in the last 6 years. Italian social cooperatives challenge the laws of economic depression by promoting growth, employment and investment during the worst economic crisis in 80 years.

Social cooperatives and consortia members of Federsolidarietà – Confcooperative are now 6.200 (67.2 % type A and 32.8 % type B, 252 are consortia). From 2008 to 2014 2.400 social cooperatives and 43,000 jobs were created (only 194 were created in the first five months of this year).

Today, social cooperators represent 227,000 people (222,500 are members; 24,000 are volunteers and 5,800 are legal persons of which approximately 4,500 are financial partners), including 17.000 disadvantaged persons.