Fundación Social Coogranada was created in 2006 in the municipality of Granada Antioquia, in Colombia. Within a few years, it expanded its activities to other regions in the country, reaching an increased number of communities. The mission of Fundación Social Coogranada is to promote social welfare, raise awareness of Coogranada, and improve the understanding of the model and philosophy of social and solidarity economy (SSE)*.
Fundación Social Coogranada is unique as they are the only SSE organisation operating in certain communities and territories. Their goal is to generate well-being and promote the quality of life in these territories and communities. To achieve this, they interact with the population through education, sports, culture, articulation, recreation, and the promotion and support of productive initiatives. They carry out several activities such as the “Solidarity Network”, the Soccer schools or National Basketball Cup, Clubs, Cultural Festivals “ViveFunCoogranada” and even a Tourism Agency. With regards to health awareness, the foundation organises health days involving a Medical Centre and a pharmacy, during which specialists provide medical care, medicines and quality supplies at competitive prices.
Our Partnership
Fundación Social Coogranada seeks to provide children, youth and adults with financial education. They implement Social and Financial Education through the Aflatoun methodology in the Superior Normal Educational Institution of Medellin and in the Granadina Children’s Cooperative “Cooingra”. Moreover, they implement a Socio-business Education Project (PESEM) through the “Integral Associate” programme.
They chose to partner with Aflatoun International in 2019 because Aflatoun’s vision aligned with their own, and the partnership represented an international benchmark for work in social and financial education. Fundación Social Coogranada has been implementing the Aflatoun and Aflateen curricula. Through this partnership, they believe it will be possible to reach even more communities and improve their well-being and living conditions. Moreover, integration and cooperation have always been at the foundation of Fundación Social Coogranada; hence a partnership with Aflatoun allows it to grow and exchange experiences and knowledge.
They believe that social and financial education is fundamental to promoting practices in which the core element of well-being is the individual, as well as their responsibilities towards the community, the use of resources, conscious consumption, fair trade, social entrepreneurship, associative work and integration.
39 Teachers and 700 Children Start their Journey through Financial Education
In 2019, Fundación Social Coogranada implemented the Social and Financial Education programme through the Aflatoun methodology in partnership with the Escuela Normal Superior de Medellin (Teacher Training College). The process involved questioning the established dynamics rethinking the ways of teaching and knowledge, methods and experience were shared among the participants. The Aflatoun flame reached 39 future teachers, and ultimately, 700 children were able to start their journey through self-knowledge, entrepreneurship, and social and financial education.
*The International Labour Organisation defines Social and Solidarity Economy as a “concept designating enterprises and organizations, in particular cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, associations, foundations and social enterprises, which have the specific feature of producing goods, services and knowledge while pursuing both economic and social aims and fostering solidarity”.