Spain’s Basque Country is known for its culture, language and food – and as home to the world’s largest worker co-op, Mondragón, and nearly 4,000 other co-op enterprises. At the end of May, the region hosted the first Asett Forum, organised by the Arizmendiarrietta Social Economy Think Tank (Asett), which gathered co-ops and mutuals from around the world to kickstart a global network focused on the study and promotion of the social economy.
Over 400 people from more than 30 countries joined the event in Donostia-San Sebastian, with the aim of answering challenges and exploring how to replicate some of the world’s co-operative success stories.
The idea came out of the ICA’s 2021 World Cooperative Congress in the Republic of Korea, alongside a growing global interest in the Mondragón model. “We had so many visitors from all around the world coming to Mondragón, saying, ‘That’s great, so inspiring, and we’d like to replicate it. Could you help us?’” Asett director, Iñigo Albizuri (who is also director of Institutional Relations at Mondragón Corporation), told Co-op News. Initially, he admitted, there wasn’t the capacity; but as global crises deepened, Albizuri and his colleagues realised that more was needed. “We needed more co-ops. So we needed a team.”
The road to the formal launch “has not been easy,” he added, “but this is only the first step.” The forum serves to test the feasibility of the project and to send “a positive message to the world,” emphasising action over theory: “We are sometimes in our own bubbles … but the history of co-ops is to work together to solve challenges.”
Rather than duplicating efforts from other regions, Albizuri stressed the need to “connect and share hard lessons, not just success stories”. To this end, the forum included sessions on 11 social challenges, with examples of 57 best practices from over 30 countries, looking at issues such as housing, gender, culture, health and education. There were special sessions on the wider social economy and its role in healing a fractured planet, and a discussion between some of the members of the Asett international advisory panel.
Related: UN looks for ways to grow the social and solidarity economy
“In a world where there is a lack of trust in the multilateral system, and human rights and international law are under attack, we really need to come together against this wave and connect the resources and know-how that we all have,” said Simel Esim, who heads the International Labor Organisation’s Co-operative, Social and Solidarity Economy unit. “Yes, we hear how co-operatives and the social and solidarity economy step up … but when resources are going down, and needs are going up, how much can we stretch ourselves?”
But, said USA-based Sarah Horowitz, founder and executive director of the Freelancers Union, “having this wave coming at us – and having your own country at the epicentre of it – makes you take the [social economy] very seriously.
“Mutualism grows in the nooks and crannies, in the separations and the cracks where there’s market failure and government inaction. I can’t imagine a better recipe for opportunity for that right now.”
It’s essential to involve institutions, Horowitz added, because “we lead one human life, but an institution is a vehicle for wisdom to pass on and take the value that we create from generation to generation.”
The Social Economy Intergroup of the European Parliament is taking this to heart. In a video message, Irene Tinagli, economist and MEP who co-chairs the group, highlighted the need to “embed the needs and the capacity, the characteristics of the social economy [because] they can provide a useful contribution to education, healthcare, agriculture and more.” She explained how her role includes “bringing the names of social economy actors into our legislative activities, into our political debate, to make sure that all the potential that the social economy can bring to the citizens is deployed at its fullest.”
Luis Gutiérrez, social economy coordinator of the government of Mexico, described how “all these restrictions [from the USA] are forcing us to develop other things – so in a roundabout way this is a great opportunity for social economy.”
New local and national products are being developed to compensate for US taxes and tariffs, he said – presenting an opportunity to “reactivate the Mexican economy and attract investment to develop the social economy.
“This will be at the heart of the recovery of national pride.”
Another panel highlighted the importance of institutional support in bringing ideas like Asett to life – and how well received such an idea was in the Basque Country, a region already defined by co-operatives.
“Without the social economy, our territory couldn’t be understood,” said Eider Mendoza, president of the provincial council of Gipuzkoa, the province of which San Sebastian is capital. “We want to promote co-ops [because] we trust people,” she added. “We recognise mutuality because we are convinced we cannot face current challenges by ourselves.”
One quote repeated throughout the week was the proverb that “if you want to run fast run alone; if you want to run far run together”.
For Asett, those running together include institutional bodies, thinkers and academics, said Amparo Merino, secretary of state for social economy, who said the ministry is committed to bringing this “state of the art hub” to life.
“The world wasn’t given to us just to look at, but so we could transform it,” added Juan Antonio Pedreño, president of the Confederación Empresarial Española de la Economía Social (Cepes) which is delivering the Asett project. “Asett was created in line with the resilience plan of the work and social economy ministry because we recognise that the social economy is at the core of this transformation process.”
The hub is designed as a “lever of transformation”, he added – one that could be exported to the EU and the rest of the world as a “lighthouse to transform economics”.
Patxi Olabarria, president of the Kooperatiben Kontseilua (formerly the Higher Council of Cooperatives of Euskadi), urged co-ops to share their good stories. “Because of our values, we feel we must share what is good,” he said. “And even if the world changes, the tools we have are still valid to face these challenges. We must work together.”
The week also included a session on the UN International Year of Cooperatives. Held at Otalora, Mondragón’s management and development centre, it saw delegates discuss how co-ops can address gaps in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provide decent work, address poverty eradication and promote inclusion – and present these ideas at the 2025 World Social Summit in Doha in November.
As well as attending visits to Mondragón co-ops and a performance of Humanity at Music: the Cooperative Symphony (which tells the story of Mondragón) by the EO, Euskadiko Orkestra, delegates were invited to the Basque Parliament in Vitoria-Gasteiz, hearing from president Bakartxo Tejeria, and later witnessing the presentation to the parliament of the Denon Artean Award from Kooperatiben Kontseilua.
“It is an honour to receive this accolade,” said Tejeria, “as it acknowledges a trajectory of commitment to promoting co-operativism and a more social business model that better distributes wealth and contributes to the progress of society as a whole.”
“I confirm our willingness to continue collaborating as we have done so far. We are fully aware that ‘co-operatives build a better world’ and constitute an indispensable element of our economic model.”
Asett’s next steps, says Albizuri, involve developing a research centre to identify business models with social and inclusive values; a network of companies, institutions, and academic circles to address the challenges of the social economy; and a Living Lab to deploy good practices in new territories and among communities.
“We have had… local, regional, and national governments coming to us saying, ‘We want to use our public money in a better way. Can you help us?’” he said. “We’re now building a team to connect people and put ideas into action. This is not just a think-tank, but a do-tank.”
