Susanna Coppolecchia
Independent Researcher in Educational Sciences. PhD from the University of Bologna.
Specialist in transformative education, social innovation, democratic participation, and Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.
While the Mediterranean continues to occupy international headlines as a stage for conflicts, migratory tensions, and geopolitical disputes, there is another Mediterranean that rarely makes the news: that of communities that cooperate, organizations that build connections, and people who transform differences into opportunities for shared development. This was the perspective that emerged during the International Congress “Mediterranean: A Space for the Social Economy,” held on May 23, 2026, in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily. The initiative, promoted by the Euro-Arab Institute, the Diocesan Center for Peace Operators, and the San Vito Foundation, brought together institutional representatives, social economy organizations, cooperatives, researchers, local administrators, and civil society actors from different Mediterranean countries.
The congress was not merely a space for debate. It marked the beginning of a broader process aimed at building the Mediterranean Network for the Social and Solidarity Economy, a cooperation platform intended to connect communities, organizations, institutions, and territories united by the pursuit of more inclusive, participatory, and sustainable development models.
Rethinking the Mediterranean
One of the themes that ran throughout the working sessions was the way we currently view the Mediterranean. Too often, it is portrayed as a problematic frontier, a place marked by divisions and conflicts. However, the speakers proposed a different perspective: the Mediterranean as a space of relationships, exchanges, cultural blending, and shared responsibilities.
As was repeatedly emphasized during the congress, the challenges currently affecting this region—climate change, youth unemployment, economic fragility, migration, territorial marginalization, and social inequalities—cannot be addressed by each country in isolation. They require new forms of cooperation capable of connecting territories, communities, and institutions.
From this perspective, the Mediterranean appears not only as a geographical space but also as a community of destiny in which diverse peoples share common challenges and can build collective responses.
The Social Economy as an Infrastructure for Cooperation
One of the most significant messages emerging from the meeting concerned the role of the Social and Solidarity Economy. Throughout the discussions, it was emphasized that cooperatives, social enterprises, associations, foundations, and community organizations represent far more than simple economic actors. They constitute spaces where relationships, trust, participation, and collective capacity to address problems are built.
The Social Economy was presented as a development model that places people and communities at its center, recognizing that well-being cannot be measured exclusively through economic indicators. The development of a territory also depends on the quality of social relationships, democratic participation, the capacity to cooperate, and the existence of community networks capable of generating trust. From this point of view, the economy does not appear as a sphere separate from social life, but as a tool that contributes to shaping behaviors, relationships, educational opportunities, and the quality of coexistence.
Peace, Social Justice, and Human Development
Particularly significant were the reflections offered by Father Leo Di Simone and the Bishop of Mazara del Vallo, Monsignor Angelo Giurdanella, on the relationship between the social economy and peacebuilding.
Peace was described not simply as the absence of war, but as the presence of social justice, participation, human dignity, and inclusion. Many of the conflicts affecting the contemporary world originate in inequalities, exclusions, and economic imbalances.
International Experiences: Cooperation as Mutual Learning
A particularly relevant element of the congress was the contribution of the international delegations. Professor Abd Al-Fattah Al-Shalabi, Director General of the Jordan Cooperative Corporation, presented the experience of the Jordanian cooperative movement, highlighting how cooperation represents not only an organizational model but also a vision of development based on human dignity, solidarity, and shared responsibility.
The contributions of Imad Abu Dawas and Ammar Shawesh placed social innovation and human capital at the center of the debate. Particularly significant was the idea that communities should not be viewed solely as bearers of needs, but also as holders of resources, skills, and generative and transformative capacities.
Another noteworthy contribution came from Lamia Al-Dabbas, who presented the experience of women’s cooperatives in Jordan. Through concrete examples, she demonstrated how investment in skills development and female entrepreneurship can generate positive effects throughout the social fabric.
The Proposal for the Mediterranean Network for the Social and Solidarity Economy
In my speech, as promoter of the Mediterranean Network for the Social and Solidarity Economy, I presented the vision and objectives underlying the initiative launched in Mazara del Vallo. I emphasized the need to promote a development approach capable of integrating economic, social, cultural, and educational dimensions.
Many of the resources needed to address contemporary challenges are already present within local territories: social capital, skills, relationships, cultural heritage, and capacities for cooperation. I drew attention to the “intermediate territories,” often excluded from major decision-making processes despite possessing significant potential that remains insufficiently valued.
From this perspective, the emerging Mediterranean Network for the Social and Solidarity Economy is conceived not as a centralized structure, but as a community of communities capable of connecting cooperatives, social enterprises, universities, public administrations, foundations, associations, and citizens throughout the Mediterranean region.
Mazara del Vallo was identified as a possible laboratory for this initiative. The city possesses particularly significant characteristics: a strong multicultural identity, a consolidated experience of intercultural dialogue, and the presence of one of the most important Tunisian communities in Italy.
Building the Future Through Cooperation
Looking ahead, the need to provide the network with a stable structure was also highlighted through the creation of Euro-Mediterranean partnerships, the mapping of potentially involved actors, the implementation of shared training programs, support for youth social entrepreneurship, and the promotion of joint initiatives capable of generating social innovation, territorial development, and peacebuilding.
The next phase will be dedicated to the formalization of the Network and the definition of a shared operational agenda among the participating organizations, with the objective of transforming the wealth of relationships, ideas, and collaborative initiatives that emerged in Mazara del Vallo into a stable platform for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.
