Zaragoza, 6th of March of 2025
An Inspiring Event
The event focused on two themes that are intertwined in Aragon region: social innovation and female leadership. The event was attended by public administration representatives, representatives of INAEM, social entities and agents of the sector involved in the promotion of social initiatives, with a special focus on the rural areas. The aim of the workshop was to transfer knowledge, exchange experiences and promote success stories that can serve as inspiration for new initiatives development. Female leadership as a motor for growth and making the most of all available talent. Furthermore, entities that foster social cohesion are key to promoting more sustainable and efficient business models.
Key Themes and social innovative initiatives
During the event, there was a time dedicated to the agenda and topic by the organisers and a session by Carmen Marcuello, Director of the Unizar social economy chair. During the presentation, the dimension of social innovation that encompasses not only governments, but also other actors was emphasised. It is when the organisation focuses on people that it is most innovative.
ARAESTAT is the statistical portal of the social economy of Aragon that aims to provide reports to the public that include data that measure the impact and relevance of the social economy in Aragon (around 3.8% of total employment and around 10% of GDP). Data on women leadership on social economy of Aragon are not currently available with the same level of precision as the rest of the data included in the report and it is therefore under development.
Then, women who lead the initiatives of social economy in Aragon were presented.
Marta Esteban of the Tiebel Cooperative commented that this initiative was based on the identification of services that were lacking in the region, such as cleaning services, play centres, etc. The cooperative’s areas of work include professional cleaning, trainings, social action and employment (insertion) and Tiebel hogar, which pursues objectives such as guaranteeing working conditions and eliminating precariousness, introducing the use of ecological cleaning products and providing employment opportunities for people who are currently excluded by the system. Through the collaboration between Tiebel and Tinseri, the aRopa2 project was born to reuse and recycle textiles in the city of Zaragoza, which until then was not being done.
Bárbara Marqués from the social initiative Tararaina Cooperative commented on how the creation of the cooperative resulted as outcome to develop projects addressing the difficulties that were detected in the territory to launch entrepreneurship in rural areas, the lack of infrastructures and services in rural areas, the lack of initiative and the ageing of the population. As a result of this work, projects such as the Almada de Yerba hostel and Ecoradiz project are being developed.
Inma Lafita from the “Ternera del valle de Aísa” presented how, through this initiative, they have been able to add value to the meat produced in the livestock farm. Through the shared facility located in Jaca, which has a cutting room, a cooking room and a confectionery room, they can transform the product and generate a greater diversity of products that have been very well received. One of the keys to this initiative has been the collaboration with other agri-food companies to expand the range of products and create synergies with other companies.
Finally, Pepa Enrique Fernández of the Noray collective as a Cultural Mediation, Art and Health Cooperative explained the importance of generating spaces for education, participation and art in Aragon as they have done. The project focuses on the design, accompaniment and dynamisation of socio-cultural and educational processes.
Retos y dificultades
During the roundtable time with the representatives of the cooperatives, the challenges and difficulties that each of the cooperatives have faced were discussed. Some aspects mentioned include:
- It takes time to get the community to believe in the co-operative model and the project, and to build the community’s trust.
- The generational changeover in cooperatives involves adapting to new people who come in with concerns and ways of being that may be very different, so it is essential to generate the commitment of these newly trained people.
- Difficulties inherent to projects developed in the field of culture.
- Making people understand what it means to form and be part of a cooperative.
- The bureaucracy in some cases can be somewhat challenging, so it is essential to have support to perfom the necessary procedures and formalities.
- Complexity to break stereotypes.
- Being located in a small territory and offering a quality product has been positive in the case of meat products, for example.
In addition, the existence of different lines of financing that can help to launch potential initiatives was mentioned.
Cooperative model
To close the day, some of the benefits of the cooperative model were mentioned:
- Tax benefits
- Cooperatives put people at the centre
- Democratic decision-making
- Personal enrichment
- Shared project
To end the day, Adelaida Buisan, Head of Information Systems at San Jorge University, presented the opportunities that Artificial Intelligence can bring to the world of social innovation.
